Avernum is a series of demoware role-playing video games by Jeff Vogel of Spiderweb Software available for Macintosh and Windows-based computers.

Among notable encounters in the game are the Vahnatai, a race of highly magical and alien creatures who live in the deeper caves of Avernum.

The demo ends at a certain point in the storyline, at which time the user must purchase a registration key to continue playing.

The game was re-released as Avernum: Escape from the Pit in December 2011 for OS X and April 2012 for iOS and Windows.

Upon assassination of Emperor Hawthorne, the Empire of the surface recognizes the threat the Avernites pose and begins sending huge military forces down to Avernum.

The slimes encountered are only the first part of what becomes a series of monsters and terrible occurrences that are blighting the Empire and laying it to waste.

When scouting the land, as per orders from the Avernite government, the player is asked by the Empire to help save the surface from its blight.

It has come under fire for being "too complex"[3] in comparison to Blades of Exile, its predecessor, which used a very simple instruction list instead of a script system.

Spiderweb Software has released the source code for the editor and allows others to make enhanced versions and add-ons, which a number of players have done.

In addition, there is a large amount of new art in order to bring the world of Avernum to life within the reworked Geneforge engine.

Instead of being hired by Avernum (as with all other chapters in the series), the party of adventurers in the story fulfill the bidding of the Empire.

The player controlling the party must hunt down the assassin Dorikas while dealing with numerous other obstacles such as spies and betrayal.

Avernum 6[5] was released late 2009 for the Macintosh and early March 2010 for Windows and was developed on a low budget.

The mushrooms which provide most of Avernum's food have been infected with a disease causing them to become poisonous and die, and the Slithzerikai horde has attacked.

The third rebooted game, based on the same plot and title of Avernum 3 and Exile III: Ruined World was released on January 31, 2018.

[19][21] Several years later, in August 2002, the Just RPG review of sequel Avernum 3 reached a completely different conclusion.

"[13] Reaction to the final game of the original series, Avernum 6, was reasonably positive and praised the storyline.

[22] IT Reviews commented, "As long as you can get past the aesthetics, Avernum 6 is a compelling slice of old school role-playing, which is well designed on the character development and combat fronts.