The subject of Rune makes that release date quite appropriate. Looking at the gameplay you're demoing right now, it seems like there are a bunch of different ways to slaughter your foes. Are there different death animations depending on the context of a hit?

Yes, it all depends on the weapon you're using. If I chop a guy’s head off, he’ll die a little differently. I can even stick him with my sword from a distance, because you can throw all your weapons. One of the cooler features is the ability to perform the classic "tear off the bad guy's arm and beat him with it" maneuver...

(Tim spent a few minutes taking out a small group of enemies at this point, demoing the various gruesome ways one can kill in Rune. The best moment here was when his character started chopping off creatures heads and using them as a projectiles against the other attackers)

I see that the weapon to weapon combat is well implemented at this point. Are there any hand-to-hand combat capabilities in Rune?

Yes, you’ll have a standard punch, though if you try to go up against a guy with a sword, he’ll pretty much kick your butt. The game is really about aiming, getting position. Its much more like a real, 3D combat game.

How do you think Rune stacks up with Bungie’s Oni?

Well not having played Oni myself, I can’t really make a fair comparison. In general though, the focus in Rune is more on weapon melee combat. From what I've heard, Oni's focus is on gunplay and hand to hand combat, rather than the weapons melee style that we use in Rune.

What role does the Norse mythology play in the story line? Is it really a story heavy game, or is it more of an action-heavy game?

Well, it’s an action heavy game with a lot of story in it. Much in the same way that Halflife has a story to it, but no one is going to call it an adventure game. We’re going for the same style of gameplay. We don’t want it to be where you’re going to sit through 20 minutes of movies. We want it to be where the action is constant.

So the story is primarily filtered through the in-game cut-scenes?

Yes. Everything is done in game. We don’t have any movies that are external to the engine.

Any NPC interaction?

Yes, early on in the game you start out in your village and your villagers help you learn the game. It works as something of an unobtrusive tutorial level.

Do the NPCs have any kind of role later in the game?

Later on, there is some to help the story along, but its mainly about combat actions. It’s not an RPG. We don’t stop and talk about the life stories of all the NPC. Without getting into too much detail, Rune follows a revenge story. Your father gets killed early on in the game, and you’re trying to get revenge on the people who kill him. Most of your interaction is trying to figure out where the guy who killed your dad is.

What stage is the development and testing of Rune in right now?

Well, we’re going alpha in August and we do a lot of in-house play of our own. We go Beta in September and we should be on the shelves in October.

Any major things missing in this demo right now, that will be implemented in the later version?

Well the animations here are not 100% final, so that’s missing. I can power up weapons, but the graphics here are placeholders. The final defense is not in this particular build. In the final build you can a shield as defense. But in the final built, the one we just finished for PC, you can actually shield bash - charge into attackers with your shield and do some damage that way.

I’ve noticed that the bad guys pick up weapons too. Are there any projectile weapons that they use on you?

No, it’s all melee, but they will throw things at you. Some of the non-human enemies spit goo at you, that sort of thing.

When can we expect to see Rune on store shelves?

PC will be October, Mac will either be late October, early November.

Thanks for talking with us Tim, Rune looks like its shaping up to be one awesome game.

1 - Rune Interview Page 1

2 - Rune Interview Page 2