Saturn Quest: R. U. N. E. 3000

Ah yes, the infamous Saturn Quest, the only 3 game series that has 3 fans and maybe 30 sold copies put together (I imagine it's not exact but very close). Part bullet hell, part space shooter, part boss rush, some platforming here and there, and even some puzzles with exploration - so take that intuitive game design. Once again I feel like I have to thank the developer for this rather personal gift, I take it personally because only a few of us still follow these games, and I imagine the dev is well aware of its lack of appeal. As with other Arkhouse games, I don't play them because they are good games, I am playing them for the experience, strange art, unique soundtrack, and just the world that I can't truly explain. I was just about to say that Arkhouse finally made a game with fair difficulty and learned from his mistakes - yep spoke too soon, it's a nightmare, a test of patience like it always is, 5 games back to back, shoving a hot ____ __ __ ___, absolute torture, no mercy, onl...

You done did good, kid.

My one true wish is to be have even a neutrino as much vision and confidence in my works as Arkhouse Telegraph. A masterpiece it is. I'll look back on this for inspiration until the day I die.

Easily the best Saturn Quest game, by a lot too. Very little in this game was infuriating in the same sense that the other games are. Bosses are more predictable and easier to avoid damage on. In additrion, options have been added in most gameplay types to restore health making taking a hit much less frustrating. The game is still very difficult, but the rng hell difficulty of the previous games has been replaced with a more slow paced, tactical difficulty about careful planning a paying attention to your surroundings. As a Saturn Quest fan I feel this is truly the first game I can recommend without reservation. It really feels like the culmination of many of the gameplay structures of previous games, this time thought out and interesting in ways the previous games were not. There's still some very questionable decisions, don't get me wrong this is Saturn Quest... However this time they feel like fun quirks instead of decisions that make parts of the game borderline unplayable. That...

The gameplay is okay in combat sections (with the exception of "bump combat" sections where you can take damage for seemingly no reason sometimes) and drags heavily outside of them, with long stretches of slowly walking around samey environments. The dialog is godawful, with the characters just speaking gibberish at each other for way, WAY too long. Some of the bosses are really not fun to fight, like the worm in the platforming section who if it decides to go down your lane at the wrong time could potentially kill you in one pass, or the mushroom with its random wall of bullets occasionally leading to there being no safe space on your side of the arena. The puzzles felt really weird since you had to go to the tutorial computer to figure out what even to do most of the time. There is definitely some well done art though, and some interesting effects. All in all I would say avoid it unless you are interested in really niche indie stuff. I normally am but this was just too obnoxio...

Note that you have to manually save your game in the overworld, it's not something you can do from the escape menu. Not refunding this because the game is definitely a labour of love, but it is not particularly enjoyable to play.

Was so excited to see this game come out. It blew me away. There's never really an expectation coming in to these games other than to not expect anything at all. So many playstyles and ideas that get mixed and matched in different ways, it's incredibly creative stuff. Arkhouse Telegraph has a way of making seemingly-nonsensical ideas work in amazingly fresh ways. As always these games have such a unique presentation with the combination of stunning visuals and music, it's obvious so much love and passion went in to this game. Out of the three Saturn Quest games, this is definitely the most playable, there's been steps taken to make things more fair, outside maybe a couple encounters I really feel like this is the actualization of what the previous games were building towards, it's a legit enjoyable experience that I recommend. Arkhouse Telegraph's works has always been a shining beacon on why I love indie games, Regardless of quality and frustration, they've always shown me a side ...

Disclaimer: This is review from player who prefer story-rich game and haven't played any game by Arkhouse Telegraph. The good: + Outstanding 80's-esque visual pixel artstyle. It reminds me of few SNES/Atari/Gameboy games. + Fairly good soundtrack. + Some cutscene/area have fascinating atmosphere. + Run well with Steam proton, so it's likely this game is playable for Linux/Steam Deck user. Although the platformer area might show too many small detail for 7" display. + Game OST/artbook is available for free on Arkhouse website. The bad: - While i understand nature of this game require player to find out most thing and go through trial-and-error, some parts definitely need to be explained better. I refer to lack of autosave (for most part of the game), not letting player know about manual save (you can do it by head left after exit for cylinder elevator until you see display/sign "< S" and suggestion to visit block H (where you get some guidance). - While the manual say i can play R. U....

Saturn Quest 3 is an outstanding game concluding an epic trilogy of a little green guy that bumps into big bosses and makes them go boom. I honestly wasn't sure if I was gonna like the new Action RTS bosses in this prequel/sequel since I'm terrible at RTS games but because its less complicated, it was easier for me to learn its mechanics 😀 Also there's a Undertale inspired boss and that was pretty damn cool 😎👍

R.U.N.E 3000 is the third game in the Saturn Quest series, a series that was previously planned to have SIX games and is now planned to have TEN. No less than that. Gotta respect the ambition. No need for the usual pros and cons, it's Arkhouse, you know what to expect. Great art, great music, truly original and full of soul, the indie spirit, a game for art's sake and nothing else. Play it if you love games and are very, very patient. Navigator is still very dumb, but you love him that way, probably. If you've played 1 and 2, you have Stockholm for him and Roro, guaranteed. I was very attached to these characters and am sad at the idea of not seeing them again, but that's life, I suppose. Anyway, R.U.N.E 3000 is the longest entry in the series, with the most fair and balanced gameplay. Most of it will involve fighting bullet hell bosses by managing turrets and...trying to read dialogue written in gibberish. Be warned. Arkhouse recommends you play R.U.N.E 3000 before the other t...