If you haven't already heard of this indie game that surpassed Forza motorports on its launch day, It's Called Night Runners! In This article, I'm simply here to answer the question: is this just another racing game?
As of writing this article, I have 45 hours on this game, and let me tell you that is a whole lot of hours for a PROLOGUE of a game that takes less than 10 hours to finish. But why is this game so charming to me and the other thousands of fans behind the game? Well, it brings back the formula of racing games that we simply just haven't seen since the 2000s racing game series, Tokyo Xtreme Racer.
So what is the game even about? Well it's simple, you race your way to the top but with risks in between. Unlike most other racing games, in order to race with an opponent in this game, you need to pay up. For example, Star Tamer (the first boss in the game), requires a fee of 4.5 million yen! Although, the wagers do tend to flucuate so sometimes it may be lower than that. This game is all about speed and strategy, so you need to know how to hunt down the right car also.
In Night runners, there's a daily auction house system. Meaning everyday the cars for sale refresh. And, there are two characteristics that seperates the cars in the catalogue: Grade, and the type of transmission it has. For example, a manual 200RS (240sx) has a 6 speed manual, but the auto counterpart only has 4 gears. Big differenece. Then, the grade system is simple, it ranges from 1-5 (1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest). Lower the grade, the more often you have to do repairs and the higher the grade, the less you have to do repairs. And more often than not the higher the grade the more expensive the car.
But what does all this have to do with answering: Is Night runners just another racing game? Well, everything I've said up to now describes just how much detail and effort was put into making this game, and if you want to support it financially, subscribe to the game's Patreon here!