I imagine I can't be the only one in here with a bleeding, beating heart laden with fond memories of Exile, Avernum, Geneforge, etc. accumulated over the years. Well, Vogel updated the website for the first time in a year on June 10th, and he'd like our help in testing a brand-spanking new game (whoooo!). I sadly don't have the specs to do proper testing (old macbook), but I figured some of you guys might.
Vogel and his team have consistently churned out huge RPG-worlds and compelling, long, open-world and rich single-player games with amazing writing and immersion--something I personally find rewarding enough to forgive them the lacklustre development in the technical department over the years.
But isn't that a sort of uniting theme of the angry masses congregating in flurries of hushed voices across the land, in corners and cellars and darkened living rooms drenched in cigar smoke? That the singular focus of the gaming industry these days, on excessive multiplayer, swathes of pricey DLC-content, under-performing singleplayer and a lack of depth in storytelling is marginalizing a huge want in their audiences, and are in the same fell swoop revealing the industry's colors as driven by cynical money-makers rather than the passionate craftsmen of a great, cultural genre unique to us children of modern times? Is this not why The Witcher 3 re-kindled the fires of our hearts, that Star Wars: Battlefront did so much to extinguish? Is the lesson learned not that while graphics is nice, major down-sizing in this department is totally managable as long as the game manages to gently instill and install itself in our hearts?
Then we ought regard Vogel and Spiderweb Software as the unsung heroes, fighting the good fight for over two decades. Their story-telling and the richness of their vast character sheet has never failed to immerse and amaze me, ever since I downloaded the Avernum 2 demo some fifteen years ago. These are the games we need, and I suggest we show these humble paragons of gaming virtue that we acknowledge them as the heroes we need--and deserve.
Sign up for beta testing today. Help Spiderweb help us.
[Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Spiderweb Software or Joff Vogel, save for the massive place their games take up in my heart-feelings.]