Game News Avernum 3: Ruined World announced, coming Q1 2018

[Infinitron]

Tags: Avernum 3: Ruined World; Spiderweb Software

As expected, the next game from Jeff Vogel's Spiderweb Software is Avernum 3: Ruined World, the remake of 2002's Avernum 3, which was a remake of 1997's Exile 3: Ruined World. It'll be the final Avernum remake, and the final Spiderweb game before Jeff has to come up with something new. As with Avadon 3 last year, he seems to have put up the game's Steam page before formally announcing it on his website. Here's its trailer and description:

The conclusion to our hit indie fantasy trilogy! Avernum 3: Ruined World is an epic, indie fantasy role-playing adventure with many hours of gameplay. Explore an enormous world that evolves as time passes. Towns are destroyed. Refugees flee. Disasters happen.

Your people long to escape from their underworld prison, but the surface world is being destroyed. Fight plagues of bizarre monsters and win your freedom. Enjoy an intricate tactical battle system with multitudes of abilities, character traits, and unique magical artifacts.

Avernum 3: Ruined World features:

• Epic fantasy adventure with over 60 hours of gameplay. Explore an enormous underworld and a huge surface continent.
  
• Rich game system with over 60 spells and battle disciplines and a multitude of beneficial character traits to choose from.
  
• Well over 100 towns and dungeons, which change as time passes. Cities crumble as the monster plagues advance.
  
• Fight to save the world. Or don’t! Do odd jobs. Be a bounty hunter or merchant. Buy a house.
  
• Unique races and settings make Avernum different from any adventure out there.
  
• Over 100 side quests and hundreds of magical artifacts.

The story of Avernum 3 is self-contained, and previous experience with Avernum games isn't required.
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The Steam page says the game is coming out on January 31 next year, but the trailer only says "Q1 2018". The former is more likely to be up-to-date, so we'll go with that.

UPDATE: The Steam page now says the release date is "early 2018", so I guess not!

 

[SausageInYourFace]

That reminds me that I still have a pending Avernum 1 playthrough I really need to get back to. No idea why I abandoned it in the first place, I guess I just got distracted. Really liked the game.

 

[Luzur]

Huh, cant even remember Avernum 3, time for a replay i guess.

 

[Elwro]

Avernum 3 was the one with the big overworld which kind of even tried to simulate the fact that if you don't really oppose the bad guys some cities may worsen in condition. Exploration in this one was as good as in 1 or even better.

 

[Tom Baker's Arse]

Thanks for the warning, Inbumitron.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Are the originals (non-remakes) so inadequate that they need to be remade or won't work on modern machines, or is Vogel just out of ideas? I confess I've never been a Vogel fan - having played a couple of his games for a while I didn't find much to keep me interested. But if this turns out well I might go back and take another look.

 

[Zeriel]

No, the originals are actually better in every way. And by "originals" I mean the Exile series.

 

[Elwro]

I just want to say that I played Avernums 1-3 from start to finish, each a year after the previous one, and they were among the best games I ever played. If the Exiles are even better, I have no idea why on Earth he'd keep remaking the stuff.

I was quite disappointed with Avadon(s) unfortunately.

 

[jungl]

Good luck too jeff with making something new. I enjoyed avernum series more then avadon. Actually finished the avernum games. I don't know avadon is boring the main antagonist/protaganist is a ginger, nobody cares of gingers.

 

[Fry]

I thought he was planning to remake Geneforge.

 

[Dorateen]

Avernum only has exotic races available for characters, other than humans?

Should have taken a page out of Wizardry/Grimoire and allowed dwarves.

 

[JarlFrank]

I thought he was planning to remake Geneforge.

I wish he'd actually create something new and original for a change.

 

[Parsifarka]

I wish he'd actually create something new and original for a change.

Like Avadon?

 

[Infinitron]

He might alternate the new series with Geneforge remakes, same as he alternated Avadon and Avernum.

 

[Iznaliu]

won't work on modern machines

I think that was the primary reason for the remakes; though they've kind of taken a life of their own now.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Problem with the nu Avernum remakes is the character system. With its rigid skill trees and auto distribution of stats at levelups really neuters player agency in nu Avernum remakes (and Avadon ).

I will be giving this a pass.

 

[TigerKnee]

Avernum 3: George Lucas Special Edition

 

[Zeriel]

I just want to say that I played Avernums 1-3 from start to finish, each a year after the previous one, and they were among the best games I ever played. If the Exiles are even better, I have no idea why on Earth he'd keep remaking the stuff.

I was quite disappointed with Avadon(s) unfortunately.

To feed his family, obviously. My complaint with him isn't so much that he's remaking them, but that he keeps making them worse with every remake.

 

[Terra]

Never been able to get into the Avernum games, but this gets us one step closer to the Geneforge remake at least.

 

[Mortmal]

Huh, cant even remember Avernum 3, time for a replay i guess.

Old age is a blessing for rpgfans, since we dont get many new titles its fantastic we are starting to forget them. Alas i am still not senile enough and do remember avernum 3 or was it..exile 3..a big overworld map .. and oh well gonna replay it too.

 

[garren]

How would this rate compared to avernum 1 and 2? I played the first one and really liked it, but I got bored maybe one third into the second one, just didn't like the alien underworld or whatever it was called.

 

[Explorerbc]

I finished both Escape from the Pit and Crystal Souls so I'll probably get this one and complete the first trilogy.

It might take some time before that though, Avernum games are really addicting at the beginning but after a while especially combat gets pretty repetitive and by the time you clock in the ~60 hours it takes to complete them, you are pretty burnt out.

The surface world seems like a nice change, I really loved the unique underground setting but after two games I feel like I had enough of it for a while. Aside from that however I don't see a lot of change in those trailers. The skills, spells and enemies appear to be the same. Aren't there any new mechanics to spice things up ?

 

[Fenix]

I prefer original Avernum, I mean first three parts (also I played Exiles Crystal Souls for comparison, given how huge the game is got not far, but I have not noticed anything different).
Anyone with me in it?
I remember that I played first remake - Avernum Escape From the Pit, and that was year or something like that after I played original Avernum, o memories were fresh, and I came to conclusion that new character building system is not fun at all, AND that much was changed in terms of quests and exploration for the worst, and fights too.
Best fights I have expierinced in Avernum series were Za-Khazi Run scenario from BoA (played Avernum 1, 2 and BoA only), when I won ALL fights, even optional and that was hard - this scanario shows that game has tactics, and with proper and clever planning you can do a lot of satisfying fights.

So, what's your opinion?

 

[Luzur]

Huh, cant even remember Avernum 3, time for a replay i guess.

Old age is a blessing for rpgfans, since we dont get many new titles its fantastic we are starting to forget them. Alas i am still not senile enough and do remember avernum 3 or was it..exile 3..a big overworld map .. and oh well gonna replay it too.

Well i still remember Might and Magic 3, so much that i cant replay it without knowing where to go, what to look for and where etc.

I guess i skipped Avernum 3 or didnt finish it or something.

 

[LESS T_T]

The Steam page says the game is coming out on January 31 next year, but the trailer only says "Q1 2018". The former is more likely to be up-to-date, so we'll go with that.

Well, he changed the release date on Steam to "Early 2018."