NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE

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NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE is a single player racing game. It was developed by PLANET JEM and was released on February 23, 2024. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

DESCEND INTO THE UNDERWORLD OF JAPANESE STREET RACING Set in an unknown time between 1990-2009, you will navigate through the corrupt and shady power struggles of local street racing crews, all competing for control of their regions and to top the crew rankings. Extremely detailed customization, including Exterior, Interior, Wheels, Engine, and Handling Dynamic character dialogue; other racers …

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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95%

Audience ScoreBased on 12,500 reviews

music759 positive mentions

grinding45 negative mentions

The game features an immersive atmosphere that captures the essence of 90s and early 2000s street racing culture, enhanced by a dynamic soundtrack that intensifies with speed.
Players appreciate the extensive car customization options and engaging gameplay mechanics, which evoke nostalgia and provide a fun racing experience.
The absence of microtransactions and in-app purchases is highly praised, allowing players to enjoy the game without financial pressure, contributing to its replayability.

The story lacks depth and character development, with many players finding it thin and repetitive, indicating a need for significant expansion in future updates.
Graphics and optimization issues are prevalent, with reports of blurriness, navigation difficulties, and performance problems that detract from the overall experience.
The grinding aspect of the game is criticized for being tedious and poorly designed, with long loading screens and repetitive interactions that make progression feel burdensome.

music
1,538 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
50%
1%
The music in this game has received widespread acclaim for its dynamic integration with gameplay, enhancing the sense of speed as it intensifies when players accelerate. Reviewers appreciate the nostalgic 90s and early 2000s vibes, with a soundtrack that features a mix of genres like drum and bass and house, making it feel both immersive and exhilarating. While many praise the overall quality and selection of tracks, some express a desire for a broader variety to keep the experience fresh.
- “The way the soundtracks play dynamically according to your speed greatly enhances the immersion, especially when 'Emotion Engine' plays; you can truly feel like you're getting in the zone.”
- “The music and atmosphere in this game is something I have been waiting on for years!”
- “The soundtrack is absolutely fire, and I get the sense that the developer is using it to introduce players to a genre many might not be familiar with.”
- “The physics are terrible, cars are barely controllable whatsoever, the soundtrack is lame and generic, and all the reviews sound like they were written by AI.”
- “And the music it plays is cringe and lame and you can't change it, and it gets louder as your speed increases.”
- “The same songs get a bit boring; I'm sure that one will be easily fixed when out of prologue.”
graphics
1,104 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
53%
3%
The graphics of the game have received mixed feedback, with many praising the nostalgic 90s and early 2000s aesthetic, likening it to classic titles like "Need for Speed" and "Tokyo Xtreme Racer." While some players appreciate the retro visuals and the unique VHS-style effects that enhance the game's atmosphere, others find the graphics difficult to navigate, particularly at high speeds, due to blurriness and low visibility. Overall, the game's art style is seen as a strong point, contributing to its charm, despite some criticisms regarding clarity and optimization.
- “The graphics are amazing and fit the vibe perfectly, the music and atmosphere play so well into one another.”
- “The ps2-era vibes mixed with vhs-style aesthetics are amazing, perfectly capturing that retro Japanese street racing feel.”
- “The graphics may not look like anything great from the screenshots and trailer but I feel like this adds to the charm of the game with its 90's era cassette tape style of look.”
- “Don't get me wrong, I love the aesthetics, but I cannot read the highway signs while I'm racing and can't focus on the incoming cars or way too tiny signposts blocking the road.”
- “I would love to play again, but the graphics are killing my eyes and I can't even see what happens on the road.”
- “The graphics are awful.”
gameplay
686 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
56%
3%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players praising its nostalgic vibe, engaging mechanics, and extensive car customization options. However, some criticisms include a lack of clarity in tutorials, frustrating AI behavior, and navigation issues that detract from the overall experience. Despite these flaws, the game is seen as having great potential, especially for fans of retro racing games, and many players are excited for its full release.
- “The gameplay is smooth and intuitive, striking a great balance between exploration and action.”
- “The graphics, the gameplay, the genuine skill needed to thread the car between the traffic, everything about this game is honestly amazing.”
- “The gameplay perfectly captures the need for speed underground vibe but with better localization to JDM.”
- “The AI acts like it's pathfinding on rails rather than trying to deal with the actual mechanics of driving the car, like oversteering or understeering, or taking turns way too quickly.”
- “The game lacks information regarding mechanics; while it provides the controls for race starts, it fails to explain why they are needed and how they play a role in launches.”
- “The gameplay loop is solid, but the feeling of 6000 RPM is visceral.”
atmosphere
420 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
39%
1%
The atmosphere of "Night-Runners Prologue" is widely praised for its immersive, nostalgic feel that captures the essence of 90s and early 2000s street racing culture. Players appreciate the vibrant neon visuals, engaging soundtrack, and the overall aesthetic that evokes a sense of speed and excitement, reminiscent of classic racing games. Many reviews highlight the game's ability to create a captivating environment that enhances the racing experience, making it a standout in the genre.
- “The atmosphere, the music, the cars, the mods, it's all so good.”
- “The atmosphere is incredible, completely immersive and captivating, because it has such a strong sense of character.”
- “The atmosphere of this game is amazing, I love the sense of speed and the thematic of the game, I can't wait to see it finally completed.”
- “I sincerely hope this is taken to heart, the atmosphere, the textures and music; I mean the game visually is perfect, but the actual gameplay is extremely not fun.”
- “They put so much effort into the atmosphere and nostalgia they forgot to make a game.”
- “The atmosphere got ruined by making the map too bright and adding unnecessary blue markers that ruin the immersion; it isn't so hard to look at the map to see what you can interact with.”
story
289 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
73%
5%
The game's story is a mixed bag, with many players noting its potential but also its current lack of depth and clarity. While some appreciate the atmospheric elements and the basic premise of racing to pay off a debt, others find the narrative thin and repetitive, expressing a desire for more character development and engaging plotlines. Overall, the story serves as a foundation for gameplay but is seen as needing significant expansion and refinement in future updates.
- “The story is interesting and makes me excited to see what comes in the full release.”
- “Night Runners prologue was really promising — the atmosphere and story hooked me right away.”
- “The story fits the darker style of the game incredibly.”
- “The story is the only thing I don't get. I know it's the prologue, but we went to a whole new country to race cars to get there and be put into debt. I don't know why we weren't mad at the dude who got us into this.”
- “The story could use a bit of work; I feel like the characters you encounter don't really feel as 'alive' as the game does.”
- “The story is very flat, typical of the genre. There's not much to the story, as the characters are just silhouettes with different names and they mostly say the same things.”
optimization
135 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
76%
10%
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with many players experiencing performance issues such as frame drops, long loading times, and bugs affecting gameplay. While some users report smooth performance on mid-range hardware, others find the game poorly optimized, particularly in terms of UI and loading efficiency. Overall, there is a consensus that significant improvements are needed to enhance the gaming experience, especially for lower-end systems.
- “The game itself is really good, the music especially, optimization is really good too.”
- “Customization is extensive and performance part selections are excellent.”
- “You can do pretty much everything to the car performance and looks wise.”
- “Absolute trash of a game, not gonna lie. So many bugs, even spawned in the wrong direction one time. Also, game optimization is garbage.”
- “Only complaint is that for a racing game with a 90's/2000's video filter, grain, etc., and at low graphical settings, it isn't really that optimized. At the loading screen, I was getting 2500MB VRAM usage.”
- “The game as a whole needs serious work before a full release, especially in terms of optimization.”
grinding
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
25%
70%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with many players finding it excessively tedious due to poor navigation, long loading screens, and repetitive interactions. While some appreciate the potential for deep customization and the satisfaction of upgrading cars, the overall experience is marred by a lack of intuitive design and excessive time spent on mundane tasks. Players express a desire for improvements in user interface and navigation to make the grinding feel less burdensome and more enjoyable.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “This game is so close to being good, but the horrible navigation, no saves, no race restarts, and just overall attitude of making a game tedious in substitute of difficult really ruins it.”
- “The parts shop is tedious to navigate through.”
- “Constant loading screens, scene transitions, repetitive interactions, tedious inventory management, unskippable scenes ... it gets very annoying very quickly.”
stability
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
3%
80%
The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many players noting it is still quite buggy and unpolished, typical for an early access title. While some users report smooth performance on decent hardware, others experience frequent glitches, crashes, and issues with the user interface and AI behavior. Overall, despite its flaws, players find the game enjoyable and see potential for improvement as development continues.
- “It runs great, and I recommend playing it; it's worth it on RTX 3050 6GB mobile. Refresh runs great.”
- “In the prologue, there are almost no glitches.”
- “Runs great on OLED Steam Deck.”
- “Good idea but quite buggy in its current form; it's quite easy to lock yourself in a menu or a situation where you need to restart the whole game and lose whatever progress you have.”
- “The UI is kind of garbage, controls also suck, can't properly navigate the map, no player position on the map, no free camera movement, and sometimes glitches through the ground.”
- “Music is bad to me and the game is a buggy mess. I press pause then unpause, the map disappears; do it again and the arrow disappears. After that, I quit the event and it spawns me in the middle of darkness, and I start somehow driving. It says something is under construction, then it spawns me somewhere new, and every time I drive off it says something is under construction, then keeps putting me back at the spawn point.”
humor
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
97%
8%
The humor in the game is a standout feature, with players enjoying the witty dialogue, amusing interactions, and comical situations that arise during gameplay, such as losing bets and quirky NPC responses. Many find the blend of humor and racing mechanics to be entertaining, though some critiques highlight that the humor can sometimes stem from the game's flaws. Overall, the game's lighthearted tone and funny moments contribute to a lively and engaging experience.
- “Losing all the betting money gets your car taken - this was hilarious to me, the loan shark guy literally says 'suck less next time' as he's taking your car.”
- “The charming and funny interactions with other racers get the job done and are seemingly predictable at first glance, but it is a fun and interesting way to initiate races.”
- “And the text messages or calls that they will send you whether you win or lose are so funny and fun to experience; this game feels a lot more alive than I would have ever thought it could.”
- “Not just a cynical marketing exercise to see how many obscure brands the developers can get licensing deals for.”
- “Not a forced and unfunny linear campaign mode with a soundtrack taken out of that murdered-out decatted BMW waking up the neighborhood at 3 AM.”
- “Not a game whose sole existence is to showcase world-class rendered cars which you can't use in any event.”
emotional
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express a profound emotional connection to the game, highlighting its ability to evoke nostalgia and excitement reminiscent of classic racing titles. The combination of immersive music, unique art style, and a thrilling driving experience creates a sense of speed and tension that resonates deeply, making players feel both exhilarated and emotionally invested in their racing journey. Many reviewers note that this game stands out in the genre for its capacity to elicit genuine feelings, from joy to tension, reminiscent of their early gaming experiences.
- “Midnight, engine on, emotional music blasting, city lights flying past — this is my otaku empire.”
- “Speechless, this game is incredible, just the way it made me feel, the music, the actual driving, the scenery, the old school VHS vibe.”
- “It's a raw, almost emotional sensation of becoming one with your car, and that alone has guaranteed that I'll be keeping an eye out for this game.”
monetization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
5%
80%
The monetization aspect of the game has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with players appreciating the absence of microtransactions and in-app purchases, which contrasts sharply with many contemporary titles perceived as cash grabs. Users commend the game for being free and providing a nostalgic experience without the pressure of additional costs, highlighting its replayability and enjoyment. However, some critiques mention concerns about misleading advertisements and demos being presented as full games, which detracts from the overall gaming experience.
- “Tldr: a terrifyingly fun game that doesn't push in-game purchases and has more replayability than any NFS game from the past 6 years.”
- “I really need someone to explain how a game that isn't even complete yet, free and with so far no microtransactions does a better job at making you feel excited about racing than a multimillion dollar company.”
- “With no in-app purchases?!?!”
- “It's an advertisement for a product called 'night-runners'.”
- “One must always question the value of an advertisement for a product you can't buy... how on earth is this remotely useful for gamers?”
- “While it might seem like an innocuous mistake, publishing demos and advertisements as if they are full games is misleading and in some ways harmful.”
replayability
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
55%
5%
Overall, the game demonstrates strong replayability, particularly for a prologue, with many players enjoying its casual nature and customization options. While some users express a desire for more content and variety to enhance replay value, many find it more enjoyable and replayable than recent racing titles. The game's engaging mechanics and fun atmosphere contribute to its appeal as a time-killer, though some feel it could benefit from additional depth and features.
- “Already way more enjoyable and replayable than most modern racing arcade games.”
- “Phenomenal for being a free demo, with plenty of replay value.”
- “Tl;dr: love letter to arcade racers of the early 2000s-2010s, with a banger soundtrack, banger game design, and insane replay value despite the fact it's only a demo.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
67%
Reviewers express a desire for deeper character development and the inclusion of a love interest, suggesting that the game's narrative should not be neglected. Additionally, there are concerns about the camera work affecting the overall experience, indicating that improvements in perspective could enhance character engagement.
- “The vintage PS1 UI and character design reminds me somewhat of Chilia's art horror games.”
- “Maybe add a love interest and some character development.”
- “Maybe add a love interest, some character development, etc. The camera work with the third-person perspective isn't very comfortable; looking at a low angle could be improved by adjusting to a higher angle or providing an option to change angles.”
- “Hope they don't just abandon the story and character designs.”

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7h Median play time

10h Average play time

3-11h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 36 analyzed playthroughs

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NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE is a racing game.

NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE is available on PC, Steam Deck and Windows.

On average players spend around 10 hours playing NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE.

NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE was released on February 23, 2024.

NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE was developed by PLANET JEM.

NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its music but disliked it for its grinding.

NIGHT-RUNNERS™ PROLOGUE is a single player game.

Similar games include JDM: Japanese Drift Master, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Old School Rally, Static Shift Racing, Apex Point and others.

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