Runers (PC) Review

Spell slinging.

The rogue-like genre has really taken off; so much that you can’t really go a week without seeing one pop up somewhere. It’s an addicting feeling knowing I can make it just a little farther than before even without getting discouraged from my last permadeath. Runers takes that aspect, adds in a little arena shooting mechanic, and turns it into a rather hectic top down spell singling adventure.

The game has a twin stick shooter feel to it. Players maneuver their character around certain rooms of a dungeon using WASD and aim and fire their spells with the mouse. In many aspects, I got a mob shooter vibe from it all. Like Serious Sam where I spend most of my time unloading attacks on a mob of enemies while running away from them. That’s how Runers felt.

Platforms: PC
MSRP: $9.99
Price I’d pay: $9.99
Multiplayer: No

Enemies and destructible objects will sometimes drop runes, combiners, and health pickups. Runes and combiners come into play during the crafting parts of the game. Players can choose certain elemental runes to combine using combiners to create better, more powerful spells that can be equipped and used. With over 200 different combinations, it is a game in and of itself just finding them all. Players can also level up and upgrade their existing spells to offer up more damage or reduce the cool down of their abilities.

Goblin Paladin? Sure.

Player’s characters all start out fresh with each new game. Choosing from multiple races and classes, I was able to make countless numbers of different characters with special curses or blessings that could help me out in combat and exploring. Each class has a special active ability that can turn the tide in certain dire situations. On top of that, the characters can level up and gain new perks to choose from as well as when they make it to a stairway leading them down farther into the dungeon.

Certain rooms in the dungeon will have special buffs or debuffs on both the enemies and the player. These could be slower movement speeds, larger bullet size or projectiles, ect. There are even some rooms that have a special event that takes place. These feel a bit like a challenge room that adds a new rule for just that room and pits the player against it. It’ an interesting concept that changes up the standard run and gun of the game.

There are also special challenges in the menu that lets players try their hand at events the game

Not really retro.

I know most of these rogue-like games feature simplistic graphics, usually in 8-bit or 16-bit form, but the visuals in Runers were just not very appealing to me. I would run into a larger version of an enemy and it looked like they took the smaller enemy and blew up the JPEG of it, so it looked washed out and pixilated. I’m not one for graphics at all, but this just really looked off to me.

This game is very dark.

As far as the controls go, yes, I will fully admit, I’m not the best player using a mouse and keyboard, but I can at least maneuver decently in most games. In Runers, I felt it a bit unruly to control at times. Especially when in the heat of battle with a mob of enemies, and when dying once means starting over from the beginning, it became frustrating at times.

Runers has a lot going for it. There are tons to see and do, and the combinations for the spells are a very addicting part of the game. Not to mention the numerous combinations of classes and races. The difficulty can be daunting at times, and combined with a control scheme that can be a difficult one to master, it can get the better of some players. Still, for only $9.99, you’ll get a lot of game in a little package, and if you take your time, can have a good time with it.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Tons of content
  • Level progression
  • Numerous player options
Bad
  • Bland visuals
  • Awkward control scheme
  • Big difficulty spikes
7
Good
Written by
Drew is the Community Manager here at ZTGD and his accent simply woos the ladies. His rage is only surpassed by the great one himself and no one should stand between him and his Twizzlers.