About The Rum Series
2025/04/02
I've just finished updating all the rum games.
These went through one hell of a journey... Starting with the fact that Rum 5 (Originally Rum 3D) was supposed to be the third game in the series, but for some reason I went on to make the current rum 3 instead. By June 2017, I did have the first few levels of Rum 3D finished, and soon after even started working on Rum 4, but due to turmoil, neither would see the light of day until 2018.
Rum 8 was originally sub-titled "The Grand Finale". I changed this because, in a weird twist of fate, it ended up being my last game for many years (though the actual final release came a few days after, that game was a barely finished one from 2017, so it doesn't count).
Rum 6 was at the forefront of the resurrection - it was the first game I put some serious work into during my extended downtime.
The entire series was renamed to "Norkaland" in 2025, all mentions of rum were replaced with "Kers", as part of a campaign any mentions of alcohol and illicit substances in my games. In 2026, I would port a lot of stuff from Rum 1-3 to Rum 4, with Rum 2 being basically left empty as a result, which is why I had to remake it later when I decided to change everything back to Rum. The rest of the games (sans 5 and 6, since they were updated in 2020-2021) received massive updates.
These updates themselves are very interesting - the games, for a lack of a better word, cross-pollinated. Some of the new rum 1 levels were inspired by things in latter games (mainly 4, 6). Rum 4 used levels from 2 and 3 to extend itself in a way that makes it seem as if all the different places were always there. The temple stage of rum 4 got fused with the plains of rum 3, for example, among many other additions. It also completely absorbed the puzzle-y levels of Rum 2, which led Rum 4 to become centered around Wizard Haal.
Rum 2, in turn, had to give up most of its levels. It was now built with the new levels of rum 1 in mind, with the temple of rum 4 also influencing the third stage. The enemy you originally only met on level 1 of rum 2 is now a sort of a temple guardian, with 3 being there in total, not counting statues. Some new stuff in Rum 3 was also inspired by the new stuff of Rum 1 - the wheat fields & most new enemies, for example. 5 and 6 didn't receive new content, while 7 and 8 were extended without any outside influence.
The best Rum game? 4, hands down. It is the epitome of Rum, combining almost all of the classic locations, enemies, having cool bosses and great custom soundtrack made by me. Afterwards, 6 is close, it's hypnotic, but a bit of a pain to play. 5 is immersive and very atmospheric, once again featuring my own music, which adds a lot to it..
Worst Rum game? Either 7 or 2. 2 is pretty shallow and has little reason to exist, it's rendered obsolete by 1,3 and 4. 7 is just chaotic and too simple.
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