RuneSpell Overture is Card Battle RPG developed by Mystic Box. The story begins in the middle of an unrelenting snowstorm and the player is brought into the game as a changeling with no memory; popping into existence and forced to do battle with modern day playing cards. A strange old man in wolf skins stumbles upon you, talks in riddles and a surprising amount of familiarity. Somehow you are special, and you will play a big role in saving the world… but only if it’s in the cards.
Pros:
- A card battle RPG that doesn’t try to invent it’s own complex mechanic
- Puzzle Quest for poker players
Cons:
- No true character leveling mechanic
- Battles become fairly difficult early on forcing players to grind for disposable cards to stay competitive
First Impression
Getting whooped on by a blue dog
Most card battle video games exist to frustrate and annoy me. Popular collectible card games such as Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh! are no exception when taken to a console or PC format. Their deck builders are usually complex, staggeringly slow, and difficult to properly play-test. A few dozen other games exist in the card battle / collectible card game format but all of them require you to learn and understand a complex series of rules unique to each game, and some suffer the same deck building issues. RuneSpell Overture succeeds in tackling these issues by utilizing modern day playing cards with well known Poker combinations. You and your opponent start each match with cards laid out in a solitaire format. During your turn you have three actions to stack cards on top of each other in order to make a five card hand, attack, cast a spell or summon an ally.
The basic concept behind the game is the creation of five card stacks. You can move one card from your side or your enemies side at the cost of one action. You can also move an entire stack on your side at the cost of one action. Once five cards are stacked you can use another action to execute that stack as a basic physical attack and the damage is based on the strength of the stack. One pair will do 8 points of damage while a Royal Flush does 50 points of damage. As your character deals and takes damage you also gain Rune Power, which in turn is used to either cast spells or summon allies at the cost of an action.
RuneSpell Overture so strongly resembles Puzzle Quest that it’s hard to see where else the inspiration for their game may have come from. Your character engages in combat with fierce enemies through the mechanics of a casual game. In Puzzle Quest it was a bejeweled-style match three game, and in RuneSpell Overture it’s a Solitaire Poker Battle. Outside of their specific battle mechanic, the questing, traveling and storyline mechanics are almost identical. The biggest difference and RuneSpell’s biggest disappointment is the lack of a true leveling mechanic. A player’s maximum hit points and Rune Power will increase at predetermined points in the story line through two card types in which the player can only ever use one of each at a time. The only other permanent increase in power are your allies, but they too are only given to you at predetermined points in the game and more isn’t always better. For the duration of the game, the poker hands will continue to deal the same amount of damage, and the only method for becoming more powerful than the game intends you to be is through tedious grinding to collect and/or purchase one time use cards.
Interface & Aesthetics
Beautifully painted cutscenes
RuneSpell overture uses a combination of hand-painted backgrounds, 3D character models and 2D computer generated objects/frames. The hand-painted portions of the game are stunning, but when combined with the almost “ClayFighter” style 3D model, the result is a bit cheesy. Although the graphical pieces may clash the game’s soundtrack does nothing of the sort. The accompanying music feels naturally epic and well composed. The transitions into the battle sequence are smooth and do a good job at keeping the player properly immersed. The interface is straight to the point and accomplishes it’s task without standing out in any manner.
Difficulty
RuneSpell Overture escalates in difficulty fairly quickly with the majority of my time being spent replaying boss and mini-boss fights 2-4 times each. To get past these challenges the player can either repeat the fight until he gets a lucky series of cards or he can go out and grind for coins and cards. Without a true leveling mechanic, any grinding is only beneficial until you use all the cards you earned and in a difficult fight you can go through 30-45 minutes worth of grinding loot. There are a few combinations of RuneSpell cards
that the enemies may have that make your life a living hell, while the AI for the basic game seems to be about the same across the board. Some enemies will constantly drain all your Rune Power, forcing you to plan your moves carefully and preventing you from saving up, while others will simply keep giving themselves additional action points every few rounds.
The AI for this game is surprisingly tactical, and can ruin you if your not careful. The computer will, on a regular basis, stack a card that isn’t overly useful for him but would have provided you with a significant stack. Two cards away from that straight flush? Anything resembling one of the cards you need will be snatched away if given the chance.
Will you still be playing it in 6 months?
Attempt number seven
No. The game has minimum replay value, no online multiplayer, and is easily beaten over a weekend. Given the nature of the game, I’m surprised there isn’t an online multiplayer component. Competitive RuneSpell matches actually sound like a lot of fun, and I can visualize matches up to four players being fairly easy to design. The general concept would remain the same, however players would choose the target of their basic attack and damage. In fact, this lends itself to some pretty creative deck building strategies. Players could play heavy on the offensive, focus on providing themselves additional action points, or simply draining the players Rune Power. Sadly, none of this exists.
Summary
Verdict: Try It
RuneSpell Overture gives us a modern twist to standard card battle games, but doesn’t quite give us the right balance of difficulty and player enjoyment. I’m not usually frustrated by challenging games but I found myself only continuing to play through the rough moments so I could give you the most comprehensive review available (hint: I’m in the #1 slot). However, I still highly recommend this to players who particularly enjoyed Puzzle Quest.
The game is available at the Steam store.
This game was developed by Mystic Box.
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