RUNNER is an upcoming racing game from indie studio Truant Pixel that promises to bring some very ’80s-inspired run-and-gun action to Quest 2 next month.
Update (September 28th, 2023): Truant Pixel announced that RUNNER is headed to the official Quest Store for Quest 2 on October 6th, 2023. The studio says its previously mentioned release on SteamVR headsets is still “TBA”. They’ve said they’re now targeting PSVR 2 as well.
If you’re looking to dive into a little bit of the game’s story, the studio also published a visual novel for mobile devices and PC called ‘PREAMBLE’ which tells the story of Vice, a former smuggler turned corporate cog on the colony world of N-351.
Additionally, the studio tossed out a new trailer, featured below. And if you were wondering, yes, that’s the voice talents of Steve Blum, probably best known for voicing Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, and Sandra Saad, who you may recognize from COD: Modern Warfare, Deathloop, and League of Legends.
Original Article (July 13th, 2023): Truant Pixel released this video back in early June, which shows off a second major look at the game following its initial reveal video in April. In the video, we get a look at some of the road hazards, a few newly revealed enemies, and a few weapons—all framed by a really interesting hand-drawn explosions and other cool cel shaded effects.
By popular demand, here's a VERY brief look at some of the enemy encounters, upgrades, and obstacles we've talked about so far.
Our capture hardware is struggling a bit to keep up, but this should give a salient sneak-peek at some of the action to come.
Music by @Fat_Bard pic.twitter.com/IveXx5jQcM
— RUNNER (@runner_vr) June 1, 2023
Since that teaser, the studio has thrown out a few other looks at the work-in-progress game, like the massive six-legged enemy type which seems to be inspired by Tachikoma from Ghost in the Shell. No surprises here: the studio says they’re inspired by classic anime like Akira, Ghost in the Shell, and Patlabor.
Back at its reveal in April, the studio said Runner would include autonomous motorcycles, UAVs, hunter-killer tanks, sniper quadrupeds, covert assassin vehicles and unique boss battles.
…Heads up. #psvr2 #OculusQuest2 #vr pic.twitter.com/WzXdxAr49v
— RUNNER (@runner_vr) June 27, 2023
Truant Pixel also revealed a slow-motion mechanic that may be tied to a certain type of laser in the game.
Evasive maneuvers:
Laser scratching #vr #psvr2 #OculusQuest2 pic.twitter.com/lU9f7qPWsk— RUNNER (@runner_vr) July 8, 2023
Runner doesn’t have a launch window yet, however it’s said to launch on all major VR headsets, including Oculus Quest, SteamVR-headsets, and the second-gen PSVR headset too. We’ll be keeping our eyes on Truant Pixel’s Twitter for more updates, which we hope come sooner rather than later. You can wishlist it on Steam here.
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