Title: Run Run Run!
Designed By: Bruno Cathala and Anthony Perone
Art By: Camille Chaussy
Published By: 25th Century Games
Released: 2024
Player Count: 1-4
Time to Play: 30 Minutes
Ages: 8+
Overview:
Run Run Run! is a cooperative dungeon crawler game where players explore Egyptian pyramids, whereby you discover the Ancient Relics of Tutankhanine...a cursed pharaoh! The pharaoh's curse unleashes mummies who want to punish you for touching the relics. Your parties goal is to escape the pyramid before the mummies reach the relics. Player's will explore, fight, and cooperate to try and win the game. Oh, and did I mention you and the mummies are cats?
What's purr-ty cool:
Unique twist on a theme:
Have you ever wanted to play a dungeon crawler, but aren't a fan of creepy monsters? That's me. I like the exploration mechanic a lot, but I am not typically drawn to horror themes, or games with creepy monster art, and to be honest, I think this is pretty common for many dungeon dungeon crawler games. I love the idea of cooperative dungeon crawlers for groups that want to play a game together, however I get that the usual dungeon crawler themes can be off-putting to some gamers, or not family friendly because of the style of the monsters you come across. I think Run Run Run! brings an approachability to dungeon crawlers with it's unique intertwining of a cat theme. Player's are still exploring dungeons and fighting mummies, but the fact that even the mummies are cat themed, just makes Run Run Run! so much more family friendly. If you have ever wanted to try a dungeon crawler before but wanted one that is a bit cuter, you need to try Run Run Run!
Variability of gameplay:
I enjoy that each player gets a unique catventurer, who has a special ability. Even when playing with the max player count, every player will have a slightly different game player experience because of these abilities. They might favor drawing room tiles, getting touches, attacking mummies, or using special tokens which give special bonuses. Provided you are playing with less than 4 people, your games will feel different based on the combination of catventurer's you choose for a single game.
There are also three different boss mummies, who have their own special features. As you only need one boss per game, this also increases replayability by adding different challenges for you to face at the end of the game. You will not know which boss you are facing until they get revealed toward the end of the game. This means players must strategize throughout the game to be prepared for whatever might come!
Also, you really need to see the catventurer and mummy pieces. They are awesome!
Tile-laying satisfaction:
One thing I really like about the dungeon exploration part of Run Run Run! is how your dungeon (pyramid) expands as your adventure. Player's need light in order to adventure so they use torch tokens when exploring. Some rooms provide their own torch, and some you need to bring your own. As tiles are placed, player's may get bonuses from sarcophagus icons, collect more torches by touching matching symbols in all three corners, or trigger a door mechanism by touching three unique symbols together. Players need to balance their need for torches, with their need to unlock doors to get the boss mummy free to defeat it before any other mummy reaches the relics.
Each round mummies get closer and closer to waking. Upon waking, they can be placed in any room in the dungeon, so it winds up being super helpful to keep this in mind as you explore because if you can make your maze longer the mummy will have farther to go to get to the relics.
This means balancing not just what types of tiles to place, and where to place them to unlock doors or get torches, but also thinking about where you might want a mummy to spawn up or not spawn up. I like this extra level of thinking. It's great for cooperative games as it gives player's more strategy to discuss when working together. I really think Run Run Run! makes a great gateway dungeon crawler people people who want a something not too complicated, but that still provides players with meaningful choices on their turns.
The cat's meow:
"Oooo I want to be a cat mummy and attack these catventurers!" - Solo the Spokescat
Disclosure: Pudgy Cat Games was provided a copy of this game in exchange for a review, however, this review reflects the honest thoughts of the author.