Start Running

Start Running

beepsoft industries · 2024 · Interactive Fiction, Horror, Visual Novel, Point & Click, Choices Matter

PC
3 user reviews100% · 3
Best price
$4.99
lowest tracked $0.74
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Standard Edition · Steam
$4.99
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About Start Running

Fight against inertia.


Start Running is part visual novel, part escape room, and part Greek tragedy.

Luis, a procrastination prone runner, has been training for his first marathon. Today is the day of his last training run. He knows he has 20 miles ahead of him, but unfortunately he's having a hard time starting. When he does though, strange things start to happen, pushing him ahead and forcing his hand.

The world, shifting and bending to some unseen force's hand, doesn't fit reality. Luis and his dog Pistachio have to escape whatever is happening, and they have to do it quickly, before they have no other option.

In order to survive, players will find themselves drawn into a surreal world where buildings shift, doors refuse to cooperate, and the city itself seems to reshape around them. The stunning visuals and mind-bending puzzles reveal layers that help you confront whatever is causing this.

Every choice in the game matters, from stopping to look at your running medals in your apartment to intentionally sending a mother to a possible violent death. Puzzles take inspiration from the items you may find in a normal world like phone combinations and printer jams, but nothing is ever what it seems.

Features:

  • 40k+ words
  • point and click puzzles with an inventory and movement system
  • many deaths and endings, depending on choices
  • dog

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Recommended Nov 2, 2024
100% accurate executive dysfunction simulator
2 found this helpful
Recommended Aug 22, 2024
Not only can you pet the dog in this game, but you can pet the dog in MULTIPLE rooms with unique text and dialogue each time. 11/10.
2 found this helpful
Recommended Jan 15, 2026
Love everything about it. Very strange point-and-click-type game about running that contains approximately zero running. A good psychological horror where nothing makes very much sense but in a good way. There is a dog you can pet in various rooms, a company with questionable values, a printer that's slightly less finicky than real-life printers, and a mysterious vending machine in the rat-infested caves beneath your apartment building. The puzzles are well-designed, right in the sweet spot of "difficult enough" without being moon logic. The overall atmosphere of absurd-creepy is consistently delivered well. There are various "secrets" you can find if you dig around long enough and apparently if you are smarter than me because I could not for the life of me get any "good" ending other than the default one. There are no guides, so I asked about the other endings in the discussion forums but didn't get an answer, which is a bit disappointing. But anyway, overall, the game is fantastic. Edit: There is now a guide for the other endings! It gives hints, not an exact walkthrough, but it should be easy to follow at least for the first three endings.
1 found this helpful
Recommended Mar 4, 2025
A very interesting puzzle visual novel with a lot of fun mind bending settings. The puzzles are interesting and tie themselves well into the narrative and characters. Paired with some excellent writing makes for a game that's certainly worth your time to go in and explore all it has to offer. Also the art is very lovely!
Recommended Oct 12, 2024
Wow, I just finished my first full run of Start Running and it only took me 4 hours and 10 tries! It took me getting 4 bad endings in the apartment before I started to get into the swing of things and lock in. It was a thinker, but not in an overly frustrating way, I'm excited to do a few more runs to get down the remaining endings. This was a contemplative and gripping experience that made my night. At one point in Act II I was overcome with a thick and heavy sense of dread and ennui but I suppose it's true, keep going, don't get up, you'll do it
Recommended Sep 22, 2024
I absolutely ADORE This game. I'm a huge visual novel/ point and click fan and this is a great blend of the two. The themes of the story present themselves immediately, and I was excited about all the possible endings I could get. Extremely replayable, my short run time got me two enjoyable endings and I'm definitely coming back for more!

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