Rune

aka: Rune: Viking Warlord
Moby ID: 2662
Windows Specs
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As the conflict between the gods Odin and Loki deepens, the latter prepares to unleash the Ragnarok - a full-scale attack on the world that would eventually end it. A warrior named Ragnar is initiated into the Odinsblade, an order of warriors whose task is to protect the runestones, magical artifacts that have the power to bind Loki. Ragnar must also defend a neighboring village from the attack by a viking called Conrack, and eventually decide what fate this world should await.

Rune is a 3D action game. The player navigates Ragnar through hostile areas, killing predominantly supernatural creatures with melee weapons. Ragnar can use swords, axes, maces and hammers. Each weapon has a special "Rune Power" that can be activated for a short time by gathering energy from runes. Ragnar is also able to equip shields. Multiplayer is included as well, in which each player controls a character equipped with various weapons, in a fashion similar to Ragnar.

Spellings

  • Руна - Russian spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

102 People (94 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

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Art Manager
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Additional Programming
Design
  • Human Head Studios Incorporated
Level Design
Additional Level Design
Animation
Environmental Textures
Character Textures
3D Modelling
Concept Art
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 43 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 63 ratings with 4 reviews)

Somewhat enjoyable, linear 3rd person actionfest

The Good
Rune is a third-person action game, predictable and linear but quite enjoyable. As with most games of its ilk you progress through various maps with different environments such as villages, caves, underground rivers, mountains, etc collecting better weapons, and, in this case, shields, along the way, and fighting stronger enemies.

The plot is thin and not as impressive as the game's environment, which evokes the atmosphere of the Nordic world very well. The game uses a version of the Unreal engine circa Unreal Tournament; cutting edge at the time, it still looks fresh now, especially with advanced graphical options turned up high. The levels vary a good deal and are richly textured, but the characters really shine, animating smoothly and casting shadows on the level around them.

Rune's sound is high quality. Footsteps, weapon effects, enemy's voices are splattering blood are all as detailed as one could hope for. That's good, because you'll be hearing a whole lot of the above.

The level design is mediocre, but I think it leans toward the good side. While the levels are painfully linear at times, lacking any kind of advanced puzzle solving, they are fully in keeping with the game's strong atmosphere.

The atmospheric music is enjoyable, but not remarkable.

The Bad
Rune's combat is very simplistic. There are no ranged weapons so virtually all the action in the game is melee. Pick a weapon and hack away, trying to time your strikes and blocks right; that's pretty much all there is to it. Similarly there is not enough depth to the levels, the plot or even the various weapons you'll find to make the game a unique or compelling experience.

AI is another major failing. Rune lacks any kind of detailed enemy behavior. Enemies will run at you and hack away, and while they fight well, there's no strategy, teamwork or even real variation.

The Bottom Line
Rune fails to be a great game much in the same way Blade of Darkness, another third person fantasy action game released around the same time, does: Its central element, the combat, isn't interesting enough to propel the game, and it has just barely enough window dressings to make it worth the ride. Nothing too special here.

Windows · by ShadowShrike (277) · 2005

Norse Mythology & Vikings + Huge Axes = Slashing Fun

The Good
I love Thor, Richard Wagner, and Norse Mythology, which makes it hard for me to understand why Viking lore is such a largely untapped resource in entertainment. So when Rune came out I was anxious to see it in action.

The combat is fun, finding new and bigger weapons is fun, healing yourself by drinking flagons of mead is fun, hacking the limbs off vile creatures is fun. Rune is fun. You speak with Odin, you battle Loki and halt the coming of Ragnarok. You kill LOTS of creatures and evil Vikings in the course of Rune, and it's so much fun that any minor flaws are smoothed over and ignore-able.

The Bad
Rune gets slightly repetitive after a while, but not any more so than Pac-Man or any of the other classics we grew up on.

The Bottom Line
It's so much fun it's not fair to the other aspects of your life.

Windows · by MA17 (252) · 2001

Worth the time it took to learn what the hell i was doing...

The Good
To be honest i wasn't a fan when i first played Rune, i was really confused, not knowing where the hell i'm going, but i sat down and gave it a fair trial and once i learned some important skills i was hooked! Okay... graphics, not the greatest but they deserve to be mentioned, they provide a nice atmosphere, the backgrounds and inanimate objects are done very well. The cut scenes are also done well; Odin's big ass head speaking to you is cool. Surprised the hell out of me the first time though! The character voices are excellent, Odin's voice is great, it has a realistic sound to it ya' know? Not just some dufus reading his lines without emotion, it's a big plus! And then you got that punk on the first level...i believe he was chopping wood or something..anyway he talks shit to you! Too bad you can't strangle people in Rune! Another plus for Rune, it ran like a hot knife through butter (my system sucks, for lack of a nicer explanation) and not many games run smooth, Rune however ran beautifully! Weapons (oh baby) lots of 'em, different shapes, sizes and strengths another big plus! Speaking discreetly... near the end of the game when Ragnar has his "change of life" so to speak now that was just down right awesome!

The Bad
Not too many bad points, a couple though. For instance i recall two points in the game where there was (or so it seemed) no way to advance in two of the levels. i got to a certain point and blah, door or gate wouldn't open, i pulled every switch/lever and still nothing. i even consulted a walkthrough to no avail. Good thing for cheat codes. i mean i hate using cheat codes my first go round in a game but i was screwed... oh well. Jumping on those "super jump pad thingy’s" is cool but when you’re flying through the air he's stiff as a board, arms at his sides, it just looked terrible. Not a wide variety of enemy's either, fighting the same guys over and over got tedious to say the least. The ending... what was with the ending? i was expecting to sit down with Odin, have a nice meal of lizards and enemy meat and maybe talk about the quality of Viking porn while sipping a fine wine but that didn't happen... i really expected something more... again, sigh, oh well.

The Bottom Line
Excellent! It's probably dirt cheap to buy too, so do it!

Windows · by MrSuperGod (54) · 2004

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Unlike most games, Rune does not preserve your save game files when you uninstall it. So if you want to keep them, be sure to back your saves up manually before you uninstall the game from your hard drive.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Andrew Hartnett.

Linux added by Trixter. PlayStation 2 added by Riamus. Macintosh added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: Alan Chan, Antti Salminen, Xoleras, Klaster_1.

Game added November 26, 2000. Last modified January 21, 2024.