Downloadable Games Review; Aveyond: Gates of Night by Amaranth Games

Aveyond: Gates of Night by Amaranth Games is the direct follow-up to Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, and this one is episodic with the popular casual role-playing game series instead of releasing one giant 50-hour epic.

Gates of Night is full of surprises. It starts of with a terrific soundtrack. It has about 10 hours of gameplay and Gates of Night feels more solid and fleshed out than that last game and makes for an even more enjoyable adventure.

Gates of Night continues the story of Mel, a young thief whose unique position as a descendent of the person who created the powerful Orb of Twilight puts her at odds with an evil vampire named Gyendal, who plans to use her to plunge the world into eternal darkness.

You'll get a better feel if you complete Lord of Twilight first, but it's not needed. The new episode does a great job of easing a new player into the world gently, filling in character information and back-story as needed. Interestingly. those who have completed the first game don't have to work too hard for extra, as they can load their save file into the new game and bring their characters, experience points, armor and items with them.

There is a lot of focus on developing relationships between the characters now that the core party is firmly established. Two particularly interesting sub-plots; the love/hate relationship between the vampress Te'ijal and her human husband Galahad, and the Crown Prince Edward's efforts to woo a wife.
Graphics and gameplay are the same as the first game, and players still have the option of using either the keyboard or the mouse, adjusting the difficulty level, and saving and loading at any time.

But, as a drawback, the world map is still too vague to actually be useful in figuring out how to get to certain areas. You'd wish you could draw the detailed maps yourself within the game.

In Lord of Twilight there were quests that couldn't be complete and areas that were visible but couldn't be accessed. Gates of Night takes care of that. The result is a more satisfying and full experience.

If you want a similar expereience, try Aveyond, Aveyond 2, Aveyond: Lord of Twilight, and Eternal Eden.