Rune II

About

Rune II is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Studio 369 and was released on November 12, 2019. It received neutral reviews from both critics and players.

A berserker viking and his psychopathic sidekicks travel to Midgard for bloody, mushroom-tripping escapades leading to a showdown with Loki. Hack, slice, disembowel, sever limbs and F&%K S#!T up in this must-play RPG.

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54%

Audience ScoreBased on 246 reviews

story21 positive mentions

optimization10 negative mentions

The game has a fun and engaging combat system that allows for a variety of playstyles.
The voice acting and humor add a unique charm to the game, making it enjoyable.
The developers are actively working on updates and improvements, showing commitment to the game's future.

The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, making it feel unpolished.
Graphics are dated and do not meet modern standards, leading to a less immersive experience.
The crafting and inventory systems are clunky and poorly designed, causing frustration during gameplay.

story
109 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
75%
6%
The story in the game is generally considered decent but lacks depth and polish, with many players noting that it feels more like a collection of simple quests rather than a cohesive narrative. While the main quest line has its moments, side quests often suffer from bugs and uninteresting tasks, leading to frustration. Overall, the game offers a fun experience with engaging combat and exploration, but the storytelling leaves much to be desired, often feeling generic and unrefined.
- “Super cool indie RPG with an interesting story and fun game mechanics.”
- “The story is good thus far, and the world seems large enough to warrant plenty of exploration.”
- “The conversations are funny, the story gets extremely interesting after a point, the weapons are nice, and it has a long playtime with all the side quests.”
- “The story is boring.”
- “The main story doesn't really pull you in (I'm 2 chapters in, but... well... meh), but thanks to the fun combat and looting, you will find yourself exploring the island most of the time and ignoring the big green icon on the map which tells you to go there.”
- “Some quests seem broken as certain adds that you need to kill don't ever seem to spawn either.”
gameplay
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
69%
10%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players enjoying the colorful mechanics and combat flow, while others criticize the janky controls, dated animations, and lack of polish. Many appreciate the variety of activities available, such as building and crafting, but find these mechanics underdeveloped and sometimes tedious. Overall, while there are enjoyable elements, significant issues with optimization and core mechanics detract from the overall experience.
- “Super cool indie RPG with an interesting story and fun game mechanics.”
- “5.5 hours in... thoroughly enjoying the aesthetic and gameplay.”
- “+ Colorful gameplay: you can build, destroy, kill, hunt, cut trees, collect lore snippets from abundant lorestones around the world, meeting weird people, collecting a wide variety of items, weapons, armors, managing them, aligning to gods or ignoring them, drink mead, eat lizards, etc. Basically, it just extends the base hack’n’slash gameplay Rune Classic represented and added to the mechanics.”
- “The controls are janky (tried both controller and keyboard) and the animations feel off, which makes the gameplay feel very dated.”
- “In short, the core mechanics are not well done, so no matter what is added on top, the overall game just feels bad.”
- “The only mechanic that is well implemented is the combat, but the problems they apparently have with optimizing the game cause big lag spikes during fights, making the game basically unplayable.”
graphics
68 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
71%
7%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the atmospheric art style and decent visuals reminiscent of early 2010s titles, while others criticize them as outdated and poorly optimized, likening them to Xbox 360-era graphics. Many players note issues such as blurriness, inconsistent performance, and a lack of polish, leading to an overall impression that the graphics do not meet modern standards for a triple-A game. Despite these criticisms, a few users appreciate the aesthetic and find the graphics acceptable for the game's price point.
- “The graphics are great, and the game is optimized fairly well.”
- “Very nice graphics, combat system is nicely done as well.”
- “It's visceral, the graphics are pretty, and the voice acting is pure joy.”
- “The art style is so blurry it looks like each model is smeared with vaseline.”
- “From the blurry graphics (the generic blurry UE4 look), the unstable performances to the clunky combat system, everything feels underdeveloped and rushed.”
- “The graphics in the screenshots on the store page do not reflect in-game graphics (these are 2005-2010 level graphics).”
optimization
45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
62%
22%
Overall, the game's optimization is widely criticized, with many players reporting poor performance, frequent frame drops, and numerous bugs that detract from the experience. While some users note that recent patches have improved performance slightly, the game still suffers from significant graphical issues and inconsistent frame rates, making it difficult to recommend in its current state. Many players suggest waiting for further optimizations before purchasing, as the game feels unpolished and rushed.
- “With more optimization, this game will be great!”
- “The devs are patching it regularly and it improves in performance each patch.”
- “Performance was fine: 4k on cinematic with an average fps above 60; stutters and frame drops are present but were tolerable.”
- “Played this and was optimistic about the promised optimizations after upgrading my PC; the game is either too ugly to play or too choppy to play.”
- “This game is terribly optimized and looks nothing like its advertised footage.”
- “But currently the game is poorly optimized, has some issues with camera angles and not being able to see what's going on (camera zooming in and out to find a proper angle, but fails at this miserably).”
stability
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
97%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and performance issues, including low frame rates and frequent crashes. While some players find humor in the glitches, many express frustration over the game's unfinished state and unresponsive mechanics, leading to a generally negative perception of its stability. Overall, the game is described as extremely buggy and in need of significant improvements to be considered playable.
- “I don’t expect bug-free software, because there is no such thing as bug-free software.”
- “The game runs smoothly without any major crashes or glitches.”
- “I appreciate how stable the gameplay is; it allows me to fully immerse myself in the experience.”
- “Extremely buggy and crashes constantly, not playable.”
- “You get a good Viking fighting game for around 10 hours, the rest is pure buggy filler in alpha state.”
- “Unfortunately we are a minority because thousands of fans of the original game were completely turned away by Rune II when they saw what a buggy, unresponsive, not fun, incomplete game it was as far back as the alpha phase.”
humor
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mix of quirky voice acting and amusing scenarios, often eliciting laughter through absurd situations, such as using a severed head as a weapon. While some aspects of the humor may feel mediocre or clunky, players find the comedic elements enhance the experience, especially in multiplayer settings. Overall, the game delivers a lighthearted tone with funny dialogues and unexpected glitches that contribute to its charm.
- “Fyi, killing a guy by throwing a severed head at his crotch - I about died laughing!”
- “The conversations are funny, the story gets extremely interesting after a point, the weapons are nice, and it has a long playtime with all the side quests.”
- “This game is buggy as hell, but for the most part, it's hilarious and not game-breaking.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
46%
27%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate its emotional depth and authenticity, others note issues with abrupt transitions between tracks. Overall, the soundtrack is considered decent but not particularly remarkable, with sound effects and voice acting varying in quality.
- “But the art design itself is quite good (buildings, armor, weapons, ships, etc.; feels authentic.) Same for the music and sounds, and the voice actors (also pretty good!).”
- “Voice acting ranges from superb to 'did this person just switch through 7 colloquial UK accents... she's Irish now??' The music is wonderful, full of feeling and depth rather than standard 'excitement number 4 song.'”
- “Besides the mixed-quality voice acting, Rune II's audio is decent; the soundtrack, while not particularly remarkable, is nice enough, and the sound effects are adequate.”
- “When a track is playing, it sounds like you would expect game music to sound.”
- “Its combat, the soundtrack, and the tone of the story narrative definitely have some resemblance to the original game released back in the days of 2000.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, often citing issues with inventory management and the repetitive nature of resource gathering. While some enjoy the ease of collecting materials for crafting, many feel that the overall experience is marred by clunky controls and a lack of direction, leading to a grind-heavy gameplay that detracts from enjoyment.
- “Therefore all the crafting ingredients and random trash drops do very little but make things more tedious because of the inventory management.”
- “Without higher tier work axes, I found the side missions to get tedious at best. I believe there should be a higher tier work axe to get more resources from each thing (maybe make 3 tiers).”
- “Lack of direction, bugs, boring and grindy... and most of all, combat was terrible.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The atmosphere of the game is generally appreciated for its charm and faithfulness to Viking fantasy themes, though some users express disappointment in certain aspects. Overall, it creates a catchy and immersive experience, despite some critiques regarding the atmospheric voiceovers.
- “The atmosphere is catchy; otherwise, it would be disappointing.”
- “The atmosphere is catchy; otherwise, it's a disappointment.”
- “The atmosphere is alright; overall, it's kind of faithful to what we can imagine from the Viking fantasy times.”
- “It has its own charm and atmosphere.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the depth added by skills and the variety of enemy combinations, others find the difficulty discouraging and are uncertain about replaying after reaching the final boss. The progression system and the gods mechanic offer potential for replay value, particularly for those who enjoy mastering the game's challenges.
- “The game is quite hard to master but is very fun to play, and you encounter different combinations of enemies in the same location each time, so it has a lot of replayability.”
- “The progression system for gear and skills seems interesting so far, and it looks like there is a bit of replayability via the gods system.”
- “The skills do add some more depth and replayability, I suppose, but as I am standing before the final boss, I am currently not sure I would want to replay the game at all, which is not a good sign.”
- “Negative reviews are from casual players... the game is quite hard to master but is very fun to play, and you encounter different kinds of combinations of enemies in the same location each time... so it has a lot of replayability.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Reviews indicate that the monetization strategy may be misleading, as users feel that the advertisements do not accurately represent the game's content or value.
- “Don't let the advertisements fool you.”
- “The in-game purchases are way too expensive and feel necessary to progress.”
- “It feels like the game is designed to push you towards spending money rather than enjoying the gameplay.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is perceived negatively, with users expressing strong dissatisfaction and a reluctance to engage with it until significant improvements are made.