Rune (computer game)
Rune is a computer game, made by Human Head Studios. It was released in late 2000.
The game casts the player as Ragnar, a young Viking warrior. It follows a fairly generic fantasy plot, but with overt use of Norse mythology. Although made using the Unreal Tournament Game engine (a First Person Shooter engine), Rune is a third person perspective game without any shooting. The weapons used in the game include swords, axes, maces and other medieval melee weapons. Despite using an engine made for shooting, the interface lends itself well to a playing style consisting of running, jumping and hacking at opponents (including goblins, skeletons and other Vikings).
An innovative feature of the game is that anything dropped by a dead opponent can be picked up and used. This extends to include body parts. Limbs can be swung as clubs, and grotesquely enough, heads can be worn as gloves. Although the game includes no ranged weapons, any weapon can be thrown.
As the game goes on, as in most games of its type, better weapons are accumulated. In Rune, bigger is always better, and late in the game you find yourself wielding weapons of ridiculous size.
An expansion was released in 2001, called Halls of Valhalla. It consisted mostly (or entirely) of extra multiplayer features, some of which were quite original. One example is a gruesome parody of team sports, players scored points by beheading their opponents and throwing the heads into a goal.