Avernum 2: Crystal Souls - Officially Announced

Well we all knew it was in development, and today Spiderweb Games has officially announced Avernum 2: Crystal Souls in a new press release.

Spiderweb Software Announces Avernum 2: Crystal Souls, A Fantasy Role-Playing Game for Macintosh, Windows, and iPad.

September 4, 2014 – (http://www.avernum.com/avernum2/) The end has come. Years ago, your people were imprisoned in the underworld, doomed to end their lives in the darkness. Then that was not enough. Your captors have invaded your caves, determined to kill you all. They are winning the war.

Spiderweb Software, Inc. announced today their return to their epic Avernum saga, to continue the story of the underworld Avernites and the war against their oppressors. Avernum 2: Crystal Souls is the second chapter in this indie fantasy role-playing saga, a tale of desperate exiles and their battle for survival and a land to call their own.

The surface world is commanded by the tyrannical Empire, the eternal power that controls all known lands. Everyone who spoke out, misbehaved, or didn’t fit in was cast into the dark, volcanic pits of Avernum, far below the surface. They were meant to die. Instead, these exiles survived, gained power, and struck back. They assassinated the lord of the Empire.

Now the Empire will have revenge. They have invaded Avernum, seizing cave after cave and destroying your people. Your land needs a hero, and it needs it now. If you can’t find a way to stop them, and soon, you are all doomed.

Find screenshots and more information at http://www.avernum.com/avernum2/

Avernum 2: Crystal Souls is an epic fantasy role-playing adventure in a unique, massive world, full of strange caves, cunning dungeons, and the alien inhabitants of the underworld. Fight to complete up to three game-winning quests. Explore a massive nation of tunnels and caverns, seeking over 100 towns and dungeons. Master over 60 spells and battle disciplines and hunt for hundreds of magical artifacts. Avernum 2: Crystal Souls is a total, ground-up rewrite of the award-winning indie hit Avernum 2. It will be open for adventuring in Q4, 2014.

More information.

Jeff Vogel proved with his Exile/Avernum series that a huge non-linear gameworld can be combined with a deep interesting story and many quests and c&c.

As Sid Meier once said: "A game is a series of interesting choices"

I would add:
A great game is a series of interesting (sometimes difficult) choices with sometimes surprising/entertaining/unexpected (good or bad) consequences that challenge your wits.

Yay, looking forward to that one!
I don't quite get why Jeff sticks to the skill-pictures though. I think they look extremely unprofessional and put off lots of potential buyers. Pretty sure that this is the thing which will get commented on after posting this news on facebook.

I wonder if the new version is pure cosmetic.

Don't think so. From what I know he always adds in additional content.
But as I never played the "old" games, I can't judge if that's really a lot.

Originally Posted by ikbenrichard
I wonder if the new version is pure cosmetic.

I don't care I already played the series 3 times.

But I recommend the series to all young gamers that want to experience a good classic open world CRPG with a real good background story.

I really enjoyed Avernum: Escape from the Pit, which was my first Spiderweb game, so I'm naturally keen to check this one out too. Coming after the two Avadon's, it'll be nice to return to this series' ongoing story and an arguably more open, less heavily scripted experience. Thanks for posting!

Avernum: Escape From the Pit was engaging until around 3/4 then sunk into boredom.

Originally Posted by mercy
Avernum: Escape From the Pit was engaging until around 3/4 then sunk into boredom.

I like the avernum series, but I think each game had some boring parts.
Kinda like an overstretched movie.

This game would get a lot more attention if it only looked better. I'm no graphics whore as I don't have a powerful pc but surely he can afford to get better graphics for the sequel.

Graphics are fine in his current engine IMO, though it would be nice to see worn armor reflected on your character in the game world. I think a less-clunky UI should be a higher priority.

I like Spiderweb stuff, but the listing of system requirements is a chuckle

Windows/Macintosh System Requirements:

PC Running Windows XP or later or Macintosh running System 10.6 or later
800 MhZ processor. Minimum 1.6 GhZ processor recommended.
Video card or processor with OpenGL support and 32 MB video RAM (64 MB recommended).
512 MB RAM, and 200 MB hard disk space.
1024x600 screen resolution with 32 bit color.

It's like I'm 10 years younger!

I'm surprised it isn't a phone app.

Yay, this will eat up several weeks of gaming for me. I'm getting spoiled by receiving one of these games every year now, lol.

Motivation for me to finally play Avadon 2, but I have to finish Geneforge 2 first.

Originally Posted by Drithius
I like Spiderweb stuff, but the listing of system requirements is a chuckle


It's like I'm 10 years younger!

My 300 dollar Wal-Mart desktop from 2003 had an AMD 2800+ in it (~2 ghz).

This one will be a definite purchase for me. I generally love Jeff's games … although, as has already been mentioned, they generally get waaaay too easy around 2/3-3/4 of the way through [with the exception of the two Avadons … I did find the final few boss fights in both of those to be supremely annoying and difficult [but not in a good way]…

Spiderweb RPGs are right up my alley! I haven't played them all but I'm working on it. Avadon 2 was excellent and what I've seen of Avernum seems great as well.

I've already played through Avernum 1-6, so I'm not likely to pick up the updated release. But when he does Avadon 3 I'll be all over it.

Originally Posted by SonOfCapiz
This game would get a lot more attention if it only looked better. I'm no graphics whore as I don't have a powerful pc but surely he can afford to get better graphics for the sequel.

Fully agree. It's time to at least get in the 21st century regarding graphics in those games, sheesh. It's not 1997 anymore.

Not interested in any of those games until I see a new graphics engine.