About This Game

Rune Runners is a colorful 3D action platformer for one or two players, on one couch or online. The rune torches that kept the magic of ten worlds alive have gone dark, and monsters have moved in. Four young mages, two brothers and two sisters, set out to light them again.

Every level is built for two mages on one screen. Light the rune torches together, stand next to your partner to revive them, and step onto the pressure plates side by side to open the chest. Invite a friend online through Steam and each of you gets your own camera. Player 2 can drop in at any time, and every level also works solo.

Three difficulty settings, Relaxed, Normal and Heroic, can be switched at any time. A parent and a child can play side by side, while two old hands find a real challenge on Heroic.

Each mage has an element of their own: water, fire, thunder or wind. Hit a monster with two elements at almost the same moment, or let two spells meet in mid-air, and they fuse into one of six combos: a steam burst, a thunderstorm, a block of ice, an explosion, a fire tornado or a tempest. Later every mage learns a special spell, from the Tidal Wave to the Meteor.

From the Whispering Woods to the Candy Kingdom and Rainbow Falls, each of the ten worlds has its own monsters and its own tricks: ferries across lava, sinking lily pads, falling icicles, rainbow roads and cookie bridges that crumble under your feet.

Halfway through every world a mid-boss is waiting, and at its end a guardian that a shadow star has turned dark. That makes twenty bosses, each with ideas of its own. Every attack is announced with a shadow, a circle or a warning lane, every big attack leaves an opening, and no fight needs two players.

Between the worlds you come home to a village around a giant Rune Tree. Sit on a bench, feed the ducks, toss a coin into the wishing well or pet one of the two cats. Places that lie in ruins are rebuilt one by one as you free the worlds.

At the tailor's mirror each mage picks a robe, an accessory, a wand and a companion. Companions like Bloop the baby slime follow you around and pick up coins, and rune charms change how you play, from Feather Fall to Glass Cannon.

The story plays out in the game world itself, with big gestures and little speech bubbles full of pictures, and without a single line of text. Even a child who can't read yet can follow it, and in online co-op both players watch every scene together.

Every level has three runes to earn. Rune shards hide behind cracked walls and in places only the right element opens, and all the shards of a world open its treasure vault. Gold from monsters, pots and chests buys potions, rune shields, heart containers and stronger wands from a red panda with a big backpack.

• 1–2 players: local co-op on one screen, online co-op over Steam (Remote Play Together too), or solo

• 4 young mages with water, fire, thunder and wind, 6 element combos and 4 special spells

• 10 worlds with 100 levels and nearly 50 kinds of monsters

• 20 bosses: a mid-boss and a guardian in every world

• A village around the Rune Tree with shops, a tailor, companions, a monster book and two cats

• 3 runes per level, hidden rune shards and 10 treasure vaults

• Relaxed, Normal and Heroic difficulty, switchable at any time

• A story told without words

• Full controller support with Xbox, PlayStation and Switch button prompts, or keyboard and mouse

• Playable in 31 languages

The free demo holds the village and the whole Whispering Woods, Slime King included.