If you have a hard time finding the motivation to exercise, you might want to keep your eye on upcoming mobile game Run Legends. The project turns your daily walk into a series of RPG battles that you can play without even looking at your phone screen.
Currently in beta, with a launch planned for later this year, Run Legends is a unique fitness project in the vein of Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure. The core hook is that players fight through a series of monsters while moving, with their walk speed triggering attacks and abilities. Defeating monsters and clearing missions rewards players with coins that can be used to upgrade gear, giving it an RPG loop.
Missions are short, taking anywhere from five to 15 minutes, though the final game will have an infinite mode where players can grind coins on longer strolls. It can be played synchronously with friends too, which is unique for the fitness genre, allowing players to team up just like an RPG party.
I recently had the chance to go hands-on with the game, seeing a quick mission in action. After choosing from one of three character classes, I set off on a walk with an iPhone in hand. After a few steps, a monster popped up on screen. If I upped my walk speed and kept the pace for a few seconds, I’d trigger an attack. If I slowed my step a bit, I’d perform a healing ability to help my team. After a bit of power walking, I vanquished two monsters with ease.
It’s a simple exercise concept, but what I find most intriguing about Run Legends is how hands-off it can be. The visuals here are fairly light, with some cute cartoon illustrations and a simple UI that displays the monsters and an attack menu that visualizes your run speed. While you can look at it while walking, the game is built in a way that it can be played entirely through sound. Different cues will indicate what attack or ability you’ve triggered based on your pace, while other sounds clearly indicate what’s taking place on screen. Most notable is its use of spatial audio, which makes it so players need to turn their head to hear their party members calling out their abilities on either side of their head.
My hands-on time with Run Legends was brief, but I’m already intrigued to try out the full release when it launches. It takes a cute approach to gamified fitness, blending RPG and an idle game together in a way that feels like it could work for me. The fact that I can just play entirely via earbud is especially enticing, as I hate having a phone in my hand when I’m strolling through a park. The only thing I’ll need is two brave friends willing to walk and fight alongside me.
Run Legends is currently in beta and scheduled to launch sometime in the second quarter of 2023 on iOS.
