Summary
Definitely a "return to form" for Dreamforge after a string of disappointing RPGs, Anvil of Dawn is an RPG masterpiece that's sadly ignored despite winning CGW's "RPG of the Year" award.
In this first-person solo RPG, your mission is to find the source of evil warlock's power and cast it into the magical anvil. As with earlier DreamForge adventure/RPG offerings, Anvil of Dawn is not ground-breaking but will slowly draw you in with excellent writing and gameplay. The ability to meet up with the other four characters you didn't pick, and alternate endings for each character is a nice touch that add much replayability to this already solid RPG.
Without a doubt, this is one of the most underrated RPGs ever made-- and arguably a better RPG than Interplay's overhyped Stonekeep. Two thumbs up!
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The first has to do with charachter choice. At the beginning of the game you choose which of 5-6 charachters you want to play as. Who you choose "seems" to matter little as you can redistribute their stats to make the charachter what you want. However I found that this simple act had a fatal flaw. During the course of the game you run across the other charachters you did not choose who then tell you about their woes and how they are giving up the quest. I found this be a nice touch until I got far into the game and realized I had not found a key item to move forward. As it turns out, one of the charachters you meet up with who you did not choose will give you this item. Saddly, I chose this charachter and did not get the item. It made me start all over. My recomendation is do not play as either of the female charachters which should get you through this problem.
The only other difficulty is that the final area you go through is very confusing and hard to figure out from a puzzle point of view.
Despite these two difficulties the game is very fun even if the fighting is a bunch of mouse clicking for the most part.