Avencast may not be as flashy as The Witcher or as well written as Neverwinter Nights 2, but there's no denying that it satisfies that action role-playing craving we all get some time. What Clockworks' first major game does do right is deliver a unique action-centric gaming experience coupled with some interesting puzzle solving that sets it slightly above the average Diablo clone. There's no mistaking that the game at least borrows some of those conventions from that classic, but offers it in its own special style.

The story goes that you're a young lad given at an early age to a wealthy man who takes you in as your own and raises you. As you grow into a young lad you are shipped off to the most prestigious magic school in the world - the sprawling campus of Avencast. It is here that the adventure begins, and though the game feels like a Harry Potter knock-off for the first few hours of play, business is about to pick up. After an extremely challenging series of quests you return to the school only to find it utterly destroyed, overrun by demons and monsters and a handful of rag-tag survivors holed up in the central part of the school. Wounded and numbers severely diminished, the ranking wizard sends you out to unravel just what happened. Like Moses, your lineage is amazing and your inherent gift for magic makes you the only choice to lead your people to safety and freedom, but the journey will be spent mostly alone and it will be the most difficult challenge of your life.

The hook, if you read the bullet points on the back of the box, is that this game allows you to cast spells by doing combos not unlike a fighting game. You accomplish this by pressing directional keys in sequence along with either the left or right mouse button. If done correctly you should cast either a close combat spell or a long ranged one. Spells are the most important thing in the game, so getting a handle on them is important, but the developers did something right - they gave players slots to put these spells in. What that means is that instead of having to do these combos, you can simply slot the spells and assign a key to them. And let's be honest, if you are not so nimble with your fingers this goes a long way in making the game more enjoyable. Of course, you could try trudging though the game using the default weak projectile and melee attack, but that wouldn't be very much fun, now would it?

As you kill monsters, finish off quests and side-quests and solve the multitude of puzzles in the game, you'll earn experience points that are used to level up. As you level up you gain about 10 skills points per level. These points can be used to improve your basic stats (health, mana, Soul and Blood magic) or you can use them to purchase spells. Spells cost 6 points a piece and are divided into three schools - blood, soul and summoning. Summoning allows you to summon a handful of minions to do your bidding, blood magic is used for close quarters combat moves and soul is used for projectile and area affect spells. Some spells require a specific level to purchase and have durations, areas of affect and mana costs. It's a good idea to balance out your stats and spells equally, because having a lack of depth in any of these areas is detrimental to your survival.

As you build your library of spells and build up your stats you'll get stronger, which is pretty important as you take on the various foozles in the game. Boss battles are tough in the game, but like every creature you'll encounter, everything has a pattern it follows. Sometimes in some of these end level battles it feels a little bit overwhelming but it is important that you study what's going on and use the right tools and tactics to get the job done. Saving a lot also helps and reading the books and scrolls you find for clues never hurts.

Avencast has some pretty challenging puzzles that range from simple (freeze some water to make a bridge or drink a potion to cross fire) to the more obscure puzzles involving runes and the rather challenging puzzles in the planeterium. The game doesn't make it easy so it is important to save often and use your head. Patience is the key and sometimes common sense plays a big role in your success and failure in the game. The puzzles are what really makes this game shine because they require multiple steps and break up the action.