Rune Raiders (RPG)

Title screen with a few of the heroes (not the bird).

Rune Raiders by Retro64 is a turn-based RPG. The player leads a party of heroes up a path that consists of tiles. Each hero and baddie can only attack certain tiles and will do so every turn if there is a target.

The screenshot below will explain the gameplay much better:

During a mission.

The goal of the mission is to advance the party forward all the way to the end of the level.

Each turn, the player may move the entire party forward, left or right. In addition, the player may move one hero to another square in order to change the formation. Or the player may pass the turn. After the player has made his/her move, the baddies on the screen make their move. Once everyone has moved, each hero will attack with his/her/its own unique style if there are any baddies in their area of effect (which is different for each hero).

After that, the surviving baddies will retaliate. Once that is done, a new turn will start.

Gold is earned from beaten baddies and by completing missions. The earned gold may be spent to recruit heroes for missions, to upgrade heroes and to resurrect heroes during missions. The latter makes it possible to beat any mission with a large wallet. However, in order to obtain a three-star rating for a mission, no hero must fall.

Missions are repeatable, so gold farming is possible.

Assembling the party.

Before each mission, the player assembles a party from those available. Each hero has to be hired with a cost in gold. There are eleven heroes available, which are unlocked by completing missions. There is a mobile version of the game, which has two additional heroes.

Each hero has a unique attack style with his/her/its own area of effect. Further, each hero may be upgraded with gold or by finding a special leveling item during a mission. With each level gain, a hero may learn a new perk, which may improve a stat, give a special ability or modify the hero's area of effect.

Story at the start of a mission.

The story is told through letters that appear during a mission. They are also told through comments by the heroes.

Someone comments.

Heroes may comment during missions. This is the other fun part of the game besides the unique gameplay. There are generic general comments the heroes may make. However, if a certain hero is brought on a certain mission, that hero will make unique comments - sometimes witty, sometimes interesting.

In addition to the standard missions, there is a survival mode where the player faces an endless wave of randomly generated baddies. The aim is to beat up as many baddies as possible before the whole party is wiped out. Resurrection is not allowed in survival.

Rune Raider is an interesting turn-based RPG with a gameplay much alike a puzzle game. It also has charming heroes who will brighten up the missions with their personality.

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