Extremely interested in the game but a little confused as to what the better experience is for a new player? I've played similar games and i hear the game feels somewhat like Jedi Knight in some regards so some should feel familiar. But with all the changes between Gold and Classic Im not sure which I would get the best enjoyment out of.

Gold, hands down. It's far better, and runs wonderfully on Win10x64, too. "Classic" is a somewhat butchered abomination of the game, imo. See my earlier post about Classic.

stay away from Classic, it is just straight-up worse.
Gold is a very, very cool game. a true gem!

Can you guys elaborate, how exactly is it different? and why is Rune Classic (1.26GB) the main download and not Rune Gold (590.15MB)?. Is Rune Classic a re-work by a different team?.

Edit: I found this link which it goes into detail. https://www.gog.com/forum/rune_classic/classic_vs_gold_a_veterans_opinion/post1.

Yes, I've seen that post before...it's nuts...;) Seriously, if you can get it on a good sale, GOLD is worth the price of admission--Classic is actually a literally hacked-to-pieces rendition of the Gold version, with many levels omitted. You can play GOLD from start to finish on Win10x64 with ease--especially using the D3d10 Rune mod (which is what I recommend.) But Classic won't even run. The differences are not small--GOLD is the only game to play--probably the only game *you can* play..;) The post sounds like someone trying to influence Classic's sales in a positive direction--because Classic stinks. GOLD is a timeless classic which you can buy with confidence. Classic--well--see for yourself...;)

I'm going to install and play through Rune Gold with the updated D3D9 renderer files. Then I'll think about giving Classic a try.

An enhanced OpenGL renderer for Unreal Tournament web page
http://www.cwdohnal.com/utglr/

Cheers, thanks for the link!. :)

I vote for Rune Gold too. Classic has got weird graphical issues and Gold can be easily tweaked to look just as great just without those new monsters and creatures.

On ebig difference is that dx10 simply doesn't have the GPU driver versatility when it comes to IQ settings. With dx9 and opengl, you can force SGSSAA via nvidia inspector which will increase image quality to levels dx 10 just isn't capable reaching.

Not sure how recent AMD drivers handle AA support for dx9, but for nvidia at least, dx9 or openlGL is the superior choice.

Well, the AMD Adrenalins allow you to easily force SSAA right from the game's driver profile--and many other things too, if you want. The GPU requirements of the game are so light by today's standards (I run an RX-590/480 Crossfire, WIn10x64 AMD Ryzen system) that 8x SSAA hardly affects the framerate at all...;) These really old games look similar regardless of what type of FSAA you want to apply--but I agree with you that SSAA always seems to look better...!