Exile II: Crystal Souls

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Avernum series . (Discuss)

The Exile series of roleplaying games were created by Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software. They are released as shareware titles for Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows systems. Exile III was also ported to Linux by a third party. There were 4 games released in this series.

• Exile: Escape from the Pit (released in January 1995)
• Exile II: Crystal Souls (released in November 1995)
• Exile III: Ruined World (released in January 1997)
• Blades of Exile (released in December 1997)

Games

Exile I

The first game of the Exile trilogy sees your newly created characters thrown from the world above into the subterranean world known as Exile. Once here you discover a culture that has formed from the outcasts of the Empire above a culture beset by constant warfare and monsters galore. In Exile you meet with many who wish to get revenge on the Empire for the wrongs it has done to the peoples of Exile.

You become a rallying point around which the people of Exile who desire vengeance gather to focus their energies into finding a way to strike back against the cruel Emperor of the surface. Together you manage to get to the surface and use your time there to assassinate Emperor Hawthorne.

Exile II

The second Exile game follows directly from the first. The Empire has begun to recognise the threat the Exiles pose and begin sending their army down into Exile in huge numbers. To make matters worse unknown barriers of energy are sprouting up around the world - sometimes aiding the Exiles, sometimes helping the Empire who can afford the losses much more easily than the Exiles.

A new party of characters meets one of the creatures causing the barriers sprouting up in Exile and go to meet with the unknown race to try and secure an end to hostilities. In the end you are even more successful - and the Vahnatai join with the Exiles to drive out the Empire. With the support of the Vahnatai the Exiles turn the tables on the Empire and successfully repulse their invasion.

Exile III

The final release in the Exile trilogy takes place some time after Exile II. A lot of preparation has taken place and now the Exiles are ready to send a selected few back into the light of the surface. However, while you are at first stunned by the sheer beauty of the land around you, you begin to notice that things are not as perfect as they seem. The slimes you encounter are only the first part of what becomes a series of monsters and terrible occurrences that are blighting the Empire and laying it to waste.

When scouting the land as were your orders from the Exile government you are asked by the Empire to help save the surface from its blight. You bring the Exiles and the Empire together once more as allies trying to find the cause of the destruction.

Blades of Exile

Blades of Exile consists of three short scenarios set after the main trilogy as well as an editor that allows players to create their own scenarios, which need not be set in the Exile game world at all. Several hundred custom-made scenarios have been designed since the release of the game in 1997. The most prominent meeting places on the web of the Blades of Exile community are the official company-hosted internet forum. These forums offer support for beginning designers and players, reviews of new scenarios and general discussions about the use of the scenario editor. Jeff Vogel has recently released the source code for Blades of Exile.

Game Features

Common to all games in the Exile series are 2D graphics and basic sound. The games are designed to be non-linear and long in gameplay length.

Reception

The Exile trilogy was very well-received. PC Games wrote that Exile: Escape from the Pit "offers an easygoing point-and-click interface; pleasant, if unambitious, graphics; ... literate prose; and a vast scope." Exile II: Crystal Souls won the 1995 Eddy Award Honorable Mention for Best Shareware Game of the Year, and received a 5 out of 5 star rating from ZiffNet. Exile III: Ruined World received the Shareware Game of the Year award from Computer Gaming World and Ziff-Davis Publishing.

Avernum

More recently the Exile games have been remade as the Avernum series, which replaced the two-dimensional tile-based graphics system with an isometric one and made numerous changes to the RPG system and some changes to the content. A fifth title in the series is available under the Avernum moniker and engine.

See also

• Jeff Vogel
• Spiderweb Software
• Avernum series

External links

• Spiderweb Software
• Encyclopedia Ermariana - an extensive encyclopedia of Exile
• The Lyceum Scenario writer's gathering spot
• the Blades of Exile scenario database
• The Blades of Exile Webring