Request [PC] Underrated Games

Anything from Spiderweb Software.

Since this is a novel forum, I want to highlight the writing quality in the games by that developer. He's really, really good. Every game he puts out has a great story, well-crafted setting, intriguing characters and, often, moral dilemmas.

They're all turn-based tactical RPGs, so don't bother reading the rest if that doesn't interest you:

The three main game lines are Avernum, Geneforge, and Avadon. All three series are complete at 6 games, 5 games and 3 games, respectively. They share an overarching story but are largely episodic and can be played out of order. The Avernum series is currently undergoing its.. third(?) remake. The first two games have been recently remade and the third, usually cited as the best in that series, remake is the next game in development. Each game he developed was a step up from the previous, usually, in terms of graphics and accessibility. The first few games in the Geneforge series are old, and have never been remade, so that series is now the most dated of the three. Avadon as a whole is the most recent, and therefore most polished, series.

Each has a very different style.

In the Avernum series, you custom create a party of four characters and explore a massive and, usually, subterranean world. The emphasis of the game is on your relatively free and unrestrained exploration, and how you gradually piece together major questlines as you go. Most of the time, you don't really have a big "next step" so much as a bunch of new places you can check out and a ton of sidequests that gradually begin to form a bigger picture. There are differences between the games, with some having more of a sense of direction than others, but that's the nutshell.

In the Geneforge series, you play as one character in a world controlled by "Shapers" - mages, I suppose, with the power and knowledge to create life. Most of the games involve the rebellion of creations against creator that plays a central role in the overarching storyline between games. You have tons of options in this series, with many factions vying for power and wishing for your assistance.. or to use you to their own ends, as the case may be. The big highlight for this series, apart from the moral dilemmas you're presented with, is the ability to yourself create life. There's a pretty wide variety of "creations" that you can give shape to, forming your own private army to do your fighting. Of course, you can also grab a sword or a wand and handle the front lines yourself, as you wish.

In the Avadon series, you are a servant of the Pact, a union of five nations formed for mutual protection against foreign invaders. Your job is to keep the peace - rooting out dissension, capturing or killing anyone who would harm the unity of the Pact. Unfortunately, there's a fuckton of internal strife in the alliance, because apparently the threat of foreign invasion isn't as important to some people as arguing - and commiting acts of terrorism - over who owns this or that spot of land between two nations, or whether that neighboring country is full of savages who need to be educated. Y'know, the usual we-can't-get-along-and-you-can't-make-us shenanigans. Like the Geneforge series, this one presents you with many moral dilemmas and choices. It's well-written, too, and it will make you think hard over how you choose to handle people and situations. Maybe even give you a few regrets. ... Like Geneforge, you play an individual character in this one. Unlike Geneforge, though, you don't get to create an army of personal servants - instead, you have colleagues. Each available character class in the game has a representative NPC party member who works for the same organization you do, and will travel and fight alongside you - when they aren't grumbling about their personal issues and trying to drag your name through the mud by forcing you to help them solve them.

For reference, steam links:
The first Avernum game.
The entire Geneforge series.
The first Avadon game.

 

lmao at people pulling out VNs. C'mon, all of those are underrated.

As far as gameplay among translated VNs goes, I'm sticking to saying Kamidori has no competition, 'kay? I like alchemy games.