Avernum 5 Review

Scorpia's Gaming Lair takes a look at Avernum 5 and is left with some serious reservations and mixed feelings.
The epilogue will have some variations that depend on your actions throughout the game, aside from the main choice. My party stayed loyal, and was generally helpful to the Avernites. That, I suspect, leads to the best conclusion. After all, the Loyalists want to bring back heavy-handed rule, not to mention, hunt down and destroy all non-human species. Like Nephilim, and my group was all-kitty.

Overall, Avernum 5 leaves me with very mixed feelings. On the one hand, we have the traditional, (classic) turn-based, party-based game. The world is well-thought-out. Many situations, large and small, make for interesting decisions, allowing a fair amount of player choice.

On the other hand, AV5 is also repetitious, and I found it becoming tedious in the later stages. Many combats were more difficult than I thought they should have been. And the skill system needs re-working to make it less confusing.

So I can't give an unreserved recommendation. While Avernum 5 is worth playing, it's best for those who appreciate the old-school system, and have both the time and patience (especially patience!) to play it. And yes, I am playing it again; it's always the first time that's the hardest.
Spotted on RPGWatch.