Avencast: Rise of the Mage is an ARPG from 2007 that feels and looks quite old-school. The game comes from a small dev team without much experience, but it's full of creative touches. While not perfect, it's better than many people realize. It uses WASD controls instead of the typical point-and-click style, with a top-down view and various movement and camera settings that take time to get used to.

I initially experienced crashes after the intro, but setting anisotropic filtering to linear fixed the issue. Some players recommend disabling cutscenes, though I didn’t want to miss the story.

You play as a young mage apprentice sent to the Academy of Avencast to complete your studies in magic. The story is fairly cliché but interesting enough to keep you engaged. The voice acting is decent, though the quality of the dialogue is mixed. Some lines work, while others feel a bit clunky. The story is also told through charming storybook cutscenes, which adds a nice touch.

The game features two main schools of magic: blood magic, which is melee-focused, and soul magic, which focuses on ranged attacks. The summoning school is split between blood and soul magic, so it doesn’t really count as its own school. Casting spells is done either through hotkeys (F1–F4) or by using a unique system of movement combinations and mouse clicks. While there’s a wide variety of spells, the more powerful combat spells often fall short, as enemies can easily dodge them. These spells also take too long to cast and consume too much mana, making them impractical/worthless for most combat situations. In contrast, AoE spells are much more reliable due to their lower mana costs and ability to hit multiple targets. Skill points, earned by defeating enemies or completing quests, allow you to learn new spells or improve your attributes.

Combat is hit-or-miss. Movement feels slow and cumbersome, and mastering the dodge roll takes time. Entering rooms can be frustrating, as you often have to step in far enough for the walls and ceiling to disappear, making enemies hard to see at first. The environments feel repetitive, with a muted color palette and little variety. Every area, especially the academy, feels too large and looks almost identical, making exploration tedious after a while.

Despite these issues, the game surprises with its quests. They’re not all typical fetch quests—there is a refreshing variety, including some with unique gameplay elements, which keeps things interesting. The puzzles throughout the game also add an unexpected layer of challenge, which helps break up the combat-heavy sections.

That said, the boss fights are tedious, and enemies later in the game become bullet sponges. The final levels are packed with traps, making combat overwhelming at times, as you juggle dodging tough enemies and avoiding magic trap attacks. I also wish the later levels had more open areas—navigating tight corridors with a camera that frequently gets stuck on walls is frustrating.

Jolly good stuff, Adam Wiseman loves this game!