Review: Runespell: Overture (PC)

Runespell Overture is a blend of RPG, collectable card game and poker. It seems like a bit of an odd combination but it has proven to be a successful amalgamation of game mechanics.

Ooh, treasure.

The first thing you will notice about Runespell Overture is the gorgeous hand painted backdrops. The visuals on this game are really top quality, you can tell that a lot of time and attention has gone into making this game look amazing.

The next thing you will notice is the background music. It sounds great, at first. You soon find out that it is rather limited and all battles end up sounding the same which is a bit of a shame when you have all these lovely different backdrops and the same music for each one.

But as for the game mechanics themselves, the closest I can come up with of explaining it is some sort of two player spider solitaire and poker hybrid. You have three actions in a turn to gather cards into ‘sets’ and create poker hands; the better the hand, the more damage it will do to your enemy. For every bit of damage you do and for every two bits of damage you have done to you you receive RP ‘points’ which is the mana pool from which you use your abilities. The abilities you can use depends on the cards that you have. These can vary from outright damage spells to shielding spells or spells which give you extra turns and many others. The better the ability, the more it costs to cast – simple system, great execution.

Yellow swirly stuff is good.

Your abilities come from cards that you collect through your quest which you purchase ‘uses’ of. If the card is out of ‘uses’ then you obviously won’t be able to activate it. Your alternative is to use your allie’s abilities. Those abilities don’t always come with a limited number of uses; some unlimited use cards have a cooldown period instead. This means you don’t have to worry about running out of uses over the course of a battle.

Another feature of this game I found intriguing was the alternative medieval Europe based history that was interwoven into the storyline. It kept me much more involved in the plot than I might otherwise be with a similar game.

It would be great if this game was later expanded to have a longer storyline than it has currently. I feel this was a slight let down and I am hoping there are plans in place to expand the game further as I think the developers have a great product on their hands. The ‘Overture’ in the title suggests this is the case.

If you are looking for a beautifully made game with an interesting card based game mechanic you really can’t go past this game, particularly if you have enjoyed a game like Puzzle Quest.

– Aidan B

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