Rune Lord

In Brief

A Match Three game. I've posted a full review originally posted by Renate Plehwe, plus links to short reviews from the Steam community and two other full reviews one positive and the other negative. I recommend playing it on the easiest level first. I tried the advanced level and following three attempts at completing level 1 I was still on level one on the fourth attempt. However playing the casual level was much easier and I found the game decent enough to keep. It reminds me a little of Treasures of Montezuma; though isn't as good as that old game and has a different upgrade system for the bonuses. The game is quite challenging once you get past the first few levels, with the number of energy levels you need to collect increasing with each level. The advanced level starts with a much higher number of energy levels s to collect before the timer runs out. There is no un-timed mode with either the casual or the advanced mode. The third mode isn't unlocked until you complete the advanced mode. Maybe that is un-timed?

Introduction

A portal has opened and dark magic is pouring through! Only you can close the gateway and defeat the evil Ice Golem!
By creating matches of three or more runes, you'll collect the magic that will allow you to cast spells and complete tasks. But you'll need to hurry: time is short!
As you remove obstacles from the game board and complete the fast-moving levels, you'll earn coins that allow you to purchase and then upgrade boosters and spells. A booster might give you more time to complete a level or grant you special abilities; a spell might collect a fistful of runes or unleash a destructive wave across the game board, saving you precious seconds. With each bump in power, the spells become more and more dazzling until the screen explodes in a stunning display of animated effects.
Do well and you will not only cleanse your land of the wicked scourge but you'll also earn achievements that will be the envy of your friends. Tackle the challenge of the ages and become the Rune Lord!

Reference accessed HERE 13th September 2020

The Game

Back in the early 2000s, I played a lot of the browser-based match-3 classic, Bejewelled. Smartphones have since become ubiquitous, and as the core mechanics of these games are so well suited to touchscreen play, we’ve seen extensive variations on the theme in the intervening years. Many of these have delivered the same classic mechanics with a fresh coat of paint, while others have attempted to blend the formula with new mechanics in an attempt to reinvigorate the experience. Rune Lord is somewhere between the two ends of this spectrum, with the familiar basics combined with some slightly less common progression mechanics in an attempt to provide a new experience.

We’ve seen numerous games that look like this, and for good reason: it’s a classic formula. Rune Lord’s core game play will be familiar to many: coloured runes are arranged in a grid, and you must clear these by swapping adjacent tiles to create lines of three or more. However, the game has ordinary runes and magic runes, and you need to collect a specific number of the latter before the timer runs out in order to advance through the levels. This is something of a breeze on the game’s Casual difficulty setting, but Advanced requires significantly more speed; using the touchscreen controls is the best way to facilitate this, so it’s strange that the game doesn’t actually tell you that touchscreen controls are supported.

While Rune Lord offers a collection of additional mechanics in the attempt to reinvigorate the match-3 formula, it feels like an uphill battle at times to understand some of these. For example, you can activate spells after you’ve filled your magic meter by clearing runes, but the explanation of exactly how this works is not very clear, leading to some head-scratching moments when you’re just starting off. Once you’ve unlocked enough spells, however, using the in-game booster system, the underlying mechanics become a little more comprehensible, which helps to make the game slightly more enjoyable than it is at the very beginning.

The repetition isn’t a negative off the bat; after all, part of what makes match-3 games appealing is their addictive, tried-and-true formula, but the generic visuals and incredibly forgettable audio become quite tiresome after a while. Getting high combos can occasionally be satisfying, but the game is rather soulless, and no amount of special effects can mask that. It also doesn’t take long to unlock all of the basic boosters, either; you can continue to upgrade these with more game play, but it’s hardly the most rewarding experience. There are sometimes bonus coins on offer which you will receive upon reaching a certain score or achieving a particular goal.

Rune Lord offers achievements as well, but these arbitrary inclusions add minimal value to the game. The title is, on the whole, quite mediocre; there are no technical issues, but it does little to offer an engaging experience. So, the game is nothing to write home about. Generic assets make for a fairly bland experience, and there’s little that’s interesting from a game play perspective to make this match-3 game stand out from the crowd.

The game offers ‘boosters’ which can be unlocked with coins earned in-game. Rune Lord’s progression mechanics are also curious. As mentioned above, each level has a specific goal number of magic runes that must be cleared in order to advance, however, some levels have three goals instead of a single one. Having tiered goals isn’t unusual in games of this type, but it is unnerving that even if you meet the highest goal on your first attempt, only the top tier will be unlocked; you must subsequently replay the same level as many times as it takes you to meet all of the lower goals before progressing, which understandably leads to significant repetition.

Edited reference accessed HERE 13th September 2020; originally posted by Renate Plehwe, March 7, 2020

You can see Steam community reviews of the game HERE and a couple of full reviews of the game HERE

and . There are a few videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE & HERE

Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway

Don't forget to check the giveaway game discussion forums HERE; especially Delenn's threads for non Steam and steam freebies. The latest Epic Game freebie's are Railway Empire and Where The Water Tastes Like Wine. The fifth episode of 3 out of 10, i.e. is also available . (Episodes 1, 2 3 & 4 are still available free as well)

There's a new addition to the Indie Gala freebies called Desert Law. Some of the ones mentioned recently i.e. All three Theatre of War 2 games and Death Track Resurrection have been removed from the freebie section, though if you managed to grab them previously, they are yours to keep forever.

Please stay safe everyone.