Runemaster - Interview @ Gamereactor

Gamereactor interviews Paradox Studios about their new RPG Runemaster.

Paradox Development Studio is pretty much synonomous with the grand-strategy genre. Sure others dabble in it, but with Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings and Victoria - this is a rather significant niche these days that Paradox commands. But there has always been that itch to stretch outside of the comfort zone and do something different. They've tried in the past, but perhaps the less said of Valhalla Chronicles (2003) the better.

"When I grew up back in the old days, hundreds of years ago, I wanted to make three different computer games," says studio manager Johan Andersson. "I wanted to make a football manager game. I wanted to make an awesome strategy game played on maps, which I may have succeeded with a few times I guess. And I also wanted to make a cool RPG. And I wanted an RPG that you could replay, and replay and replay."

The team is staying away from calling the sides of the conflict good and evil - opting for the more ambigious conservative and radical.

"There are three races that are conservative and three races that are radicial," says Andersson. "And notice that we're not saying good or evil. But there are the three races that are humans, dwarves and light elves. They want to keep the current order and they want to stop Ragnarok from happening. Then you have three other races - trolls, giants and dark elves. And they want to see change. They want to remove the current Gods and usher in Ragnarok and make a fresh plate for everyone with them in more power."