Now Updated to Version 2

Vicky: What's that? It looks like Final Fantasy.

Me: No, it's a game called Aveyond.

Vicky (after watching for several minutes): It looks fun. Can I play?

Vicky's right; Aveyond does play a lot like Final Fantasy--maybe about V, since the graphics are 2D sprites in an oblique overhead view. It's a game you wouldn't be surprised to find on your SNES or Genesis.

- 3D RPG/Adventure game from the third person view.
- Incredible story taking place on a historical Earth in the 1930's.
- Each chapter includes many beautiful areas.
- Special rules system adapted to a real-time setting - including 8 base skills and 9 derived skills.
- Fast paced combat in a rich and detailed world where dialogue interaction and story play equally large roles.
- Classless system allows the user to customize their character however they want as they advance to as high as 100th level.
- A random item generator allows the player to find literally thousands of different weapons and items.
- Special subgames which are included in the story and could be played as independent games.
- Many items to upgrade your skills.
- Many spells that evolve and grow as your characters' abilities increase.
- Many enemies to challenge your combat and spell-casting abilities.
- Simple and intuitive gameplay with a clean interface.

Eerily Evocative Adventure/RPG Hybrid

In Daemonica, you take the role of Nicholas Fayrepoint, a sort of demon hunter-cum-private eye in a small town in a fantasy world that's subject to a curse. Your job, naturally, is to figure out what's going wrong, and set things right.

The game is in essence built as 3D RPG, with a simple point-and-click combat system, inventory, character advancement, and the like; but the gameplay is much more like a classic graphic adventure, with puzzles to be solved and characters from whom you must extract information. This is something of a happy hybrid, more free-form than a classic click-and-combine adventure but with much of the same feel--but those looking for the combat intensity of a Diablo are better off looking elsewhere.

Adventure Games: Not Dead Yet!

Perhaps better known as the producer of massively multiplayer games like Anarchy Online and Conan, Funcom, which is based in Norway, began as a developer of beautiful adventure games like The Longest Journey, which fans of the genre will remember as one of the few good high-budget adventures of recent years. With Dreamfall, Funcom has, if anything, outdone themselves with a vast enthralling game set in the same universe as its predecessor, with gorgeous visuals and (thankfully and all too rarely) excellent voice acting.

The Metropolis of Games?

Like Fritz Lang's silent film masterpiece Metropolis, ETROM is set in a future world controlled by oppressive governments--and like Metropolis, its palette is dark and sinister, and its aesthetic pregnant with a sense of incipient revelation.

Atmosphere, indeed, is where ETROM excels; some reviewers have dinged it for a "difficult to follow story," but in fact, that's untrue. Rather, it is an ambiguous, somewhat inexplicable, highly evocative story--the kind of story you'd expect from Borges or Philip K. Dick, not from pulp sci fi.

Konung 2 is a big, sprawling RPG set in a Norse-themed world where the central problem is that the big butch bad guy (gotta have one, right?) is trying to extirpate all magic items (other the ones he owns). While much of the gameplay is standard RPG fare--lots of combat and levelling up--there are some unusual elements:

Jackie Chan Meets... Watership Down?

Here's what's cool about Lugaru:

It features a hand-to-hand combat system controlled by a variety of mouse movements, that feels vastly more like kung-fu combat than any game that requires you to memorize huge lists of "combo" moves.

It's a fully 3D, action-adventure title, developed (originally for the Mac, forsooth) by a two-brother team with basically no funding--and still looks as good as, well, say, a high-end Playstation 1 title, which is a remarkable achievement under the circumstances.

Drivin' an' Shootin'

The first thing you notice about Mexican Motor Mafia is that the music is seriously kick-ass--as is the introductory sequence, carried in graphic novel-like images and text. It is also definitely not for the tots; your brother is executed, gangland-like, in front of his small children. You have to go after the killers, of course.

The actual game is a top-down driving-and-shooting game, something along the lines of the original GTA. You use the WASD keys to tool around, aiming with the mouse and blasting away at enemies, driving into towns along your route for new ammo, equipment, better cars, and so on.

If you yearn for the days of Ultima (round about VII or VIII) or the King's Quest games--or if you've plowed all the way through Oblivion and aren't willing to wait for years until the next great, big-budget fantasy RPG gets released--you've just stumbled on a game you will like a great deal. In fact, stop reading now and go play the demo. Maybe I need to insert a rotating spiral GIF here and a deep hypnotic voice intoning "You Will Like It," but it hardly seems necessary. No mental coercion needed--the game speaks for itself.

Morning's Wrath is an isometic "2-and-a-half-D" fantasy RPG, a sassy (if tragic) female protagonist, a story that not only makes sense but you will actually care about, excellent music, and a great deal of fast-paced combat, along with an original and well conceived spell system.

For a small indie team, Ethereal Darkness has produced a surprisingly polished little gem of a game in Morning's Wrath--and yes, the graphics are a little retro, but for that we make no apologies. Gameplay over glitz, remember?

And for a mere $10 bucks. Hard to beat that.

Cute, Zany and Engaging Arcade-y Play
Reduced Price for a Limited Time (Regularly $19.99)>

Developed by Steve Ince and based on his own web comic, Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is a cheerfully arcade-y 2D game with strong "adventure game" aspects--that is, success is dependent more on solving puzzles than on mastery of the interface. It boasts attractive comic-style graphics, well-written and often amusing dialog, and surprising depth of gameplay -- light-hearted gaming madness.

The Developer Says

A hugely fun arcade adventure, based upon the online comic strip, Mr. Smoozles, it boasts a cast of 50 characters spread through 60 exciting and varied locations and has an original soundtrack by talented young composer, Josh Winiberg. With an addictive mix of gameplay and humour, this game is a delight for gamers of all ages and tastes.