Lets get the bad news out of the way first.  Helherron is a game with merit, but it has some serious flaws. It's not particularly attractive graphically; indeed it's downright homely (it's worth noting that the dev at one point completely overhauled the graphics and they're now a higher resolution than they used to be). This is forgivable, though that won't hold true for every7one. The game does do a good job letting the player know all of the things he or she needs to know when he or she needs to know it, with only occasional need to consult the in-game help. The in-game help is extensive, which is good. It's not paritcularly well layed out, and that's all there is in terms of manual. It's not ideal, but it's less of an issue than the graphics.

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I am riddled:

And so I ask, if I want to get back the magic of a good, non-mmo, U4 type crpg, where do I go? It may be too late for me because I’m not sure I can stand weak graphics anymore, but there was something special about those old games, and it wasn’t just that they were the only games in town, and where did it go and where can I find it?

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Developer Basilisk Games have just released Eschalon: Book I, a Computer Role Playing Game for the PC. Basilisk is not a name that is typically associate with the giants of the industry like Blizzard, Valve, or Firaxis. You will not find Basilisk amongst the next tier of PC devs, like Big Huge Games or Relic. Basilisk is just a few people (or possibly one person (I've only interacted with one person there anyway) with a small budget with intent is to make a computer game and distribute it digitally. No flashy graphics engine, no major publisher backing the game, no 7-8 figure budget, no massive marketing campaign, no eye-level shelf space in a center-floor display at Electronics Boutique. Eschalon is the flagship title for an indie developer. That pretty much means that 6 billion people don't know any better and could not possibly care less, but also that several of the voices in Ken's head of the contributors to this blog happen to care a good deal.

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