"Ending #43
Avernum: Escape from the Pit
Developer: Spiderweb Software
Publisher: Spiderweb Software
Steam/ PC
2011

I was pleasantly surprised by this title. I bought it during the Christmas Sale on Steam along with everything else Spiderweb had out and decided to start with this title because it had achievements. I was hooked on the first day. Three hundred hours later I now have all the characters maxed out, all the endings and achievements and still a craving to play more from Spiderweb.

Avernum began as Exile back in 1995. The series has six core titles, making two trilogies in the underworld setting. The game was then re-released as Avernum in 2000. In 2011, the game was then redesigned for tablets with the Avadon engine and giving a rewritten script. Escape from the Pit is this title and it was announced that the other two games of the first trilogy would be receiving a rewrite and re-release as well to build a more concise and cohesive story for the trilogy.

An evil and despotic emperor rules the entire world above, throwing all dissidents into the pit. He's rather ruthless about it too. I was waiting to find the guy who was thrown down in the pit for farting in front of the emperor. Avernum is a land underground with miles of caverns where humans create societies and come at odds with the other inhabitants of the dark land. It's really impressive to see the depth of character development and the interweaving plots that are made for this game. Kudos to Spiderweb for this.

Avernum isn't for everybody though. The graphics are outdated, the music is bland, and the story really takes forever to get going.
Regardless, I shut the music off and I was fine. I still love this style of graphics personally, and once you do get to the endgame you really feel for the protagonists, cheering for them and really getting into the dialogue. Grah-Hoth gave me goosebumps and made me feel real dread. Escaping made me feel relieved, and defeating the emperor was exhilarating.

Besides this, I really don't have much else to say about the game. Spiderweb Software is a company of three guys making games. I respect them for this and back in college is was a once a dream of mine and two of my friends to do just this. For them its a way to tell a story and feed their families at the same time. I recommend anyone who enjoys this style of RPG to give Spiderweb Games a try. They're a great deal on Steam."