14 DAY TRIAL // The team at the Paradox Development Studio working on Runemaster is delivering another diary for the game and this time around, there is no new class announcement as the company focuses on the unique elements of the combat system included in the title.
On the official forums, the developers explain that the gameplay is entirely turn based and the player’s hero will have to rely on a number of other units, each occupying its own hex, in order to be able to defeat enemies and progress.
All units are divided into squads when combat starts in Runemaster and the game uses their number to decide who moves at which point based on the number included in each army.
Paradox Development Studio states, “When a squad is activated, its units can be act in any order. It's also possible to start moving one unit, then switching to a squad mate, move that unit and then continue with the first unit. This allows for more flexibility and cooperation between units from the same squad and also opens up for more complex maneuvers.”
Each squad can also get a banner in Runemaster and each is similar to the objects that the main character can use. Some units can have abilities that give a number of bonuses to all their companions.
Each army in the game can have up to 16 units, organized into no more than five squads, and each one can have three ordinary units at the most.
The main hero can choose to attach to any squad he wants before combat starts.
The developers add, “Not only will this make that squad 33% larger than the others, but each class also have one or more abilities that will boost all members of the own squad. Not having the main character in a squad allows that squad to equip a banner which can be better at enhancing stats used by certain units or make up for weaknesses of certain units.”
The army management screen in Runemaster will be used to offer a simple and fast way to organize the forces that players control so that they benefit from bonuses during battle and work well together.
The game will be launched on the PC before the end of the year and it is designed to tell a complex and very replayable story about the end of the world and the battle between Loki and Thor.