Related: the Might and Magic and first two Ultima games blended high fantasy with science-fiction. You have to buy a spaceship (which is sold at the same shop you buy other transportation) and shoot a certain number of TIE fighters to get the rank of Space Ace in Ultima I, which you need to do something (don’t remember what); otherwise it’s sword-and-sorcery stuff (also you can buy phasers at regular weapons shops). The entire Might and Magic series revolves around SF, and that’s also with dwarves and elves and swords and longbows. It’s really interesting because they don’t do that anymore in games.

With that said, I’ve just started part 4 in Avernum 2 (leaving the Tower of Magi for the castle, or do a quest that will give you mage permissions). It’s possible to go all the way down the underground river without visiting any of the locations and after each cataract you can’t go back up. What happens if you skip the Awakening and stuff like that? I know I didn’t go into a certain tower early in the underground river passage.

I went about a week without playing but picked it up again a few days ago. I’ve put 6-7 hours into it so far. The average playing time is 18 hours and that’s probably a testament to its quality.