Buy Rune Classic

This game came out in 2001 around the same time i was in 1st grade. I remember it being the Greatest game as a kid, id come home everyday and play it and even have lan partys for it from time to time. But enough about me.The game has a great story line/Campaign and super fun 3rd person Multiplayer slasher with Tdm modes etc. much like Quake. The maps are sweet to there's so many of them and you can MOD the ♥♥♥♥ out of them. So go play it 10/10

ps. if you eat a snake it re-fills your health !

Chug Mead
Eat Lizards
Hail Odin

Great Hack & Slash using the old Unreal engine, more players = more fun

Rune is definitely a hidden gem from the early 2000s, a must-play for fans of Norse Mythology. It's basically a 3rd person hack 'n slay title garnished with some interesting jumping/crawling sections, here and there even with some simple puzzles. The action is raw and gory, decapitated enemies are a common sight too. Expect some pixel blood to flow.

The level design is pretty decent as well, ranging from mysterious, creature-infected dungeons over to goblin working settlements or viking-populated fortresses. Again, expect many severed limbs and other body parts on those premises.

The only downside in my opinion is the more or less unspectacular final section of the game and the ending. The developers could have done a better job, but some other players may have a different view on this one.

The Good:
+ Decent story and level design
+ Graphics (they were good at the time)
+ Authentic Viking setting and atmosphere
+ Fast-paced and uncomplicated gameplay
+ Gore and Blood
+ Multiplayer

The Bad:
- The latest sections in the game feel quite unpolished and rushed

The Ugly:
- Some issues on modern systems like sudden freezes. But I blame Steam for this, not the developers.

Overall a truly pleasant hackfest experience, you'll definitely enjoy it.

8/10

( My current play time on steam does not accurately portray the amount of time I have played this game overall. I own the retail physical copy off of steam. )

This game.
I love it so much you have no idea.
I was much younger when I played it first, I was still getting innitiated into the amazing genre that is RPG games. It was times in which I was still going "oooh!" and "aah!" over stuff that was happening, trembling excited in my boots. And this game did all of that for me. The classic one that is, the one without halls of valhalla (which to an extent makes me not want to recommend you get this version off of steam).

Being a lover of nordic mythology even at that age, the figures that I came across during the single-player campaign are ones that I recognised and was pleased to see in a game perspective.
You might ask is the campaign any good?
Good doesn't even cover it lad/lass. The campaign is flawless. It has very well done story-telling, good voice acting, great game progression, event/cutscene transitions. And amazing music.
Did I mention that? This game's OST is one of the best you will ever find for a game. Ever. It really helps with the mood of the game.

If you are a person that enjoys playing RPGs with good story, and have not played this gem yet, I cannot recommend it enough. The combat is visceral, the graphics are satisfactionary for a game of its age. Hits strike true, making movement and precision vital tactics in combat.

And here's another thing. A very important thing, too.
I am a person that hates pvp (player versus player). But this game? I LOVE ITS MULTIPLAYER MADLY.
I would spend DAYS playing it back in the day, in an internet cafe before I had my first computer. I had gotten so good at it infact, that I won 3 regional championships set up by hardcore gaming fans. They were not all about the money as championships these days are. They were about the glory, about the reknown. And that is the first and last time in my life that I performed so good in a game like this' pvp due to the love I felt for it, and how much I got into it.

I knew that any multiplayer game I went into or hosted, that got people to face me, would be one I need not fear. I've gone into games where the host would intentionally remove all weapons from the map and leave people with their noob handaxe with which you spawn in MP games, and even with that, I managed to rack up the kills to the extent I was framed to be a cheater or hacker, and kicked.

Take this from a person who has played this game aproximately 6,000 hours. Not kidding.
You need to buy this. This is a good buy for any gamer's library, unless this genre is simply not for you.
But if you must buy it, take my advice, and do not buy the version that comes with Halls of Valhala. It really messed up the game in several ways, switching up the special abilities (rune powers) of certain weapons, and other stuff, in favor of a "more balanced multiplayer", which only ended up making what was already very good into something unbalanced.

It is not my way to advise for a buy that is not on steam, but steam does lack the ability to buy some games without their expansions (like in this case), or is missing them all-toghether (like for dungeon siege, a game I cannot review since I decline to buy the base game without legends of aranna, which is just .. something that is needed.)

My final rating on this game is 11/10. There are few games that have a special place in my heart, and Rune sits on the throne in that place. Buy it. Buy it now. Retail price or discounted, doesn't matter. Its worth it.

I wasn't sure what to expect out of Rune Classic but what I found was something of a gem!

The game does itself no favours with such a slow start but soon enough you'll be decapitating enemies, slicing off limbs and biting the heads off lizards like it's second nature.

It's a really awesome game but I wish the campaign took us just a bit farther. It's still really awesome.

i really want to make a funny review but at the same time i really want to hammer home the fact that this game lets you cut off the heads and limbs of your enemies and beat the hell out of people with said heads and limbs

You can use severed limbs as weapons and throw decapitated heads at your enemies. It's not very effective, but you're playing the game wrong if you haven't done it at least once.

Also lizards are delicious.

Rune is one of the best hack and slash games I've ever played, as well as the best viking game I've ever played too. Norse mythology, dismemberment, a large variety of weapons, drinking ale, breakable walls, who could ask for more? Its very enjoyable to decapitate someone and then pick up their head and throw it. I havn't seen that in games before, and its AWESOME. The game is pretty cheap on steam too, and it can run on low end computers as well, so everyone can have fun! The multiplayer is great as well, although all the american servers are dead, there is a small european community that welcomes newcomers. I'm from Texas, and i was able to play in the european servers without lagging at all! Also did i say that the multiplayer loading screen is really cool? If you like vikings, norse mythology, hack and slash games, or cutting peoples' arms off and throwing them at them, this is the perfect game for you.

So after playing this for a couple days I think this game deserves some attention, and I used to play this a long time ago in 2002 at the time this game was considered advanced it's basically 2001's version of Skyrim (the only problem is there is no free roam,) but now things these days look close to real life I highly doubt this will compete with the other games you might consider getting. Now before I get into detail no not the kind of attention Halo: CE and Half Life get, this game is fun but that's about it there isn't a HUGE deep story behind this game so don't expect something like Halo or Half Life just expect the typical 1990 kill everything in your path game.

Story and plot: The story begins with an introduction saying Odin the all father gave humanity great powerful lucky charms-Ahem! I mean rune stones to hold Ragnarock at bay, however the evil god Loki has attempted many times to unleash Ragnarock by destroying these runes so instead of constantly fighting him every generation Odin had enough of his bull ♥♥♥♥ so he ended up tearing Loki's heart out and banished him into a dungeon like hell, but even with his magic power stripped away and imprisoned he managed to corrupt a handful of mortal's to join his army this then leads to a show down between the wicked and evil vikings and a village's chief and son Ragnar (you the player are Ragnar) so the village's best warrior's were all slaughtered in seconds by magic bolts of lightning summoned by Loki's herald (I know I'm writing a review but there are no character's in this game besides Loki Ragnar and Odin so I can't remember his name currently) everyone dies including Ragnar's father however Odin revives Ragnar and says that he is giving Ragnar a chance at revenge if he can save the rune stones and stop Loki's return Ragnar accepts the offer and fights his way through monsters, demons, undead, to hell and back all the way into the mountains fighting vikings, dwarves, giants, and the list goes on you eventually become a war lord through your journey and now you must travel to Loki's dungeon and finish the fight the gods started.

I won't spoil the rest but there is a lot to fight in this game which makes me disappointed that at the time we didn't have the proper technology to make a free roaming game, because this universe has tons of potential! this is REAL norse mythology! not like Skyrim where everyone worships made up half naked bikini model gods that enjoy watching people bang. I would love to see more of this but in a free roaming game or at least an anniversary edition with new graphics and texture cleaning, this game may end on the very first installment but it deserves an RPG sequel (or prequel) anything can be done in this universe the IP is there we just need a new deveolper building or re-building this universe.

Multiplayer: it's fun but very competitive, there is no "help me" or "power upgrades" or tanks, there is nothing to give you an edge over everyone, it's classic skill vs skill who is the better man? (or woman) basically multiplayer is thunder dome "two men enter one man leaves...And respawns again to get his ♥♥♥ kicked" so it's fun but it's not the best multiplayer I've seen in early 2000 games, the other question you might ask is: "is there customization?" yes, and a bit of no, there are skins you can change into but there is no armor you can unlock and dress up in, (I think there are skin mods but I'm not too sure) but if you want to mod in your own skin I support the idea 100% the game could use a fix here and there.

Final verdict: I'm giving the game a 7/10 now if this was 2004 or something I would have given it an 8 but this game is out dated and old so does it belong in your library? yes and no, it depends what your machine is and there are better games out there that you can spend 10$ on, it's still a great game! but it's not a perfect game, I would love to see more though a RPG could be adapted into this universe giving a new fresh nordic IP, hell if it has Co-op mode free roaming and competitive multiplayer it might even beat Skyrim! but until then we have to wait and see.

That story, the atmosphere, the sounds, the voices, the weapons, the fighting system and the adventure around Vikings fascinated me about this game. I would describe the adventure as lonely, dark and gloomy. I think the developers took their focus mostly on the atmosphere, which composes roughly from graphics, ambient sounds, voices and the course (sequence) of events.
I had a lot of fun with the fighting system in MultiPlayer matches, though now there are some cheaters out there (but where are they not in mp...), or pro players, who play it a lot, e.g. in clans etc.

I have spent several hundreds of hours playing this game outside of Steam between 2002-2006, and during this time I ran a very successful server under the name of G4n0nd3$$.

This was a very good game for its time. The story is incredibly interesting and immersive, combat is fast-paced, fluent and flexible, there is an immense amount of different weapons/powers, and the multiplayer was amazing due to the vast modding community and the possibility of in-game scripting via the console.

The game is pretty old by now however and there's not a lot of activity on the multiplayer front, but if you're a fan of Norse mythology, I'd definitely recommend this game for the singleplayer campaign alone, which has 2 different endings.

Really fun game, and severely overlooked. Also has a great atmosphere. Makes you feel like a viking.

One of the first games i ever played, it was something special then, but also now.
Give it a try. You'll eat lizards, hear about your destiny from Odin, kill bad guy with thiers limbs. Why not.

Was my Fav game for about 12 years. Until Chivalry came out. This game is still amazing though it was the first of its kind and it had an amazing single player experience. Love it

Good game but it would be better if there was a Rune 2.

This game is highly praised for it's multiplayer mode wich is the most outrageous fun I've had. Besides beeing an old game, it brings a great gameplay with decent graphics. There are a few games where you can decapitate your friend and use his head as a weapon even more fun, mock him with it or throw it at him, you can actually take his arm off making him defenseless and run after him threatning his life with the right amount of love you have for him.

8/10
Pros:
*Fun multiplayer
*Nice gameplay
*Not cheesy

Cons:
*Graphics from 1997

Best game ever

i got it for free one day idk but it is awesome the graphics are good for my laptop and my computer i love it is fun but it can be frustraiting