Runic

I have always enjoyed arcade games in the style of Breakout and Arkenoid. Those games made effective use of paddle controllers, which declined in popularity over time. One of the many games inspired by these classic titles was Runic. The experience was a little different with a mouse, but the core gameplay was very familiar. Behind the arcade action was a bit of a story involving Dark Wizards enslaving the people of Utharkland. The task of freeing the people falls on you, the player. As is typical with Arkenoid derivatives, there are power-ups. In Runic, you collect potions for recipes to create spells. Spells may be cast to unleash various effects that aid in destroying items on screen. There is also a magic shop, which is accessible between levels. There, you can buy more potions or special abilities. One thing I really liked was that you could have multiple power-ups active simultaneously. In some games like Runic, a new power-up immediately replaces the previous one in effect. Every so often, there were levels that included a boss. In addition to the typical bricks and objects to smash, you had to defeat the boss by inflicting damage until the boss’s health was gone.

All in all, it was a pretty fun game. After completing Level 100, I was presented with a victory message: “Congratualtions!!! The fate of people from Utharkland is in their hands! You set them free!” I guess the developers really like exclamation points.