There is little differentiation between the character classes. Aside from the free skill at creation, all the types are really very much the same. The mage and healer do get a small bonus to their mana points for high intelligence/wisdom respectively at level up, but that’s about it.

Fighters and rangers get no bonus to fighting. Nor does the rogue receive anything for attacking from ambush. For that matter, with the Lockmelt and Trapkill spells, the Rogue is a superfluous class.(...)

The strongest spells start at 10, and you need both a high stat and a high skill to learn them. These are mass effect spells, but the damage is puny. Supernova does only 3-4 points per level, and you’d need Elemental magic 31 and 60 mana to do a “whopping” 18-24 damage against multiple enemies. And that’s not even considering they may have magic resistance and take no damage at all.

That’s much too weak for the cost. You’d do better with a low-level spell and dancing around, staying out of harm’s way. Anyone counting on playing a pure (or nearly so) magic character will be sadly disappointed. The firepower just isn’t there.(...)

And there’s the dark. It’s just too dark. None of the light sources available - torches, lanterns, Gravedigger’s Flame spell - helps very much, and the Cat’s Eye spell is completely worthless.

Indoors, it’s remarkably easy to miss important features like levers to open grates. For that matter, it’s easy to miss those grates, since they aren’t hot spots like doors. You need to be really close to distinguish grates from wall sections.​

What Eschalon seems most like to me is an early Might & Magic in miniature. A compact, modernized version, with enough to do but not so much that it becomes boring as in larger games.

In fact, this is a good game for those who want to play “the old-school way” without having to slog through a huge world for months at a time. If that’s what you’re looking for, then Eschalon is for you.​