So we got a couple of copies of the retail version of Dungeon Runners today. One of the perks of the retail version (you can download and play the game for free if you wish) is that you get 6 months of “Premium” gameplay, and a Bling Gnome. Price is $20, and Premium access is generally $5/month, so its a good deal.

I’d played Dungeon Runners before and liked it well enough. It’s a semi-MMO. Towns are communal but dungeons hold only your party. It’s very hack and slashy, with tons of loot, each bit of which is rife with prefixes and suffixes. The whole tone is extremely tongue-in-cheek. Since I last played, the humor has gotten even more sophomoric, with fart jokes all over the place.

As to the Bling Gnome… well, he’s this nasty little creature that follows you around and picks up all the piles of gold coins that drop from creatures, which is pretty convenient and streamlines gameplay a good bit. He also has an ‘active skill’ that will cause him to pick up trash loot, eat it, and excrete gold coins, which he’ll then pick up for you. Every time he does this, there’s a chance he’ll excrete a nice loot item. The game play mechanic here is great, but honestly his little animation, complete with clouds of noxious green vapor, gets old pretty quickly. Since you target mobs by clicking on them, the gnome can get in the way, too.

I wouldn’t say the Bling Gnome is worth running out and buying the game for, but if you download the free client and like it, it’s very much worth the $20 for full access to the game (so called “Rainbow” items…the best loot, is only usable by paid accounts) for six months, and the Gnome is a decent convenience feature once you learn to ignore his antics.