Resurrection: Rune

Norse code…

Resurrection: Rune

RESURRECTION is a regular feature in which we take a trip down gaming memory lane. This week, Andy Johnson gets to grips with Viking mythology in RUNE.

Guns, eh? Cowardly, ungentlemanly things. There’s a part of many action fans that yearns for the clash of cold steel in their games, as opposed to the endless outpouring of lead that characterises so much of the games market. The recent success of the God of War series would appear to show that, if the satisfyingly gory grace of low-tech combat is combined with a certain mythological bent, then the resultant game is all the better for it. Of course, while God of War’s Kratos may currently be the gaming world’s strongest son when it comes to the noble art of claret dancing, he’s not the first journeyman on the road he walks.

Whilst Kratos’ lineage can be traced back at least as far as side-scrolling hack-and-slash games like Golden Axe, my personal favourite source of third-person action in worlds of gods and men is Rune. Released in 2000 by Raven Software splinter group Human Head Studios, the game focused not on Greek but on Norse mythology, putting players in the bloodied boots of Ragnar, a vengeful Viking warrior under the tutelage of Odin himself.

While Rune’s story is hardly the most original I’ve played through, it’s notable for the impressive extent to which it weaves Norse culture and mythology into the events. Loki, the trickster and son of Odin, is a major villain who concocts his schemes from his venom-drenched prison underground. His daughter, Hel, controls her own realm populated with the undead. And runestones, symbols of Odin’s power in the human plane of Midgard, provide both power-ups for Ragnar and key locations in the plot.

The extra mile

Just as the details, rather than the grand sweep, make Rune’s plot special, the same could be said for the game’s combat. Right from the beginning, when your exploration makes it clear what a thoroughly martial environment Ragnar’s home village of Wotankeld is, you can easily predict that Rune will be heavily combat-focused game. On the face of it, that combat isn’t very inspiring – Ragnar’s range of moves is pretty limited by today’s standards, and it changes very little across the game’s length. But it’s spiced up by things like the use of shields, of which various types exist, and the fact that any weapon can be thrown at enemies and recollected later.

The real progression in Ragnar’s abilities comes from using runes to exploit the powers granted by Odin to Ragnar’s weapons. One axe can be thrown over and over again, regenerating each time, while one of the two-handed swords can emit a magical vampirism, replenishing Ragnar’s health as he strikes enemies. Again, it’s all explained by the mythology. It’s made clear: Ragnar is Odin’s champion, not only on a mission of vengeance but acting as a direct representative of the gods, going where they cannot and doing what they cannot do.

Often, though, the emphasis is placed on what Ragnar’s enemies can do. Rune has a varied cast of these, most restricted to certain regions, but a few appear consistently throughout the game. Each of them, happily, varies the combat by having markedly different characteristics, beyond a simple variance in health or damage. Hel’s zombie minions can be floored permanently only if they are decapitated, goblins and bear-like wendols can be lured into attacking other enemies, and diminutive dwarves frequently surprise with their leaping attacks and formidable weaponry. All this is before the game’s deadliest enemies come to the fore, which happens only when Loki’s plot – led by his unbound and power-crazed human deputy, Conrack – gains real momentum.

Continues…

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