Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I love the incongruity of this modern crop of puzzle games with fantasy stories. Somehow the glorious Puzzle Quest gets away with it, but all the rest just seem enormously silly. And none moreso than Runes of Avalon 2 (I know, a sequel already!).

“Your strength gives me courage!” declares the floaty-voiced lady betwixt levels of the tile-matching game. Really? Because I only remember clicking the coloured tiles on the grid so they matched up in rows of three, but seriously, if that’s enough, I’m totally your man. I mean, really, I reckon I could even do a tile-swapping picture puzzle if that would save the kingdom or something… Oh, you have tile-swapping picture puzzles? Ah, well see, there’s a lot of kingdoms that need saving around this time of year, and well, ok then, thanks, bye.

So yes, a demo is available for Runes of Avalon 2, which will let you power through as many of the 100 levels as you can before it explodes. The core game is fine enough, if a little underwhelming. It quickly introduces “spells”, but unfortunately a bit too quickly, before the game suggests any sense of time pressure. However, the interrupting minier games are problematic, and yes, by level 10 you’re really being asked to tile-swap to make a picture of a fairy. Ho hum.

It’s by Anawiki, which appears to be another of these casual games sites that sells all the same games as all the other casual games sites in a way that utterly confuses me, and I fear that if I were to ever try and unravel would cause the entire universe to disintergrate in my lap, and a lot of cross people demanding I put it all back together. You can get the demo here.