Avencast: Rise of the Mage

Avencast: Rise of the Mage
68
Metacritic
76
Steam
68.93
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$0.99
Release date
17 March 2010
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
76 (263 votes)

Avencast is an action-RPG hack-and-slash roguelike game. Armed with numerous combat moves, spells, and a vast arsenal of equipment, you must vanquish the evil that descends on your academy. Along the way, you will learn new spells, and impressive combos with lethal consequences.

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Avencast: Rise of the Mage system requirements

  • OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
  • Processor: 2.2 GHz Intel Pentium or 2200+ AMD Athlon processor
  • Memory: 512 MB (1GB Vista)
  • Hard Drive: 4.4 GB of free space
  • Graphics: GeForce FX 5700 or better / ATI Radeon 9700 or better
  • Sound: DirectSound compatible
  • DirectX®: 9.0c

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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[LUE] TormakSaber
[LUE] TormakSaber

This is a game that could have been much more than it was. I have not beaten the game but I've played enough of it to know where it's going and how I'll get there.

Avencast is an ARPG which tries to break up the right and left click ad infinitum by giving you smal lcombos to do with your spells as well as letting you put them on the function keys. for example pressing right then left, then right click performs a wide AOE blast spell if you've learned it, down then up and right click is a penetrating line shot, etc etc. Left click spells tend to be melee, right click spells ranged. Unfortuntately, for a game that focuses entiirely on magic, that's about as innovative as the magic gets. Only one of the spells I played with felt particularly "impressive" to land, though most all of them look fairly pretty. There are only 2 and a half trees of magic: One melee, primarily fire and poison based, one ranged, primarily ice and "soul" (read: "purple magic") based, and a final one based aorund summoning, but there's no real build to be done in summoning, you just pick the creatures that correspond to whether or not you're a Blood/Melee or Soul/Ranged mage.

Spells are unfortunately rather boring. On the melee side you have... horizontal swipes, AOE bashes, and a few buffs. that's about it. The higher spells in the tree simply augment the lower ones to do more damage/slightly bigger AOE/etc. The ranged tree has a freezing spell that does do damage, but hits so few creatures you're better off nuking. There's also an AOE wave attack that tends to be your bread and butter spam, and a few single target spells that are hard to use due to the AI beuing pretty good at dodging. So mostly you end up spamming the wave attack over and over. Again, for a game that prided itself on being a mage, the magic feels very underwhelming, though flashy to look at.

Combat is fast paced and full of projectiles and rushing enemies. There is no invincibility frames when being hit so a crowd of enemies can overhwelm you. Luckily the game makes you very mobile, with sidesteps and dodge rolls. Stick and move is the name of the game even as a melee mage. Despite the complaints above, the comat is actually fairly engaging. There aren't a lot of enemy types, but they are thrown at you in enough varied ways to where you need to actually pay attention. Bosses generally have a gimmic kthat needs to be overcome to kill them.

Another issue is the levelling system. The level up points you get have to be split between both 4 stats (functionally, you will want 3, as there's no reason to mix being melee or ranged, but no matter whta you are, you'll need lots of health and mana.) and learning all your spells. This often means levelling your stats feels like playing catchup to even out disparities than it does you actually getting stronger. The game is not overly difficult and levels come fairly quickly, but with no real sense of 'strength' gain outside of the first time i successfully nailed someone with Meteor of Might, it falls a bit flat again.

The story is not impressive. But let's be honest: Story is not the high point of an ARPG. Every dialog is voice acted, and to its credit, the voice acting is not terrible. The script? Not so great. But the voice acting itself is decent. Quests are your basic fetch quest variety, with a few puzzles thrown into the mix to keep you on your toes. Nothing too intense or brain burning but enough to break it up here and there. Reading is necessary. Don't expect a game thta will send you on a long magical journey, because for the most part, you will be looking at Avencast Academy for the entire game. Reminds me a bit of Dumbledore's Army and Harry Potter in a way.

All in all, I got the game on the cheap and got my money's worth. I'll probably end up beating it. It won't end up high on my recommendation list, but if you enjoy ARPGs, you'll probably enjoy this since you'll like the twitchy spammy combat, even if the levelling itself feels a bit underwhelming. If you don't enjoy ARPGs and prefer your games a bit more cerebral or involved, give this a pass. It's no Diablo or Path of Exile or even Torchlight, but it tries, and you can tell. I just wish they'd have gone the extra mile.

I give it a lukewarm recommendation if you can pick it up on sale cheap. 75% coupons for this game seem to grow on trees.

ebonweaver
ebonweaver

Control in combat is frustrating because of the constant lock and unlock of your movement while some actions finish. I can't entirely put my finger on what is broken about it, but it's not in any way smooth, and I very quickly found myself irritated at the lack of responsiveness. Spells that move in slow motion are also just extremely lame. You and an opponent can sling 4 spell bolts at each other, and then step aside so all of them miss. Seriously? How are these ranged attacks in any way supposed to be useful? The only reason they work is because there is basically no AI, so if an attack misses it's because the target randomly moved, not because it intelligently moved, because otherwise they just walk right into these bolts of magical molasses. Past that, the fact that casting advanced spells is based on a series of keystrokes on the movement keys, means you're dancing a magical jig to cast a spell, which I find silly at best and disorienting at worst. I couldn't even play long enough to feel like I got my $1.50 sale price out of it.

Chibi_Sixes
Chibi_Sixes

I really dont get why this game has a low rating!!! The game is fantastic. There is litteraly nothing wrong with it!! There are no buggs, the storyline is smooth and great, always keeping you interested, the controls are perfect and on top of that they are also custamizable! (if u think that they are bad) You can even roll in the game!!!! Whats not great about that, hue xD

If people dont like to play a mage dont get this game, this game is all about mages; its a Hogwarts school like game but without wands. There are 3 types of magic, Blood magic, (spells that buff ur staff, so close combat) Soul Magic (spells and ranged combat) and Summoning (that works with both Blood or Soul, depending on what you wana go with).......well u can pretty much guess that one. The story is interesting from the start of the game and the many hours I have played the game (at this date and time) you can tell that the game is properly thought through.

Furthermore, the games combat and controlls, i was personally very worried about really, arent bad. In the end i gave the game a try and its really easy to grasp. There is a combat system (the characters staff is out) were u may run slower but u can roll around to dogue things as this is ur "battle stance" when u fight enemies with spells or up close (depending on what abilities you use) and there is a running system (staff not out) were u run faster, that simple. There are 2 different ways to controll the camera if u dont like the original also 2 other ways to contorl it as the camera may sometimes get in the way. :D There is also key customisation with ur spells as you can set them from F1-F8 or use the keyboared shortcuts within the game (e.g W + A and right click make u cast frost shard) This may sound confusing as first but its really easy to use, especially for aoe spells whitch are many.

Lastly the game overal has a great gripping story, visually pleasing graphics and a huge variaty of spells in the spell trees, for all 3 magic types (Blood, Soul and Summoning). There are many quests, most very humorus, to level you up and to even give you great rewards. Its an RPG about magic, a boys life involved in this magic and a schools history. I really do feel that the devs really tried a lot to add a HUGE amount of gameplay & graphics, i dont understand why people dont like the game.

This game deserves a 10/10 as it gives me a game that i am greatly enjoying and as i have YET to find any problems within the game. I feel like i got what i payed for and more. Well done to the devs ^^

Shu
Shu

Even with all the the negative reviews I bought it. Okay, for a ridiculous price, but I did. I tried playing a few times, but was distracted. Then I tried again last night and it started installing some components I didn't let it install the other times. And then I quit and got to play other game. And then I spent my whole vacation day playing Shadorun, and when I opened my friends list, It says I'm playing Avencast. But I never even opened Avencast. And it registered 24 hours of me playing Avencast.
And then I tried to exit Steam, and Steam tells me to close Avencast before exiting.

Do you see where I'm going here? No?
Then read the reviews that tell you about the nonsensical private information the game asks.

I think Steam should investigate this. Maybe its some scam that no one noticed yet...

Snebular
Snebular

Good combat mechanics/spell mechanics. You can actually remember and cast every spell without putting it in a quick cast slot if you know the spell directions. I didn't make it all the way through the game before my HD crashed and i lost my save and Havent tried to start it up again yet but while the story starts off a bit slow but I do remember being interested in what was happening next before the HD crash. Very unique combat I don't recall any other game I've played having similar spellcasting/attacks.

'Pr4v.
'Pr4v.

Really awful game, I like the class of mages but this game is so bad. The people who really enjoyed this game either played it when it came out; when there were no other better games(there were), or it's their first game ever.

KAZ035
KAZ035

I had a couple dollars left in my steam wallet it was on sale for $2.50 so I figured I would give Avencast a shot and if I didn't like it no big loss but so far I like it a lot ! I actually like it better than torchlight (not better than torchlight 2).
To get it to run on win 8.1 in Avencast options you have to keep the resolution set to default, it will crash on HD res.
also I had to uncheck the video box at the bottom. the game seems to like it set to all the settings with the asterisk.
Im really enjoying the game so far. the controls take a little getting used to but it has a good story and great level design and creepy atmosphere in some places with some puzzles as well. Also its not point and click like most games like this. you control using a-s-w-d which I prefer, simple attacks are L / R mouse buttons major magic attacks are set up with hot keys, you can customize all the settings. The graphics are a bit dated but its a solid game. I would say its worth the $10 price tag but even better on sale.

khon
khon

Just finished the game and liked it a lot for the most part. It's an old school game in the good sence. Its focus lies on dexterity - so simple button mashing won't work. Apart from that it gives you some riddles and puzzles - very easy ones and not so easy ones. Even the story is quite nice. The level system and ability trees make sense - although I only played the "soul path".

Story, gameplay mechanics, loot and level up system are quite motivating. I don't know if I would go for another playthrough on the "blood path" though - we'll see. Don't judge it too hastily and try different settings, especially for the controlls/camera. I played it on normal difficulty and with a following camera. It never got too easy or frustratingly difficult.

At this price you won't expect tripple a gfx, hans zimmer music or bioware style voice acting. Still all the technical aspects of the game are - at least for me - much better than expected and executed quite well. I'd rate this game 75/100. You should give it a try.

OhioMan
OhioMan

Seems steam has me as 0.2 hours played which is not true. anyways I have played this game and I seem to enjoy it.
The spells are interesting and overall holds my interest, I recommend this title.

-V-
-V-

This game is a fantastic throwback to the first three Harry Potter games by EA. As someone who played those games into the dust, I really appreciate this one. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed that series, as adventure RPG fans.

It's not a hard game, the difficulty seems to be geared towards children aged 10-14, with linear gameplay and some sidequests. You get to run around the castle freely, meeting the other students and perfoming odd tasks for them in any order that you wish. It's all very fun, especially when you get challenged by some of the minigames.

Sometimes I get severe freezing and lagging during battle with the follow camera enabled, but that is forewarned in the settings. All controls are re-bindable as you please.

I picked this game up with a very large coupon from Steam (You know, one of those 'deals you can't refuse'), and I would say it's priced very fairly at 9.99-14.99.

War
War

Even though I have this game, and I have seen a lot of good content from it, but this game has a huge flaw which is the huge NPC's lines, in which you can't skip if you know nothing from the game. I got bored the first hour playing the game even though it has some good gameplay. In my opinion this game it's a Diablo II copy but a lot more bored...

smoothmasterz
smoothmasterz

If you're looking for a magic-centric game, you could do a lot worse than this. The movement-as-casting mechanic takes a while to get used to (and you'll be pausing and reviewing what you have to press to produce a given effect a LOT), but it's oddly immersing once you've trained yourself.
The plot, however, reads like baby's first adventure. Seriously, play it for the mechanics and the ability to throw magic around without worrying about a mana bar. Hell, take it up a notch and, for those 21+, take a drink whenever a storytelling trope shows itself. Halfway through the first major arc you'll be seeing triple.

Crimson Rain
Crimson Rain

The game is a nice RPG in the fact that if you like magic based central characters it's pleasant to see the main character be focused on solely spellcasting and has a decent set of skill trees to choose from.

However the problem I had when playing through it was that it all felt a little "same-y" after you've killed mobs in the same way every time without fail it gets a little dull. The story line is ok but not captivating in the sense it drags you in and makes you WANT to follow it rather you have to because the game is very linear and does not give you too much freedom to play it how you wish.

The controls for movement are a little awkward I find but it could be worse and after a while you get used to it. All the running you have to do however can get a little irritating as there isn't much in it.

The music is also very limited and gets a little annoying too as it plays the same loop every time a mob appears.

I don't find it having any particular replay value that is worth again suffering it's faults and repetitiveness.

Overall I would say purchase on a sale, but otherwise it's not particularly worthwhile.

4/10

xanthous king
xanthous king

Nice magic game. Awesome key combinations for casting skills and various skill tree. This is the must-have game for magic fans!

eaglefootball07
eaglefootball07

Fun game with a unique spell system. If you like more involved spell casting games like Magicka (minus the sense of humor here), I'd recommend it.

AnyOne
AnyOne

Great game, much under appreciated. Such a hidden gem, i recommend it to anyone for its great fun, interesting combat system. Its one of those games you didn't expect to be much but then you are surprised.

Dimitris
Dimitris

I have played this game in 2010. It is the second game I bought from steam and it costed 10Euros if I remember in 2010. I dont remember if it was on discount when I bought it. Maybe 50%. I am not sure.

It is a good game. I trully liked the story. Back in 2010 the game graphics where very good. I don't remember bugs or crashes. In 2010 I played it on Windows XP. Also it is not very heavy for the PC.

Someone mentioned problem with saves. I don't remember something like that, but to be honest I always make backups of my saves from time to time and that is what I propose everybody should do. Not only for the circumstances of a bug or a loss of the original saves but also for remebering your adnventures. In the end keep some crucial save files only as memories in case you come back.

The battle mechanics are different than what you will find in other games. They are mostly based on combination of keyborad keys. At first it is very weird to learn and remember the combination. Some spells have easy combinations... while other stronger spells have more compicated. This is uniqe in this game. Unfortunately this might not appeal to everyone.

If the price of the game is very low (75% discount = 2,5 Euros) you can buy it without regretting if you dont like it. I don't belive the price for 10 Euros in good for 2016 as the game is relatively old now.

I always keep a place in my heart for Avencast. It is something unique in my game collection.

Minato Kageaki
Minato Kageaki

So here is the question:
the stupid control ruined everything.
there r 3 control modes but none of them can release my ctrl key.
why cant i just adjust my view by right click?

Vitalbullet
Vitalbullet

It's a good game. Solid gameplay mechanics, which should be more often used in up coming games, but it's stroy is a bit lacking.

MegaBass
MegaBass

They basically just took Harry Potter and made their own game out of him.
Too bad the controls are awfully hard to use. Had a nice concept.

Agape
Agape

Avencast is a nice action RPG, with a solid (although somewhat predictable) storyline.

The combat interface took some degree of getting used to, using key combinations to invoke various spells, but by the time I reached the end of the game, I was able to navigate the combat system as if it were choreographing a dance as much as battling hordes of daemons. Additionally, up to 8 spells can be assigned to hotkeys, so if there are spells that are difficult to get the combo right, or ones that are used repeatedly, a hotkey helps tremendously.

The character development is fairly straightforward, with the biggest gotcha if you fail to notice that the same pool of points is used for both learning new spells and increasing character attributes.

Quests are generally fairly straightforward, and clearly explain well what one needs to do, with a marker on the minimap to remind one of which way to go for quest goals.

There are some puzzles, which can all be solved easily enough if one explores and reads everything.

The graphics are pretty good, for the time that the game came out.

The ambient music and sound effects establish a mood that fits the environments well.

The scripts were reasonably good, and the voice acting was okay, but for several NPC interactions, it sounds like they're speaking in an echo chamber.

Other than that, all I can say is that it was a fun game that had a coherent story, a novel combat system, and fairly well-balanced combat encounters, with reasonable puzzles.

ShinraV
ShinraV

This game has an atmosphere and story like the mage tower in dragon age: origins with action-rpg combat system. Overall the feeling of the game is pretty enjoable although the voice acting might be a punishment to your ears. You can play as a mage in this game with mid range spells and summonings that draws attention so you can spam your spells or you can play as a melee fighter that is depicted as blood magic(its just staff-fighting though). A neat action rpg in dragon age: origins mage tower setting.

Shadow Ops
Shadow Ops

Avencast: Rise Of The Mage
fast game with modern day graphics with easy controls that moves from location A to B to C and so on.

good game.

Personal Suggested Purchase Price: $0.49 Or Less During Sale

D U C K Z   ©
D U C K Z ©

Really nice game. Great sound quality. But I suggest playing with follow camera otherwise it is pretty hard getting used to controls.

ForestWolf
ForestWolf

Rating: bad (4/10)

Introduction
Avencast is an Action RPG that looks old and feels old. It's like the devs did not have any creativity at all and simlpy thought to make some easy cash by salvaging tons of common things about phantasy and just see where it gets them. At least you, as a buyer can be certain about what you are getting here - typical phantasy ARPG with linear story and an easy combat system.
Now on to details:

Gameplay & Story: 3/10
The story is absolutely linear and obvious since the first intro video. You were born being special and everyone in the main quest line keeps reminding you that the whole world is placed on your shoulders pretty much in every single quest after the tutorial. Whats even worse is that the whole story has been used billion times in other games - betrayal, invasion by demons, big bad guy threatening to destroy everything and you are the only one to stop him. The side quests are nothing but fatch quests having no connection to the main quest at all. During the whole game you will see about 10 differant map layouts and about 10 different type of enemies. Everything else is just being salvaged and re-used. In the whole game I've seen only a single enemy that was not reminding me of exactly the same in other games.

Combat & Challenge : 3/10
At the start I thought that the combat fun gonna pick itself up when I get more spells and attacks. Sadly, it doesnt. Instead of spamming basic attacks, after skilling higher level spells I started spamming them. The choice is also not huge since you need one single target attack and one AoE to progress through the whole game. Besides that higher level skills in Avencast are mostly just upgraded versions of lower level ones.The only choice that matters is the skill type - melee or ranged, since the influenced by different stats. The AI is simply garbage, even worse than stupid, since it gets stuck a lot of times just trying to reach you. Same for NPCs that follow you in some quests. In battle the monsters simply run at you in a straight line, from time to time dodging to the side but thats kinda it. Even the monsters with shields either un at you or stand still "blocking" for 3 seconds and continue running at you again. Avencast offers no challange even at hardest difficulty whatsoever.There are tons of RPGs, especially action RPGs that have innovative or remarkable fighting systems and sadly Avencast doesnt use any ideas from these, neither inventing anything new or creative.

Graphic & Interface : 4/10
The graphic feels quite aged, its not insanely bad but definetely not up to 2010 release date. A lot of areas dont feel detailed enough, there is no eye candy to get any attention. The characters take some time getting used to, since its a mix of older RPGs and cartoonish graphic style. Some areas have decent immersion with destroyed objects, but besides that sadly nothing worth mentioning. The interface is absolutely simplistic - few slots for items like potions, few slots for spells. A small ribbon bar for icons like character screen and inventory.

Progress & Mini-Games : 5/10
The progress in Avencast is pretty simple - just follow the main quest markers. Sometimes there is a small detour into the room next to the main room on the map to grab a key item, but besides that its always straight forward. It earns few points here though for having some mini-games that either require some reading, thinking or try & error. Some timing and dodging minis at the end of the game also make the game last a bit longer than simply rushing to kill the endboss asap.

Audio & Immersion : 3/10
I dont even remember, if the game had any music, thats how unremarkable it was. The battle sounds are sounding mostly clunky, no real feedback giving about the impact of the hits. Playing as a ranged character the whole game I was listening to 2 different attack sounds for 12 hours. Since there are barely any differencies between the monsters, their sounds are being reused aswell. The only good immersion with sound feedback was inside the starting room where you could hear background chatting of the crowd with distinguishable words. After that the devs probably decided its not worth the time spending on immersion and sound feedback.

Side-Notes

    • This game is single player only.
    • This game contains no achievements, nor ingame neither steam.
    • This game offers none to minimal replayability. If you played it once, you will most likely never touch this game again, unless in some years you decide to try out the other skill trees.
    • This game is fairly short, took me ~12 hours to finish it completely including all optional quests and exploring all the areas, killing all the enemies.
    • The publisher often offers big price discounts for this game: highest noted was -90%.

I hope this review helps you making the decision if its worth buying this game. Rate and leave a comment if you enjoyed reading it.
~ForestWolf

knight9000xshipwars
knight9000xshipwars

Wasn't expecting a lot from this game. But it was actually pretty fun! Play as a mage/wizard. You have three "trees" of magic you can go down (really 2 with a third thats just a couple spells). Its recommended to choose just one tree (soul or blood) and put your points into that type of magic as you lvl.
Play a diablo style game of running around killing demons, lvling up, getting armor upgrades.

vior wolfkin
vior wolfkin

clumsy controls ! but i would like to see it controler friendly ! as it looks intiguing .... the game is entertaining and pretty good when used in conjunction with a good gaming mouse ! but dont forget to set camers to auto ! the battles can be slow and tedious but as you level up it may be better in short the game is ok ! but clumsy and that is probably why the devs made it so undemanding ! spam spam spam ............... because of this the fights are boring and tedious ! boss fights sre no harde than any other fight ..... they just take far too long !and beating a boss ??? YOU SHOULD NOT BE THINKING THANK THE LORD THAT BORING FART IS DONE !......... THERE IS NO FEELING OF WINNING ! OR SUCCESS !!!! merely a feeling of relief at getting a repetetive boring task done ! ..... thats not to say its a bad game but dont pay more than a couple of quid for it ! its notr worth it !,,,shame realy because it promises so much more than it delivers ! and i dont think it would take much to make it a much more enjoyable game

A Lounge Moogle
A Lounge Moogle

The controls are weird and McAfee hates this game for some reason. Keeps quarantining it. Probably best to avoid this one.

Bladeknightz
Bladeknightz

dont buy this game, if you ever run into a issue, the support team is non existant and will not get no help in the end at all..

Parasite
Parasite

Its worth at least playing it once for the Harry Potter Feels. The game starts slow, but as you gain your first spell combo's the story picks up and your launched into a desperate attempt to rescue Avencast, the mage academy. Preety casual RPG, should last you a good 16 hours of storymode until completion. Got stuck on some of the puzzles, but its not unbeatable. If you like Gauntlet type games with a hint of diablo, then this one does a fair job at it. I would of down-voted it, and the only reason being was that the sfx kept cutting out and the movie clips were mute for me. It might of been my sound-card though, or running it in 5.1 dts optical. I was able to max out this game a 2k at 144hz, played like butter. It is sort of a gem among rpg's. Give it a try, 3.8 out of 5.

Energonchi
Energonchi

What i can say about this game it seems an ancient trying to end the legacy of a terror unleashed into havocness!

What really is blindly troubling is the game loading screen...it takes forever in an accursed mummy bandage slapping you
to preowned death!

I cant even enjoy it when a game takes forever to start up!
The force is powerful, maybe the story is double-edging greatness!

But the mankind hangs of this game is that embarking daring desperate starting up screen,
makes it a treacherous and non treasure pulse-pounding action adventure RPG!

I can see the potential is there...but this game seems outdated and i cant stand waiting patiently to load
a game from the spectacular start love the burrito master!!!

RoboRob
RoboRob

Not that great. Dodgy controls and terrible audio.

For a more comprehensive overview of the game, check out my video review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSfb09bBZ2E&list=PLL85hnAQWvK_ngPUzs74S…

Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke

At first, it can be boring but when you adapt yourself the game's combat system it becomes a challanging fun game. And blood mage(melee mage) system is great. I opened all blood mage skills and put all my attributes on blood magic. I was dying easily but it feels like i'm playing a hack&slash game like Devil May Cry. Story was meh. It's definitely worth price on sale. I recommend this game if bad graphics doesn't bother you.

louishan80
louishan80

well....straight foward gameplay...
nothing unique....still enjoyable , playable...

when you have no other games to play, you probably can play this to pass time...

MensIuguolo
MensIuguolo

Very unruly controls. Strains the hands with repatitive clicking.
Why on earth do I need to press "1" again and again to cast a spell?! (ice spray in the fire dwarves quest).

Come on, we have advanced from this kind of UI eons ago

TomCat86
TomCat86

Where did all the reviews go? Do not buy, game is filled with insane graphical bugs. I uploaded screen shots on my profile.

Tararabbit111279
Tararabbit111279

The controls feel very clunky,

Story is cliche and lame, Purchased for $0.99, you get what you pay for. Certainly isn't worth $10.

CandyCarrier
CandyCarrier

After playing this game for several hours, I hereby declare it the most frustrating gaming experience of a whole year. Congratulations, Avencast, you did it! Not only because it lacks any character customisation and only a few (2 with some variations) possible ways of development. Nooo, I award the game this honourable title solely becaus of its fighting mechanics. An idea of pressing movement keys in different combinations for different attack moves is far from being new, and usually it makes fights more intence and enjoyable. But not when half of the time key combos simply doesn't work! I have played Gothic, I have played Blade and Sword - and that was fun. Avencast.. well, not so much. Maybe it wants me to develop a perfect reaction, instead of just a good one, but I think, I'd rather uninstall it.

n_gustav
n_gustav

A masterpiece of medioker.
The makers of this game didn't really try that hard. The game is focosed on hack and slash. The balance is bad. You can kill most enemies in a hit.
You get to choose between two kinds of magic, blood or soul. Lategame Blood deals thousands of damage and soul deals out damage in the hundreds. It's laughable, did they even bother to playtest or run the numbers?

For a game about magic the most effective way is to simply bash most enemies to death.
The maps are long but lifeless and rather dull.
The enemies are using mostly same models from start to end. Very little varience.
The bosses are mostly normal minions enlarged.
The pussle bits are few and rather uninspired. Mostly walk/choose the right sequence.
The loot/equipment are mostly useless and there's little varience.

The whole game felt like clearing the trash mobs in MMO/grinding.

CauldronBorn
CauldronBorn

It's a great game. I'm a fan since 2010 or so. It was running smoothly then and it is the same now. Don't listen to people complaining about the plot - it' seems a bit cheesy now, but as for 2010 it was great. I'm a big fan of the overall looks of the game. The atmosphere in the first part of the game is unique and appealing. You're a young mage (not the most diligent one) in the famous magic academy. An adventure lies ahead of you. There's autumn outside which adds a bit of melancholy to the scene and the music there is comlimenting it beatufully. Everything is perfect. For the time being. And then all the hell breaks loose. In some parts game's truly scary and unsettling, in some - beatiful and soothing. Gameplay is addictive and even to the present day haven't lost its dinamic. Some spells are OP but that's even more fun. Definetely would recommend.

28 USC 455
28 USC 455

One of the first action rpg type of games with direct player control. Also has in depth ability casting. Very good game.

Trippingghost
Trippingghost

seems interesting till you get to a crashbug just after the tutoral and cant load the save without crashing

Meebond
Meebond

Very fond memories of this game, but it's been forever since I played it. About to go back through for memories' sake.

Kloodge
Kloodge

I bought this at the store when it first came out. Even though I really liked a lot of things about it, I was never able to get past chapter 3 because it got very tedious going from room to room, killing the same mobs.

I bought it here for 99 cents just to have it in my Steam library and decided to give it one more try. This time I put it on easy, hoping that the fights would go faster and it would feel less tedious. It did. I managed to finish it this time. I accidentally left it on overnight once (or maybe twice) so I'm not sure how long it actually took to finish. Most likely about 15-18 hours. The length was about right. It ended before it overstayed its welcome, but I was ready for it to end.

It does not support a controller, but works very well with xpadder during exploring and combat. I still used the mouse to do inventory, skills, etc.

The graphics are dated but acceptable to me, the sound effects were fine and the voice acting fairly decent. I have no opinion on the story because I typically ignore it as much as possible. It is a slow-paced game. Most enemies take several hits to kill and you walk a bit slow until you find gear to boost your walking speed.

Overall, it's a very fun game.

smartdil93
smartdil93

I really enjoyed the gameply and story of this game. Rather straightforward, you pick one type of magic as your dominant style - ranged or close combat. You solve all the same quests and fight the same monsters whatever you choose, and the ending is not altered by your choices, but I enjoyed that nonetheless. Lots of neat demons to fight, good music as well, and customizable weapons and armor. It doesn't take too long, so go play!

opuz
opuz

very classy. Reminds me Dungeon Siege II.
graphics is not modern, still its design is very atmospheric and beautiful.

seanymilk
seanymilk

Dungeon Siege meets Harry Potter.
Such a gorgeous and beautifully written story.
I loved the gameplay and the rich story-line!

BrightExistence
BrightExistence

TL;DR Buy it on sale and have a few hours of fun with it, you may be pleasantly surprised! Just don't pay more than a couple bucks for it or you're likely to be disappointed instead.

FULL REVIEW:

I don't post reviews much anymore; people generally just hate on you for having an opinion other than theirs. However, this game deserves some honest praise, so I'll break my silence to offer my recommendation (with reservations.)

It's production values are minimal, it's budget clearly not high. Or perhaps, in the interests of being fair, it is simply an older game. The graphics are quite dated (but not terrible), and I'm pretty sure there were only two people doing the voice acting for all the parts. That being said, they clearly have talent despite sometimes sounding like amateur tabletop RPG players humorously voicing their characters' dialog. Still, I've played a lot of CONSIDERABLY more expensive games which had far, far less voiced content, and lower quality voice acting. Every character I came across had all of its dialog spoken. Impressive for a game I picked up for a couple of bucks! Also, the music wasn't half-bad, although it did get old after an hour or more due to pure repetition.

It has remarkably good design choices that, should it have had the resources of a modern AAA game studio, would have made it really amazing. Unlike it's more button-mashing focused peers, this game forces you to be dexterous on the keyboard to pull off its abilities - and these days it is a welcome change for an RPG to actually involve the skill of the player and not just being all about numbers and high level equipment, or button mashing. (Although those things all play their part, don't get me wrong.) I loved that you can dodge in several ways, you must anticipate your enemies movements to aim over distances, and positioning your character can have a real influence. For example, I was often able to maneuver myself so that enemies' projectiles were blocked by other enemies.

Please note that players who really like a challenge will be bored quickly. I hate hard games because I'm usually terrible at them, but even I had to play this game on its hardest difficulty to feel challenged. However its biggest failing is in balancing. As you level up you can gain abilities just like in similar isometric dungeon crawlers, yet unlike its peers it didn't feel like a reward. I was astounded at how worthless the abilities felt once I unlocked them and finally got to use them. Enemies would walk right through my brand-new unlocked spells like I was blowing a bit of dust their direction while using only half a lung. I ended up just spending most of my time using the same single projectile spell with which I started. I feel like this game (while I respect it) would have been a lot more fun if the developers had spent more time polishing and testing it, and just generally making the different abilities feel powerful. It's not horribly unbalanced or anything, but the spells each felt like a missed opportunity for more fun.

Also, while it actually has a story, and I have seen worse, I don't recommend purchasing it for the story. The early game is all about helping a bunch of senile instructors who are too busy standing around to go find that thing they dropped or kill low level enemies. I mean, how did they get their positions in the first place? The only magic school staffed entirely by volunteer seniors from the local care home, and our character found it! A couple of them do have a few years of life left, although given that one of them seems to narrate his conversations in the third person, I'm not sure anyone there is still casting with a full mana bar, if you catch my meaning. I jest about this in part because I feel like the creators had something of a sense of humor about their creation, and while I might mock it a bit, I really respect that too.

So, should you buy it? Depends. Get it on sale for a couple bucks and fire it up with reasonably set expectations of a low-budget / older title and you may just find a Steam hidden gem. I hope someday the creators can resurrect this game (or one very similar) with a larger budget and more polish, because they clearly have skill as artists and designers. However if you're looking for a more refined, more challenging, and quite simply more fun game right now, there are better (if more expensive) options out there which have similar design elements. I respectfully tip my hat to the developers on this one.

revler
revler

Fun and challenging slightly slower paced mage action, with lots of fast bullet dodging, crowd control and mana management.

Oh, and make sure you change the game.cfg file to make the camera less claustrophobic, the vanilla game's camera is kinda crappy: https://www.avencast.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=526

AlienEdam
AlienEdam

The game is a pure masterpiece. It was one of my childhood games, but I recently finished the game again. I would recommend this for anyone who loves a good story and gameplay, but could endure the fact that it's old and that the game could have a few bugs and fair graphics compared to nowadays games.

Selva
Selva

I do not know about the rest of this game. I'll never see it. I'm assuming I got this a part of a bundle at some point because I do not remember buying it. My advice, don't. Worst control scheme ever. Let's have an isometric game with a control scheme that works relative to the character. You know. A for rotate left and D for rotate right. Buuuuuut they also control dodging. And the camera is controlled by using the control key. Not sure who came up with that but I assume they are having a successful career in another industry by now. There are alternatives to holding down the control key to move the camera. But they only get worse. Except for a n amazing control I found hidden in the escape menu.
"Quit"
Best button I saw.
Otherwise... Decent artwork for a second string game. Or a late 1990's port. Story works if you like wizard school tales. (So far as I saw. I was done after the first fighting bit.) Standard annoying BGM.
Final assessment: Get this on sale for less than a dollar. As a gift for someone you don't particularly like.

Ajantis
Ajantis

This is actually a Neutral review.
This is an average Hack and Slash RPG.
It has an ok story and also some puzzles.
Some puzzles were fun, some were not.
It is original in the way that you can only be a mage, and you can specialize in close combat magic or ranged combat magic, while also having some summoning choices.
Graphics and sound are middle-ground.
Not many types of enemies.

Buy only if you like Hack and Slash RPG's.

barusu
barusu

Basic mage fantasy game, doesn't excel at anything too much but it is a good experience. Grew up with this, shaped the person I am today, I will forever be thankful.

AmShaedar
AmShaedar

I really like this game. Maybe it is just my nostalgia, but you can feel the passion that went into it!
Before AAA titles, lootboxes, open world sandboxes and live services were the norm, games such as this one were how we spend our time.
While the story is a bit simplistic and the graphic are dated by today's standards, what this game has for it, is an innovated and unique magic casting system.
In order to perform a spell, you have to press it's unique button sequence based on movement keys and either left or right click.
20+ unique spells, divided into 2 spell trees, each one with each one unique casting combination.
Sure you can shortcut a few of those for easier casting but trying to perform the proper spell combinations while under pressure is where the real fun is.

Even now a decade+ later, I still come back to this game every now and then just to experience the uniqueness of this game.
If you ever find yourselves with a few hours of spare time, then I would highly recommend to give this game a chance.

ophel_lynx
ophel_lynx

Finishing the game once, I would rate the game a 6 our of 10, where 5 being an okay, playable experience. For a game that's made in 2007, even for the year, the overall experience is kinda lackluster. However, depending on who you are, you may or may not find investing about 20 hrs into the game... acceptable.

The main draw of the game, it seems, is the use of directional buttons incorporated into using your abilities. In theory, this can make for a smooth fighting experience, since most inputs are 2 buttons + left click or right click (e.g. W->A->Left click) with the most complicated spells being 3 direction inputs long.

In practice, at least of me, is that my fight-or-flight response gets in the way of my memory, so building muscle memory for the abilities you want to use is definitely useful. In the end, I just resorted to shortcuts, as I'm not that particularly skilled, and I honestly didn't want to invest that much of my brainspace for the combo.

The overall experience is... okay. Acceptable. The quests and sidequests are not anything out of the ordinary, but it does have quite a chuck of it involving backtracking (about 30% or so, not too bad), but the backtracking is made less painful by the not so large travel distance between point A to point B. You don't get a home base teleport, but with how the game is structured, you don't need it, which is why you have a Call Shop instead.

In summary, I don't recommend this game for anyone who is looking for "something". But if anyone has some spare money, curiosity, and some stomach for, well, 2007 game mechanics, then it's at least an experience or a time sink you can have while waiting on that "something"

Krow Dotman
Krow Dotman

Recommended.

Classic game of the genre, story is decent but short, gameplay is also very good, runs well on new devices, but you gotta change up the control layout on keyboard, it feels clunky.

Story - 3
Gameplay - 3
Scenario - 3
Sync - 3
Sense - 3

Final - 3/5

AmoebaToxin
AmoebaToxin

This is a charming simple game that reminds me of the old days of PC gaming. Most importantly it runs without a hitch and looks good. I would like if there was an option for enemy respawning as you travel about the various areas of the map. But other than that it's just fine.

Vulpess
Vulpess

A short yet action packed game. Gets a bit repetitive after a while (clearing every level of baddies), but the spells are fun and it was a welcome blast from the past.

Boom Resolved
Boom Resolved

There is something about this game that I have always enjoyed. Once you have the controls figured out and reconfigure your hotkeys. This is what a mage game is supposed to be!

lockingbane
lockingbane

Nostalgia fuel all the way. It isn't as expansive as some games but it knows what it is doing and does it fairly well

Old Raver
Old Raver

Avencast is an 'honest' game Good little game, a bit of a hidden gem
Dungeon Siege meets Harry Potter
some simple & challenging puzzle and good quests the combos are fun and a little more engaging than just pressing a single key to use an ability
I recommend it as an RPG? No. Would I recommend it as an action adventure RPG

why u mad bro?
why u mad bro?

Nc game ,fot the following reasons-
1.good mechanics
2.less bugs
3.nice skill tree which you can upgrade to get new magic skills
4.hitpoints to upgrade your soul or blood magic or your health and mana
5.variety of villians and mobs plus bosses
6.big game
7.satisfied with the ending
8.good puzzles and side quest
overall i recommend this game

Horrorcrawler, BSN
Horrorcrawler, BSN

I don't know if I received this game for free when they were giving it out or if I bought it for $1 when it was on sale but I can COMPLETELY say that I have thoroughly enjoyed this game.

The graphics are a tad bit dated and the camera can be finicky at times with a really weird control (where it controls independently from your character but even with that I still played 6 hrs with no problem, it is something you get used to. Although I would highly recommend turning on the "Expert camera" because it just snaps your camera to your characters back and you no longer have to control it independently).

However where this game shines is its storytelling (I mean it is basic savior of the world but it is neat), its really cool set pieces (I LOVED walking around the academy), its atmosphere, and its magic! The game has you have to remember certain button prompts in order to cast, and although it can be very overwhelming at the start when you finally learn the combinations by memory it makes you feel like a real Wizard!)

TLDR: I would highly recommend this game, it is a cool top-down RPG with some cool set pieces, intuitive magic system where you have to remember prompts but also makes it FEEL like casting, great atmosphere, and some cool story telling elements. Whether for free or for $1 I can not recommend this game enough (For $1 I have already gotten 13hrs of game and I am STILL not done.)

ASTROCHRONIC
ASTROCHRONIC

needs proper controller support...obviously 12 year old game is not going to get any updates at this point. Got it for a dollar. Got my money's worth. Might be a good game, not going to find out. I will only recommend because I dont think it is fair to down vote it just because its old and does not have proper controller support.

AMK
AMK

The game starts off pretty good, but overstays its welcome. Really only the first 2-3 hours are enjoyable, the rest feels like a slog. There are better games out there, even for the price, so I would recommend avoiding.

Here is here I think the game fails:
1) Games is very grindy starting about 2-3 hours in. Monsters take several hits to kill, but will kill you pretty quickly. Mana recharges relatively slowly, so the game involves casting a few spells and then waiting for the mana to recharge before moving on.

2) the environments feel the same. The same stone walls, same stone floors, same piles of rubble.

3) The skill tree has some decent diversity, but your character will obtain the most powerful spells around 2/3 of the way through the game. After that, you can increase your mana or damage, but you don't get new, more powerful, skills/

4) Quests all kind of feel the same. Go get this, go kill that, etc. The side quests, and storyline, just aren't very interesting.

The game does a few things well. There are a couple of skill trees - one for summoning, one for soul (ranged) magic, and one for blood (melee) magic. Summoning isn't very useful as even the strongest summons are pretty week. However the blood and soul magic play very differently, and even within each the spells feel pretty different. While the gameplay of the game wasn't good, I have encountered few hack and slash games with this much diversity of skills. Despite this, the game still isn't worth playing.

WuSeR
WuSeR

This game would have been way better with controller support. Good game though.

Lightning Jesus
Lightning Jesus

This is one of the best games that I've ever played. Superb, fluid combat, interesting opponents, and great enemy variety. I love the spells, especially. Small design improvements could be allowing actual hotkey assignment to spells (above f1-f4, the keys do not trigger the spell when pushed and therefore rely on the sometimes difficult movement combos). Also, the laser creatures in the time-travel mage prison shouldn't one-shot you, sheesh. But overall, I seriously love this game and I hope someone someday puts this in Unreal Engine because wooooooooow would that be a triple AAA game. Imagine an open-world Avencast in Unreal Engine.