With so many games vying for attention this week, it has been difficult to know what to look at next. I’ve been focused on trying lots of different types of roguelike games, but I have also been trying to pick a few that are set to release soon. runz is one such game, with its updated demo and November release date.
runz is the work of the brother dev team sardin-ventures, who obviously have an aversion to capital letters. Fair enough, I guess.
Brothers Théo & Paul have been working on their twin-stick roguelite for some time now, and based on the slice of game that I’ve been enjoying, it’s much more complex than the simplistic pixel art visuals might have you believe at first sight.
I know that most of you would never judge a book by its cover, and runz is yet another game that hides significant depth behind a colourful and approachable pixelated facade.
Once you get into things, the complexity really comes into play. Ultimately, this is a compact arena bullet heaven and as such it’s easy to get into a groove. However, it’s not long before runz shows its teeth.
The core hook here is that every bullet in your magazine fires in sequence, and every one of them can be upgraded and synergised in a number of ways. Think Brotato, but with a linear attack pattern where your infused bullets fire out one at a time in a predetermined order.
My first impression of the game, having played a couple of hours so far, is that the developers have managed to inject lots of personality into simple pixel art designs. More than that, though, it feels like they’ve been making thoughtful design decisions along the way.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. I’m going to keep chipping away at this one, I think, for a review when it hits Steam PC (on Linux, Mac and Windows) on November 13th, which isn’t very far off at all.
