Yup, 7.1 sound setup was the case. I switched to the 2.0 option (of the same audio card output, via the Windows' playback devices) - and the game loaded without a flaw.
Tried other different audio outputs (like AC3 passthrough, HDMI, ect) - all of them are working in 2.0 (on the same sound card).
"Sorry, fatal error - please let Majalis know! Error: com.badlogic.gdx.utils.GdxRuntimeException: Couldn't load dependencies of asset: sounds/IntroSound.wav"
Tried both x86 and x64 versions, ran the .exe and .jar, tried the shortcut method, and admin rights. Same error during any run. Other Java based apps/games (e.g. via the .jar) work fine.
