The first time I played The Unspoken by Insomniac Games, I knew I’d just done something really special. The act of reaching out with my hand to cast a fireball in VR felt so satisfying I found it hard to imagine playing an RPG again outside of VR; that’s how powerful the feeling was. And for everything The Unspoken got right in terms of PvP gameplay it was sorely lacking a single player narrative-driven campaign mode.
On the flip side, Runes: The Forgotten Path by Stormborn Studio wants to tell a singularly focused story that puts you in the shoes of a powerful renegade wizard. Channeling a mechanic that I’ve been a fan of ever since I first played Arx Fatalis, in Runes you’ll have to draw the shapes of spells in the air using your hand in order to cast them. It’s similar to how you select spells in SoulKeeper VR.
The premise of the game is that your memories have been stolen from you and you’re on a journey to find them once again and re-establish yourself in the world of magic by avoiding Oblivion, which sounds like a pretty bad thing. There’s a Kickstarter live for the game right now that also includes a demo that’s currently playable. It includes spellcasting, puzzles solving, and a bit of adventure to whet your whistle. There’s also a separate combat demo as well.
Runes: The Forgotten Path is currently estimated with a November 2017 release, but as Kickstarter projects go, don’t be surprised if it gets delayed. The project is currently sitting at approximately 25% funded as of the time of this writing with 16 days left to go.
Let us know what you think of the game down in the comments below!
