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0 Rune Dice is a Strategy RPG from the minds at Smart Raven Studio. With publishing assistance from Kwalee. Rune Dice is honestly a very unique concept when working with dice and combat. And the interesting conditions to be met when unlocking characters had me playing for hours on end. Now, let’s legally grab our dice and get ready to roll for this review!
Remember, explosive dice are your best friend, but RNG….it’s getting personal!
Gameplay
The gameplay for Rune Dice is honestly a game of pool minus the pockets and with almost the same amount of planning. I swear the game had me questioning sending the die to a wall to do a trick shot. Which was necessary to fully understand to perform the needed 40 combo dice to unlock the Archer. Sure, you need the aim to properly get this combo to happen. However, I especially just recommend that you collect as many dice as you can. Now earlier I mentioned something about characters which each have different playstyle and health points.
It feels like an interesting game of Dungeons and Dragons with how many different kinds of class dice there are. From which each class has four different class dice and eight field dice that appear with each battle. With the certain enemies themselves adding their di(c)e to the board. However, making plans on if you should hit the die or not. Yet, after hours of playing the game and understanding the mechanics, you would take those dice just to punish the enemy who laid it.
Make a Choice
With choices like Rogue, Mage, and Warrior. Druid, Paladin, Necromancer, Bard, and Archer have more options. Although there are eight classes, each one has three heroes attached to it to change gameplay on each run. I honestly enjoyed playing each class and worked my butt off trying to unlock all their heroes. If you have a specific hero or class you like using, levelling them up does have benefits for you. By unlocking stronger dice and even relics for the start of each run.
Which is a great encouragement and feels as if you just successfully levelled up and got some cool gear from a DnD campaign. And don’t forget to get a rune die that will literally make or break your run, that’ll either heal you or increase your combos. There are even little pit stops when you can get treasure that might actually be a mimic. Visit a jester that offers some healing, items and money if you’re lucky. And the occasional shop and altar to either increase your dice power or clone it if you’re lucky.
However, some of the relics are only accessible under the specific hero just like the class dice. Which I wonder what would happen if they made a Red Mage hero that we could customise and make a crazy build. I offer that idea to Smart Raven Studios for free.
Graphics and Audio
The look of the whole game is actually really impressive for it being completely made with pixel art. From the maps, heroes and enemies, each has amazing designs that are very creative. However, when I bring up the enemies that have certain unique designs, their countdown is over. I got a nice surprise from a certain unicorn that went mechanised. Which I hope I’m right on this reference, because I started calling it the Unicorn Gundam.
The other thing is the unique boards you can unlock while playing the game normally. Like the boards for Peglin, Dungeon Clawler and the recently released Gambonanza. Which I continue to keep changing just to give me something to change.
The audio for the game has these 32-bit beats that would get repetitive after being exposed to it for 4 hours straight, and having me switch to Spotify. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really good OST, but to not have it change from what map you enter might be asking too much. The only time the music did change was when you entered combat, but the moment you got out, right back to the same music starting up again.
Longevity
As of writing this, I’m still collecting and shooting dice to do some major damage. It is really a very easy and simple game to play once you put 1 die with another die to get a 2 die…which leaps to another 2 die. And so on and so forth. The game is great to play on the Steam Deck, while using a pair of glasses which again I’ll have a review for once I’ve gotten enough time with.
I played the game on PC with a mouse, and using the PlayStation Edge controller. Weirdly enough, I leaned more on using my mouse only since I can get everything with just that. Because my cat wants one of my hands and it’s easier if you’re either eating a sandwich or drinking something while playing.
Final Thoughts
Rune Dice is really an enjoyable game that I’m surprised doesn’t have plans to go on mobile phones like BALL x PIT. It’s honestly a game you can fight the urge if you don’t want to do the adventure in Pen and Paper. Or you’re wanting to play pool with a more square appearance. My only grip with the game is really just the music being too reparative to cause my brain to desync. I’ve actually bought this game for a few friends that I play DnD with and they really enjoy the game as well. Here’s to hoping this concept will evolve just like the dice that grow with each collision.
I give Rune Dice the Thumb Culture Gold Award
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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