Back, back, back when we are all a lot clearer on what ‘indie game’ really meant, there was a series of roleplaying games from Jeff Vogel’s teeny-tiny studio Spiderweb Software. They were 2D, they were resolutely singleplayer, they offered massive freedom of movement and character development and… well, I keep using the past tense, but Spiderweb have kept on fighting their good fight since 1995. In fact, this week they’re capping up a spit’n’polished’n’ground-up redone remake of their early-noughties Avernum series. Which was itself a spit’n’polished’n’ground-up redone remake of their mid-90s Exile series.

Which might all sound horribly complicated, but they’re billing today’s quasi-new Avernum 3: Ruined World as a clean entry-point for anyone who’s never been down this particular rabbit hole before. (more…)

Don’t call it retro: Jeff Vogel’s Spiderweb Software are still making the same sorts of RPGs they did decades ago (and often the very same games). This week Spiderweb announced Avernum 3: Ruined World [official site], capping off their trilogy of remakes of their expanded remakes of the ’90s Exile games. If you want old-school top-down RPG action with plenty of freedom and a world that changes as disaster unfolds, mate, it’s coming in a few months. Here, have a look in the announcement trailer: (more…)