Game Reviews

Runeblade (Apple Watch)

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Runeblade (Apple Watch)
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| Runeblade

Runeblade is not exactly a complicated game. It looks like an RPG, but it ain't one.

Instead, it's a clicker. You know, those games where you just tap the screen to accrue money, which can be spent on ways to accrue more money. Which is spent on… yeah, you get it.

So you slay monsters by simply tapping a button, and soon enough you won't even need to do that. The game will just keep killing beasties in your stead, even when your watch is asleep.

All you'll need to do, then, is come back once in a while and open the gate to a new boss - a monster with a bigger health bar than any of its compatriots - and kill it to proceed to the next area.

Tap dancing

You'll also need to spend money on runes which can boost your stats (the amount of damage you do per second, or per button press) and unlock spells (which boost those same stats, but for a set amount of time).

It's dumb. It's brainless. It doesn't ask anything of you. And yet, I find myself checking in once a day.

There's just some undeniable allure associated with dealing more damage and seeing enemies go down more quickly. And when you start dealing with ridiculous numbers, spending hundreds of billions of gold on new runes, you start to feel like Donald Trump.

Rune-r rather than later

The game also has an iPhone app where you can ostensibly buy premium upgrades to stats and gold income, but it doesn't work yet. Neither does the library screen which just shows a wizard looking at some books. Hi wizard.

It's not going to win points for depth, complexity, or even originality. But Runeblade offers just enough gameplay to keep your fingers occupied for a brief few seconds so you can hide from the real world. What more do you want?

Runeblade (Apple Watch)

Runeblade is staggeringly simple, but maybe that's what we want from an Apple Watch game. Despite its brainless nature, you'll find yourself checking in often
Score
Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer