Eschalon, Book 1

Consider the most amorphous of genres, the computer based role-playing game, or CRPG. Put 10 gamers in a room and ask them to define a CRPG, and you will get 10 different definitions.

Eschalon, Book 1 begins with that time-honoured trope, the adventurer with amnesia, who must search to discover not only the world around him, but also himself. It is turn-based to the core and is chock full of hideous monsters, unforgiving combat, swords and sorcery, and a large and richly-realized world.

The creators of Eschalon, early on, promoted it as being a sort of spiritual successor of the Baldur’s Gate games. I think there’s a better lineage though: Eschalon reminds me more than anything of Spiderweb Software’s Avernum and Geneforge games, which themselves were patterned after the Ultima games. Even the character advancement and skill system feels the same. This is not a criticism, because Eschalon brings something that Spiderweb’s games have always lacked: a certain user-interface polish. The game is simple and natural to use, and the UI never feels forced. The writing, perhaps, is not as detailed as in a Spiderweb game, but they feel somehow more playable to me. There is a level grind, as in all games of this type, but it’s so carefully integrated into the game that you can almost forget it exists.

The great downfall of the Baldur’s Gate games (and all games of this type) is inventory management. Eschalon finesses this problem by allowing you to carry enough items that you simply won’t have to worry about it for the most part. That’s probably the right solution.

The game is played from a 3/4 isometric perspective. On the one hand, this sometimes means the things you want to see are obscured. On the other hand, it means you never have to worry about managing a camera. On the whole, I think that’s a good tradeoff. The graphics are (or at least look) tile-based, and the sound effects are serviceable.

I found myself wanting to keep playing Eschalon just to find out more about the protagonist and the world that he lives in. In the end, I think, when you look past the numbers and the weapons and armor, and past the inventory management, that’s what makes an RPG great. Anyone who enjoyed Baldur’s Gate or Ultima will also enjoy Eschalon, Book 1.