Review: Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues (Steam)

by Jim Smale · Published April 16, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2018

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is a multiplayer fantasy RPG and the spiritual successor to Richard Garriott’s wildly successful Ultima and Ultima Online games.

Pros:

Ok graphics.
8400MB Download size.
Steam achievements.
Graphics options- Fullscreen, AA, Depth of field, Cloth simulation.
Online/offline worlds.
Matchmaking- Open, Party or private.
Opening tutorial section with pop ups later on.
Deep charcter creator.
Can customise the UI.
Keybinding is possible.
Decent soundtrack.
Frequent events and double EXP activities.
RPG gameplay.
A spiritual successor to the Ultima games.
Trading cards.
All the features of an MMO without a subscription.
New content released monthly.
Buy land and houses to store your goods.
Classless player where you can create your own class as it were and tweak away.
IAP are tradable.
Has PVP combat.
Full deep crafting table.
Plenty of loot.
Huge world full of many varied biomes and worlds.
A wide variety of enemies/creatures.
Very old school feel in its approach and appearance.
lots of sidequests and a management system in place.
Easy enough to get into and play.

Cons:

Huge frequent updates which are always a few gigs at least.
Long loading times.
Clipping issues.
Combat is clumsy and not that fun.
Stops responding issues.
Feels like a game still in development.
Huge learning curve.
Housing is very costly and takes a long time to actually buy.
The slowdown in built-up areas.
Small online numbers.
Little voice acting.
Easy to rack up 100s of sidequests.
In-app purchases.
Steam actually patches the game slower than the standalone client.
A lot of ugly textures.

The Numbers:

7/10
Graphics - 7/10
7/10
Sound - 7/10
6/10
Accessability - 6/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
7/10
Fun Factor - 7/10

6.8/10

Summary

Ok so I went in expecting a nice RPG game that stinks or retro goodness, What I got were a game that felt unfinished, A lot of ugly textures and eye aching pop-ups. Not to mention every few days I get a few gigs to update the game, It really began to irk. Anyway, I found Avatar to be old feeling in its approach but more antique than retro and more obtuse than open. You can get a lot of hours out of this game as they do nail the MMO feel and content, whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you. In short, its has many flaws but it could at any point break into a must own title. Best to wait for now.