For those with old 32 bit machines, you will have to go into the game's folder and click the icon that says Game. The Rune Lord icon and it's shortcuts will give you the standard "not a valid Win 32 application error". You'll have to remove, replace, modify the Rune Lord shortcuts as you feel you need to.

I was unable to test as my old machine doesn't have the proper video shader support.

But thanks GGOTD and Toomky.

Rune Lord is a quality match 3 game with fantasy elements added. It was released May 30, 2018 and has been given away once before on GOTD in 2020. The core game play may seem familiar at first, going back to classical match 3s like Bejeweled where the grid is filled with colored symbols called runes and the idea normally is to line up 3 or more of the same runes by moving a block up, down, left or right from its original position. In general the match ups then disappear and anything above them fall down to fill the gaps. Looking closer, some of the circle runes in the level have glowing symbols and those are special magic runes-- and the first aim of each level is to collect energy from a set number of these special glowing runes by matching them with 2 or more other normal runes with the same color before the timer runs out in order to advance through the levels. The goals are shown when you click a small ? to the left of the playing field and also pause the game if you need a break without saving/exiting. Be aware some levels starting with the 3rd level may have multiple goals so you may have to replay the same level a few times.

After a few levels, when you link 4 or more runes together, a symbol with a special power is left on the playfield. Depending on what colored rune it is depends on what power this special symbol has. Some explode when you include them in another match and can be matched alongside the other magic runes and regular runes, others shoot electricity around the grid destroying random blocks and some add to your high score or time limit.

Vines which lock your runes in place until they’re combined in a match with other runes, volcanic rocks which can’t be matched with anything and make a nuisance of themselves and an ice golem which freezes a few runes in place are all issues you’ll have to navigate later on to change things up.

Occasionally, you’ll have an optional objective to get an extra coin that can be spent for upgrades such as spells. Sometimes there’s a frog that sits just off the second from bottom row of symbols and will reach its tongue across the grid and suck up any flies that you drop onto his row. Feed it enough flies and it’ll grant you a coin. Some levels task you to match up runes from a color consecutively in order to raise a chain which will also grant you a coin. As far as using the spells during play which isnt explained well, when you match 3 of a rune color from the playfield it will fill the sphere slightly and also highlight 1 of the 3 notches on the spell it matches (at the top of the spell which are located under the sphere). If you match that same rune color two more times before the sphere fills up it will activate the spell, so there is some strategy to find 3 sets of matches that will activate it before the sphere fills up.

It is recommended to only play the casual difficulty the first time. Due to the timers which are in all difficulty settings, this game may appeal slightly more toward those who favor action over unlimited time strategic puzzles, however all the added interesting features generally appeal to those who prefer the strategic style so likely why there are mixed reviews despite being a high quality title. Some who just want to match and put their brain on hold may not fully enjoy all the extras presented here to differentiate it from stock match 3s such as having to match the special magic runes to pass a level, while those that enjoy the extras may not fully like the timed aspect while figuring out a strategy. So perhaps a non timer mode or a mode with 5-10x the amount of time might appeal better to some of the target audience here. All together its far better than most reviews give it credit for, but I can understand where some people arent going to take a lot of time to figure all that out and instead just move on to different games and not get to experience what this one had to offer in full unfortunately.

Rating: B

Today's game is a very high quality match 3 game which is just not any ordinary game. There are objectives to complete in each level and when you get to the second level there are even more ways the game progress are affected.

The game is well designed and gives you plenty of direction on how to play the game which you can earn upgrades to power ups when you complete the levels.

I was immediately hooked to the game play since I liked Bejeweled so much. It's much larger in file size than the original match 3 games but it's well worth the download.

We have been given away plenty of Match 3 games where you swipe but have not had gameplay variety as such. This is well worth the download time and the installation time for that matter.

You will be challenged by the way the game plays. I promise you.

It installed ok Windows 10 system but when I try to play it I get a message saying my card does not support Shader Model 3.0. Reporting this requirement would be helpful. I found a place to download a fix but its been removed. Does anyone have a fix for this error?

Previous: September 13, 2020
User rating: + 30 (91%), - 3 (9%), 7 comments

https://game.giveawayoftheday.com/?s=Rune%20Lord