Dynamic battles and a few great riddles, but bad story and dialogue. Repetitive and linear. Many clichés
Note: I played on normal difficulty.
Avencast starts off with our hero's, a young apprentice magician's, admittance at a magic school. You totally get a Harry Potter feeling at once. I am referring to the classes in alchemy and magic, but also to the school in general. Personally, I liked the beginning as it involved a lot of riddle-solving and put the game as a mainly adventure/riddle-solving game. However the game falls out of that category after the action part takes over. This happens when the school is attacked and a lot of monsters appear and you will have to save the school… and the world.
Your hero will have four stats to augment: stamina, mana, blood and soul magic. Blood magic is close-range magic, whereas soul magic is range-based. You will also be able to summon. It seems that it is in your best interests to be an all-around player in this game, as you will be taking on many monsters with different skills and behaviour at the same time. Patience is a keyword. It pays off to lure enemies out and taking them out one by one, which isn't always possible. The spell system is good, but doesn't offer anything new. You'll have to learn some spells to unlock others, so you'll have to think it over a little. Spells can be set to 4 shortcuts. If not, the spells are all possible to cast be clicking combinations of the movement keys (default: "AWSD") and clicking left mouse for soul magic, or right mouse for blood magic; a good solution.
The riddles in the game are quite interesting and enjoyable. There are more of them in the beginning, but become fewer later on. These puzzles are indispensable for the flow of the game, as it will soon turn very repetitive and action-based. The action system is quite good and you'll have to combine the different types of spells (close/ranged/summon) with dodging and covering. Dodging is performed as a side-, front- or backroll depending on which movement key you double-click, and raises the possibility to avoid spells and missiles thrown by the enemy. This creates a very dynamic and entertaining fight. However you'll learn to trust only a few spells after a while, and only use them. Therefore, the game becomes repetitive, then boring.
There are three different camera types, but this doesn't change the fact that you'll at some point have trouble with it, even with the "follow-camera" which is by far the best. Zooming in and out is also possible, even if you will keep it at distant view almost all the time. The main problem is the fact that the camera doesn't allow you to see enough of what is in front of you. The camera is centred too much over your head to allow you to see everything in front of you, which can be troublesome. Don't get me wrong, you will see what's in front of you, but not enough to my taste.
The story is actually quite bad, and includes a lot of clichés. Some of them are so terrible I want to write them, but I wish to make this spoiler-free. The dialogues between characters is bizarre, sounds like teenagers wrote the script. Personally, I ended up skipping them. You will have the choice to answer different things in conversations, but it will not alter anything; except in a small number of subquests. On the other side, the cut-scenes are still 2D pictures with a great narrative voice, which looks good. The number of NPCs is satisfying, but there are too few that give you something back for interacting with them.
The graphics are pleasing, and you will be walking around big halls, temples and planet crust with great decorations. The characters are as satisfying. What really stand out though, are the spell visuals. The more powerful spells send out lightening and explosions that will astonish you the first time you cast it.
There will be various equipment to pick up, even though you'll find mostly money while looting. Money will not be a problem if you sell everything you find. In the beginning of the game, you will be given a scroll that conjures a clone of the one and only merchant in the game, at any time you want, against a sum of money. So after a while I was able to get a hold on a lot of money, bought all of the best potions; and was more or less capable to charge any room while continually casting the most powerful spells and emptying potion after potion of both types (mana and health). The map is good ok, but all the quest goals are marked out exactly on it. There were subquests, but they were almost all to be done while doing the main quest, which turned the game linear.
Conclusion: I was hoping for more from Avencast. It is a mainly action-based RPG with intensity, dynamic movement and great spell visuals; but also includes riddles in-between that adds a little fluidity. The dialogues and story are terrible; and there is some minor trouble with the camera. The difficulty is hard, until you get a lot of money. Avencast includes a lot of clichés from the RPG genre and RPG stories, and becomes too repetitive in length as to me almost not completing it, if I wasn't in need of a pass-time activity.