Runeblade rolls the dice for RPGs on Apple Watch
Ambitious launch title rumoured to have Apple support
The majority of gamers may no longer be able to get hold of an Apple Watch till June, but that shouldn't stop us getting intrigued by the sort of games we're going to play when we eventually do.
Whilst Apple has outed a few titles on the official site, including variations and spin-offs of puzzlers such as Rules and Best Fiends, and we've assembled our own ever expanding list, today saw the announcement of one of the most intriguing (and arguably most ambitious) Apple Watch games yet.
Described by Everywear Games as "the first Fantasy Adventure on a smartwatch", Runeblade is setting out to squash all the key elements you'd expect from an RPG - a back story featuring high priestesses and ancient gods, mystical lands to explore, characters to upgrade plus swords and spells to use against an army of monsters - into a compact form. And this doesn't just apply to the screen display, the gameplay itself is designed to function in tiny bursts of 'twitter-sized entertainment' with battles lasting less than 15 seconds and updates appearing as Glances.
Although the interactions are small and simple, Everywear are keen to stress the game "builds over time" and becomes progressively more in-depth and complex over “days, weeks and months of gameplay.”
Everywear's CEO Aki Järvilehto was also keen to emphasise this is an original entirely designed for the platform, “We’re excited to help pioneer game development on Apple Watch with a fully original title designed specifically for smartwatch gaming. with Runeblade, we wanted to create a fresh, new kind of gaming experience on smartwatches.”
Whether this will result in something that's genuinely engaging and fun to play remains to be seen of course, but with backing from Lifeline Ventures (the first investors in Supercell), a team including ex Rovio and Remedy staff and apparent support from Apple (who are believed to have been working with Everywear on the project), expectations are unsurprisingly high.
Runeblade will be free to download exclusively on Apple Watch at launch with updates due to come thick and fast soon after.
