going into this game it definitely felt like a game for car people and racing game fans, neither of which im really much of. i've never really touched the major racers like need for speed or burnout or whatever just because they kinda missed me. this game might be the game that converts me though, this shit is awesome. i remember seeing this game a couple years ago and following the page on twitter for it because it looked so cool but it left my mind for a very long time until i heard someone mention it and i realized there was a whole demo out on steam.

jumping into this game and seeing how stylistic it was in its loading screens and ui was something that jumped out at me and stuck with me for the entire game. the game taking place in 90s japan with all the aesthetics of the technology of the time already gives it a really good vibe that pulled me in. then, that first moment after you buy your car and take it for a spin on the way to tatsumi PA and the music fades in as you instinctively floor it, going fast as fuck on a nighttime highway honestly feeling a little terrified by how fast you're going but also in a trance is such a magical moment that immediately sold me on this game. this game just captures such a good vibe that i haven't felt since playing bomb rush cyberfunk last year. also i just need to mention this game's ost goes crazy and really helps elevate things in the vibes department, i cannot get emotion engine by dazegxd out of my head ever since hearing it for the first time in this game.

as far as the gameplay goes, as i mentioned before the feeling of driving fast as fuck in this game is equally a liberating but also very scary feeling and i love it. even when im not in a race and just speeding to whatever destination you feel a real rush weaving through cars and tractor trailers. speaking of races, thats the main thing you're here for in this game. you're placing wagers on races to eventually pay off a few million yen in debt that's tossed on you at the start of the game, meanwhile making a name for yourself in the local racing scene going up against people of increasing rep in the community. the races themselves are a lot of fun and offer some variety, but the ai is either very good or slow as hell and i haven't really found much of an in between in this game. later on it will come down to whether or not you have upgraded your car accordingly in order to match the speed of the better racers in this game, and trying to upgrade your car can sometimes be an uphill battle when you have debt payments to make and not much pocket money to work with which can suck. also, one complaint i've seen others talk about that i agree with is trying to maneuver your way around this map. with time you will get used to traveling to some areas and understand your way around, but for the most part you will have to rely on a gps system that is a little annoying to use at times because of how easy it is to miss a turn and how little guidance the game gives you except a very thin blue line that's supposed to be guiding you to your destination and can be really difficult to read.

i think what's here in this demo is really promising. while it can feel a bit same-y at times and maybe even a little bare bones in its racing gameplay and world, doing the same races, only having one area available to travel around that becomes familiar pretty quickly, not many goals to work towards, and npc dialogue that's pretty limited and has lines that get repeated frequently, i think there's a lot of potential to make a full map and game here that will feel super variable and keep you coming back. there are plenty of areas you can't travel to yet that the game tells you are under construction which is already really promising in itself because of how much potential there is for this game to be pretty expansive, and there are also parts of your car that can't be upgraded yet in this demo meaning they really have plans to go all out in customization, even though they honestly already have gone all out with it in this demo alone to a point that felt a little intimidating to someone who knows nothing about cars except how to drive them.

i'm gonna shut up now i talked way too in depth about a demo for a game. i just haven't been able to get this game out of my head ever since i started playing it a couple days ago and even though i paid off my in game debt i wanna keep playing it and deck out my car and beat the game's "rep boss." this game fucks hard go play it it's a free demo that you can probably squeeze hours and hours out of

incredibly ambitious game that, unlike every other TXR-like indie project that's descended into chaos in the past decade, does what it sets out to do spectacularly and without any compromises.

Yes, it's biting Import Tuner Challenge/Shutokou Battle X in a LOT of aspects, but it really does use those elements as more of a jumping off point in my opinion. Night-Runners really commits to its early 00s tech-cum-haunted PS1 style more than I could've ever hoped for. Sometimes it falls flat, like in the PAs, but it's genuinely unique. I'm not sure I'd care about this at all if it looked like Project CARS or whatever lol

And honestly, the actual content here is pretty promising too. That sense of speed is a lot to take in when you first start playing, it feels nauseatingly fast even at the equivalent of like, 100mph. I do have to wonder how much of that is due to the sluggish handling not letting you weave on a dime like SBX, but honestly once you're used to how it works it doesn't even feel that bad.

what IS bad, however, is trying to navigate anywhere. All it needs is a "turn off in X yards" satnav which wouldn't even be unrealistic for the time period and i'd have no issues but trying to get in the right lane is hellish even outside of races... Inside a race it's even worse sometimes, sometimes the road splits with no real indication and you have to pay to restart, or in one of the drag courses' case, it splits in two and it's just luck if you happen to be in the right lane on your first try. Sucks! TXR never had this problem but that's because it never had this mixture of open courses and fixed finish lines. It's an ambitious system, and I know it's there for realism, but it does kinda suck lol

I'd probably give it 4 stars if this was the full release but it remains to be seen how much'll change and in what ways before a full release. It's trying so hard to be raw and atmospheric but the writing and purposeful anonymisation of your opponents lets this down for me to the point where SBX's atmosphere is gonna beat this any day of the week... maybe since at this stage it's a Prologue, the actual overarching story in the main game will tie this disparate mass of ideas together better.

With the state of racing as a genre since the 8th gen, even if this came out as a full release right now, in this state, it'd be one of the best racing games in the past decade. I just have to pray this inspires a renaissance. Or more realistically if that doesn't happen, I at least want it to inspire someone to make a balance patch for SBX lmfao

É possível o jogo ser bom por estética ?
O prólogo de NIGHT-RUNNERS prova que sim !

Eu fiquei dirigindo a 170km/h na contra mão sem saber para onde ir por mais de 1 hora e mesmo assim tudo foi INCRÍVEL.

NIGHT-RUNNERS entende oque é a cultura underground de corrida de rua, a ilegalidade, a nostalgia de uma geração órfão dos antigos NFS, a melancolia e a adrenalina das ruas do Japão e constrói de maneira sólida em um game que não é perfeito, mas sem duvida é um dos maiores potenciais do gênero.

A modern Wangan Midnight mixed with Need for Speed Underground 2, combining high speed attack style racing in a mid 2000s sex-spec JDM style filmed on a Motorola Razr. Grainy night footage with blurred heads reminiscent of those Option DVDS where dudes would blow down the expressway at 300KM/h

It reminds me a lot of Racing Lagoon where a big part of the game is about the　『ｒｕｓｈ　ａｎｄ　ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇｓ　　ｏｆ　ｈｉｇｈ　ｓｐｅｅｄ　ｒａｃｉｎｇ 』 , the obsession with going as fast as possible, weaving through traffic on the motorway.

It also starts in the same way, the initial car, a knock off 180SX understeers like crazy and frequently has oil issues, winning races allows you to customize and improve the car. There is a remarkable amount of customization ( 72! front bumpers) and a very detailed driving simulation. It does take a bit of commitment to get to the point where your car is "good", but if you like campaigns in racing games, you'll enjoy Night Runners.