Spiderweb Games - Avadon: The Black Fortress Announced

Spiderweb has revealed their new game IP, titled Avadon: The Dark Fortress. Three screens are available and will no doubt receive mixed responses. Those wanting a complete, modern 3D overhaul will be disappointed and others will appreciate the iterative advances. Here's the summary:

Spiderweb Software brings you Avadon: The Black Fortress, the first chapter in a new, epic fantasy saga. You will serve the keep of Avadon, working as a spy and warrior to fight the enemies of your homeland. As a servant of the Black Fortress, your word is law. Experience an exciting fantasy role-playing adventure and battle a conspiracy to destroy your people.

Avadon: The Black Fortress Features:

• Epic fantasy role-playing adventure in an enormous and unique world.
• Four different character classes, with dozens of unique spells and abilities.
• Uncover the fascinating history of Avadon and the land of Lynaeus.
• Many different endings. Your choices will change the world.
• Dozens of side quests, hidden dungeons, and secrets to discover.
• Hundreds of magical items to find. Use powerful crystals to make your artifacts even more powerful.
• Huge adventure with lots of replay value.

The Story:
You are a servant of Avadon. The Black Fortress. Your job is to protect the Pact, five nations that have banded together in a fragile alliance. The purpose of the Pact: To hold back the waves of invaders that seek to destroy you.
Outside the lands of the Pact, there are limitless threats. Barbarians. Fading, jealous empires. Titans and unspeakable horrors. The warriors and spies of Avadon are charged to keep them at bay, weak and divided. You fight in the shadows, rooting out small threats before they have the chance to grow. Your resources are unlimited, and your word is law.
But a dark time is coming. Assassins are killing Avadon's warriors, and a hidden enemy plots to unite all of your homeland's foes. If you cannot discover and destroy this conspiracy, and soon, your people face total destruction. But beware. The defenders of Avadon are being picked off, one by one, and you are the next target.

More information.

No problem with the graphics, but the plot sounds a wee bit too much like standard fantasy fare, slightly disappointing given that Geneforge, Nethergate and even Avernum were a bit different. I hope that Jeff gives it a bit of a twist as he develops it. And please god no elves or Scottish dwarves.

An old-fashioned almost Ultima-like style? me likes.
The plot does sound a bit predictable, but it all comes down to execution.

I was kind of hoping he would up his graphics and try to be on par with Basilisk games Eschalon….Guess we will have to wait and see if this is not just a slight variation of Avernum.

The graphics look great to me. I'm playing Avernum 4 at the moment and this looks like Crysis in comparacy.

I'm really looking forward to this. (yeah, I know. I'm such a graphic whore)

Originally Posted by rune_74
I was kind of hoping he would up his graphics and try to be on par with Basilisk games Eschalon….Guess we will have to wait and see if this is not just a slight variation of Avernum.

I think they are on par with Eschalon, once you zoom in on the screenshots. They're far better than anything Spiderweb has done to this point.

2c

Great news. Yeah those screenshots looked fine. Not sure about animations though.

Yea The still shots look decent, but is there walking animations? I hope there is at least that.

Also, I hope his dungeon and cave walls are less blocky. If not walking animation doesn't look like much of a change.

The graphics looks a lot better than the other games and much better perspective too, this could get really interesting……..

Graphic wise a big improvement over avernum 6. Looks nice, and i like it that i can play it alone instead of a group.
Also like the fact that you need certain strenght to carry a shield.

Looking forward to it, hope it doesnt take years to complete….
This most certainly a buy for me.

Well, a bit of an evolution, but no landmark change, just as announced in the interviews. +1 regarding animations.
Ikbenrichard, it says it's coming early 2011 - I think Jeff Vogel is pretty reliable regarding such estimates.

The graphics are very nice , if it is not a party based i am interested .

Originally Posted by GhanBuriGhan
Ikbenrichard, it says it's coming early 2011 - I think Jeff Vogel is pretty reliable regarding such estimates.

True, but only about 7 months left… On the otherside, most graphics are reused, but at a higher resolution and most spells are reused too. So its doable indeed.

I must admit that I never played any Spiderweb Games. Even though graphics alone doesn't make a great game they do make a first impression. I have thought of trying a Spiderweb game but then there have just been so many other games that I would rather spend my time with. The Avadon screen shots does look a lot better than previous games so I might give it a chance.

Originally Posted by Tragos
The graphics are very nice , if it is not a party based i am interested .

Well, the third screen shows two character portraits and the open character page for Nathalie has a "change party order" button. Might be a hint.

how big can the party be?

+1 on walking animations, it is an absolute must have, IMHO.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
+1 on walking animations, it is an absolute must have, IMHO.

How can you tell if the animations are any good, you seen something i havent?

That's the point we can't, we are just hoping it will have walking animations this time……..

When before Spiderweb games seem to fall through the minimum graphic raster for me, this game definitely looks like something i would like to play.