Runeous

Magic is a quintessential part of fantasy stories, otherwise they would be much duller. However, there are many types of magic one can talk about, depending on who is using it. Whether it’s powerful rituals, curses, blessings or actual fireballs, they can all make the story a lot more exciting. The characters can use it for evil or for good, depending on what they are trying to obtain.

Runeous is an interactive visual novel that allows you to be part of a pretty unique world, one that is controlled by war and magic. Unlike in most VNs out there, you get to make a choice every now and again, one that changes the course of the plot and provides you with unique scenes. This makes the game very replayable, at least if you want to see all the different possible outcomes.

In short, the story describes the adventures of a handful of heroes through a world scarred by war. One of the heroes is named Leif, and he is the one who stumbles into a Jacawi tribeswomen by the name of Eme. She is from a different species, and she can only communicate telepathically with Leif, which leads to some pretty interesting scenes and dialog bits.

As mentioned before, you are allowed to make choices ever once in awhile, such as whether you should intervene on someone’s behalf and gain or lose reputation with the person in question. Sometimes, your actions have the power to affect the entire group’s opinion of you, which means that you should really think before saying or doing something. Granted, there are no instant loss moments, so you are still pretty safe.

In the graphics department, you obviously shouldn’t expect any animations or 3D cutscens, but the artwork is actually very inspiring. The backgrounds could have used a bit more detail, especially when there are no characters to distract you, but the semi-abstract style works as well. Speaking of which, the character design is exquisite, and it should be easy to bond with them.

In the end, Runeous is worth a few hours of your time, especially if you enjoy replaying the experience to witness different scenes or endings. The story is quite interesting and well-written as well. Note: You can help the developers by contributing to the game's Kickstarter project.