The long-awaited release of Avadon 3: The Warborn HD ($9.99) brings with it both excitement for yet another excellent fully fledged RPG from Spiderweb Software, but also a sense of sadness. Avadon 3 marks the end of an engrossingly epic trilogy of titles that have been the benchmark for storytelling and strategy games on mobile, and as a conclusion to the Avadon series has a lot to live up to. The previous entry, Avadon 2: The Corruption ($9.99), was lauded in our review back in April 2014, and the original Avadon: The Black Fortress HD ($9.99) received similarly positive plaudits from the press, as well as an extensive dissection by Shaun in the RPG Reload series of articles; early impressions of Avadon 3 from its earlier PC release in September suggest that it lives up to the lofty heights of its predecessors. After quite a prolonged wait, and after a minor delay to the iOS release, Avadon 3: The Warborn HD is finally available to download for the iPad, but be prepared to part with a hefty $11.99 to do so – a premium price tag for an unequivocally premium RPG experience that is in relatively short supply on the App Store.

For fans of the series who are wondering where Avadon 3 fits into overarching universe, in this final entry the eponymous fortress is in chaos, and the leader of Avadon has been ousted as the Farlanders prepare for an all-out invasion of the rest of the realm. You play as a Hand of Avadon with little guidance, and must do what you can to defend your outpost, through repelling the hordes of horrific creatures that attempt to conquer your land. With five different classes to play as, as well as multiple endings to achieve over an open-ended story progression, there is a lot of flexibility as to whether you decide to stay loyal to your leaders, or betray them and incite a rebellion against your commanders. The sheer amount of content – there are dozens of dungeons and side-quests to discover, and even more items to be used to get through them – highlights Avadon 3 as a complete, console-like experience, and its $11.99 cost of entry is an absolute bargain for what’s included in the game, and especially compared to the $19.99 Steam iteration. If you’re ready to lose your weekend to extremely expansive RPG action, check out Avadon 3: The Warborn HD on the App Store, and join in the discussion on our forum thread.