On the whole, role-playing games have been evolving towards simplicity. One important strain, the hack'n'slash, reduces the gameplay to combat and upgrades. Strategy often consists of nothing more than wading into a gang of monsters, sword swinging and fireballs flying. Another breed, the Japanese RPG, has simplified the genre towards cute graphics, scripted storylines, and basic magic and combat systems. Both have strayed a long way from the earlier pen-and-pencil modules, which attempted to create complete fantasy worlds through charts and numbers.

Eschalon Book I is an attempt to bring back some of the complexity of RPG's from the days of yore. Dice-rolling, statistics galore, turn-based fights (in fact, a turn-based world), and number-crunching all play a large role in this homage to traditional Dungeon and Dragon games.

Story
The thing to realize about Eschalon Book I is that it does not try to avoid the clichés of the traditional RPG. Instead, it revels in them. At the beginning of the game, the hero awakes from a dream where two enormous eyes watch him. He is suffering from amnesia, with only a cryptic note as a guide to his identity. Of course, he has an important role in saving the world, though he does not realize it yet. As he travels through the world of the game, he will find quests that will be familiar to any gamer: clearing a cellar of monsters, delivering letters and potions, and exploring dungeons to retrieve keys or slay terrible beasts all find their way into the storyline. Add to that a healthy helping of giant bees, scheming goblins, and green slimes, and players will experience an interesting mixture of storytelling and nostalgia.

The world is well thought out and contains some depth. The townsmen act logically with a few notable exceptions (one innkeeper kept wandering the streets at night, for example). I missed the plot twists and moral quandaries, of some other games, though I appreciated the fact that major quests often had more than one solution. On the whole, running through the story was fun.

Gameplay
The main innovation of Eschalon Book I is its turn-based system. Everything in the world plays according to turns. Whenever the player walks, attacks, uses an item in the inventory, or casts a spell, the entire world advances one turn. When the player stands around doing nothing, every monster and character waits before taking an action, too. The game can seem to be playing out in real time if the player clicks buttons fast enough or automates walking. For the most part, however, I found it useful to pause frequently to puzzle out my best move.

As a result, combat contains a lot of strategy. Techniques such as hiding in doorways, isolating enemies and attacking them one at a time, and staying at maximum strength that I had forgotten while playing a string of Japanese-influenced games became important again. I died a lot at first, but after recalling several strategies I should not have forgotten, the game moved from being frustrating to a becoming a pleasure to play.

There are a few glitches with this system, however. Because all the monsters move at the same rate, it is possible for them to chase a fleeing character for minutes at a time across an entire large map, turning combat into something like a Keystone Cops chase. The path-finding of the monsters is generally poor, so I was able to split up gangs of monsters by taking advantage of their confusion around trees or other obstacles. The game also keeps track of every monster, so I was able to exit a map, rest for a day, then return, only to find the same half-dead slime waiting for me in the same spot.

Eschalon Book I boasts a full-fledged character creator with five races (actually, they are more like nationalities), five specialties, and five alignments, each with its own bonuses and weaknesses. There are also eight attributes like strength or intelligence, which are determined by dice rolls and assigned points, and twenty-four skills to tailor the character to any playing style. Not being able to keep track of which stat affects which trait, I had to undergo several trials before I found out a good balance.

Graphics
Eschalon Book I begins with an amazing cut scene which recalled an older AAA title. The game itself presents 3D-rendered sprites that created a believable game world but lack vibrancy and color. The Poser graphics for the avatars were a slight disappointment as well.

Sound
From the death cries of a blood sniper, to the heartbeats that signal low hit points, or even the medieval chorus that signals casting a spell, Eschalon Book I employs superior sound effects throughout. The opening medieval-sounding music does as much as the graphics to set the tone for the adventure.

Concept
I think that most players who enjoy role-playing games may be ready for this kind of throwback title. Certainly, it was a brave choice for an independent studio when the larger publishers have largely abandoned the genre.

Value
While the few faults with the path-finding and AI took me out of the game world, overall I enjoyed playing through Eschalon Book I. To really appreciate the game, though, I imagine that a player will need to have played a pen-and-paper role-playing game or be versed in older computer RPG's.

I should mention here that the game ran very smoothly on my aging PC. I did not experience a single slow-down or crash in hours of gameplay, which is a credit to the programmers.

Overall:
The only reason I rated this game as a "try" and not "buy" is that an old-school RPG has a limited audience. If a statistics-based old-school RPG is your idea of a good time, then you should buy a copy of Eschalon: Book I post-haste. If you are new to the genre or if your experience with role-playing games begins and ends with titles like Diablo and Oblivion, then you might want to experiment with the demo to see how much appeal it holds.