Dawn of Magic

Dawn of Magic is an action role-playing computer game developed by Russian studio SkyFallen Entertainment and released by Deep Silver in April, 2007. "Dawn of Magic" was published by Atari in North America on October 16, 2007. "Dawn of Magic" is an upgraded version of the Russian language SkyFallen game "Blood Magic", published by 1C Company on December 16, 2005.
A sequel titled "Dawn of Magic 2" was released by Kalypso Media in the summer of 2009.
Story.
"Dawn of Magic" is set in a fantasy world. In the Absolute, the setting's afterlife, a being called Modo endangered his companions in pursuit of power. The inhabitants of the Absolute called a tribunal and sentenced Modo to be reborn on earth, live a mortal life (retaining his memories but none of his power) and die after 100 years.
The game begins 40 years after Modo was sentenced. He has gained knowledge of mortal magic and seeks to enlist the player character's aid in his plan to destroy the earth, escape his prison and live forever in the Absolute.
Gameplay.
"Dawn of Magic" features a 3D third person perspective game engine. The game world consists of area maps interlinked by portals. The player can choose from four starting characters, the Awkward Scholar, the Baker's Wife, the Weird Gypsy, and the Fat Friar. As the player character gains experience and levels, he or she improves basic attributes, skills in areas such as mêlée combat, trading, and crafting, and prowess in the game's twelve schools of magic. Each school of magic consists of eight spells; as the player gains prowess in a school of magic, his or her body morphs to take on characteristics reminiscent of the school.
Release history.
1C Company released the single-player action role-playing game "Blood Magic" () in Russia on December 16, 2005. A stand-alone expansion pack, "Blood Magic: Time of Shadows" (), followed on November 24, 2006. The expansion featured a new story, upgraded interface, and multiplayer support via LAN or internet. On April 27, 2007, Deep Silver released English, French, German and Italian localizations of "Blood Magic" for the European market. The Deep Silver release was renamed "Dawn of Magic" and featured upgraded gameplay including multiplayer support.
The "Blood Magic" game engine was licensed to KranX Productions for the action role-playing game "A Farewell to Dragons".
Reception.
"Blood Magic" won the Best Debut award at the Russian game developers conference KRI 2006. "Dawn of Magic" has a ranking of 52 on the review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings. "GameSpot" gave the game a score of 3 out of 10, criticizing its derivativeness, limited choices and numerous bugs. Martin Korda of "IGN" gave it 6.9 out of 10 and said that "despite its bold proclamations of reinventing the tried and tested Diablo template, Dawn of Magic remains an RPG with more than a whiff of the past hanging around it." while Emily Balistrieri of the same site gave it 5.4 and criticized its multiplayer, which according to her, lacked variety. 