Runo
A downloadable game for Windows
Now available on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1642130/Runo/
Story
A walking simulator about dear memories, overcoming obstacles, and finding your path. Experience a story inspired by finno-karelian folklore.
Runo tells an original story about forgotten pasts and mysteries. At an age-old family cottage in rural Finland, lost myths, tales and ancient lore come to life. On the night of Midsummer’s Eve, something stirs the calm scene. What is going on at the cottage?
About the project
Runo connects with stories and discussions about cultural heritage, myths and folklore. Inspiration is drawn from the Finnish national epic Kalevala among other sources. We have made use of our own childhood memories and paid homage to the traditions and stories passed on from generation to generation.
The idea to make a game based on folklore came from a group of like-minded people working together in free-form university meetings. Students, scholars and professionals from the humanities, game design and the arts came together to create Runo.
The game received funding from AVEK - The Promotion Center for Audiovisual Culture (2018) and The Finnish Cultural Foundation (2020). The project was also showcased in The Finnish Museum of Games exhibition “The Kalevala in games” in 2019-2020.
About the game
Runo is played with a mouse and keyboard, and one play-through takes around an hour. Runo should be played through in one sitting - and preferably with headphones on!
System requirements
- Windows and DirectX 11 or DirectX 12
- A graphics card with Shader Model 5.0 support
For an optimal experience, we recommend a gaming computer with a dedicated graphics card. Example specs:
- Intel Core i5 or equivalent
- 8 GB RAM
- Nvidia 960GTX
Social links
https://twitter.com/game_runo
Download
Development log
- Runo is now available on Steam!Jul 06, 2021
- Version 1.0.3 is outJun 23, 2021
- Runo Steam release coming soon!Jun 17, 2021
- Update 1.0.2 releasedMar 08, 2021
Comments
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This game presents a story that feels quite personal, it reminds me of going on vacation as a child even though in my case more than a lake was exploring things in the desert.
I really like the fact that it introduces Finnish cultural and folklore elements that are unknown to me since they give context to an experience that otherwise I would not be able to appreciate its meaning, although there will undoubtedly be things that would be better appreciated by people from that culture.
The only thing that wasn't quite right was the performance optimization, I had to lower the specifications but after trying several configurations I couldn't find any that was completely stable for me, undoubtedly due to the lack of capacity of my machine and the low budget of the game , although I couldn't demand much from a free game.
Good experience, just do configuration tests until the experience is smooth, even if part of the graphic quality is lost, I hope to see more games with this style.
very compact game! well done. classic walking simulator, it is on the higher end on graphics.
Wow i heard this is now on Steam!
Edit: because of Proton (to play it there on Linux just like on Windows).
Hi! This game rocks! I played this a few months ago and got really into it with the hybrid folksy/spooky/nature vibes and compatibility with my game preferences. It reminds me of a folklore-based expansion upon the classic Myst games. A favorite of mine and my group. If you're interested, I've compiled a full article on my experience with it, that fans, friends, and investigators might enjoy. Got some screens/video in there too. Best wishes! https://mrdavepizza.com/runo/
I literally got stronger and smarter after playing this game. I mean, wow! A bite-sized playthrough stuffed with so much wisdom and knowledge, a healthy dose of escapism and epic kantele-wielding adventure on top. 11 out of 10, definitely gonna show it to everyone I care about!
Thank you so much, so nice to hear! :)
5/5
Thank you for playing! :)
The game is wonderful, well done!
Thank you so much!
Hello! Just found out about this game. Would love to buy, but i'm on Linux only nowadays. Is there a Linux port in plans...?
Thanks.
Hi, and thank you very much for the interest! Unfortunately there is no Linux port in plans as of now, as we don't have a Linux machine to test/build on. Sorry about this, we'd much prefer it if everyone who wanted to try the game had the chance to do it.
If you still want to experience Runo, we may suggest watching one of the Let's play videos. There's plenty to be found in the comment section here! The one by Button Pushin' Cushion reads through all the journal entries, so that might be a nice one :)
Oh! Would you need an actual machine, a laptop, or HELP to install Linux (such as Ubuntu) on some spare laptop or so..?
Yeah, installing linux is not the problem, the lack of a machine to do it on is :D we may still consider this in the future if we get the resources needed. There would still be work to do with actually getting a working game built, we actually tried the default linux build straight out of Unity and it turned out it didn't run correctly at all when we had someone test it remotely.
Hi, Liam from GamingOnLinux, happy to help test if needed.
Well, it is available on Steam on Linux, you have to force the use of Proton, the compatibility layer. That's how I played it.
WHAT! Runo is now on Steam! I'm going right there now!
Mahtava peli!
Olen kiinnostunut tarinankerronnan eri muodoista ja kansanuskomuksista peleissä, joten Runo oli :chefskiss:
Kiva kuulla että kolahti, kiitos!
Wow, nice game..! I play this game the end and i'm very excited, thanks a lot. Got a lot of vibrations playing this game, now i want own kesämökki here Finland :D :D
Good to hear, thank you for playing!
This game was so enjoyable. Thanks so much for sharing it. <3
Our pleasure! Thank you so much for playing!
performance needs to be touched up quite a bit. looks great, but holy god, it's very demanding.
Thanks for your feedback!
I really enjoyed this game - the visuals, the music, the storyline - I'm a big fan of the more chill exploration/puzzle type games, and this was a really good one. Properly atmospheric, and the ending felt good as well. I also enjoyed learning about Finnish mythology through the journal entries.
I did play it on my laptop which is not at all optimised for gaming, with a trackpad instead of a mouse, but although it was a bit laggy and the trackpad made it hard to click things (not blaming you guys there, it's clearly designed for mouses), the experience was still excellent.
Thank you for playing! Happy to hear you liked it :)
I reviewed your game for my Youtube series "The First 15", and while I have not completed it yet, I just want to say thank you to the devs! What you have created here actually made me feel some pretty strong emotions while I was playing.
Such a nice video, thank you for playing!
Such a great game! Beautiful!
thanks for sharing 💚💛💙
Thank you! ✨
Thank you, and what a great video! Such kind feedback, we truly appreciate this!
I thought this game was really beautiful. I enjoyed the story and its analogy for overcoming obstacles, and I loved the setting and the lore. As a Swede the themes resonated a lot with me.
I thought the game had excellent pacing. It kept me roped in for the entire playthrough and none of the puzzles felt overbearing or like they overstayed their welcome, it always felt like there was an objective in sight and the game did a good job of guiding you towards the solutions without beating you over the head with them. The game was just as long as it needed to be and the ending left me feeling satisfied.
I was extremely impressed by this game and I thought it was a wonderful production. I hope all of you find success in your future endeavors.
Wow, thank you for such kind feedback! Glad you liked it :)
Bravo ,very lovely fantastic game !
7/10
Thank you!
Hi there. I played and finished your game.
I have listed some feedback. I hope you find it useful.
Pros
Cons
Overall, I’m very impressed with your game and I’m looking forward to see what games you guys create in the future.
Cheers
Hey, thank you for playing and for all your kind feedback!
Optimization of Runo could be better, sorry if this affected your experience. We recommend others to try out a lower graphics setting if the fps is distractingly low. Thank you for letting us know :)
my type of game
thanks!
loistava peli!
Onko olemassa vaihtoehto pelata sitä suomeksi?
Moikka, kiitos kun pelasit!
Ainakaan tällä hetkellä suomenkielinen lokalisaatio ei ole saatavilla taikka suunnitteilla, mutta kuka tietää, ehkä joku päivä jos on suurempaa kysyntää :)
En näkisi suomalaista vaihtoehtoa hyvänä ratkaisuna. Pelin ollessa englanninkielinen, itse pelistä pulpahtelevat suomalaiset sanat korostuvat. Mutta eivät muuten korostu enää, jos koko peli on suomeksi. Toki helpottaisi joidenkin pelaamista, mutta kyllähän siinä immersio kärsii.
The map-design and graphics were astonishing. The theme and lore fitted this environment really well too, and I am positively surprised how the gameplay managed to integrate so well into the story and real time happenings!
You never really feel lost or left puzzled over why certain things are the way they are. Really good job!
-BH
Thank you so much for your kind feedback, glad to hear you enjoyed it!
It's a great game
Thank you so much!
Great game. I love the final act and the mystical events. Stunning visuals!
Thank you for playing!
This was so cool and the folklore info was very much appreciated! My only complaint, is that the music at the end got copyright claimed. But overall I loved this game!
Thank you! What an awesome video!
loved it!
Thanks for playing!
I can't seem to open the game because of the file extension, should I rename it?
Hi,
you will first need to extract the .zip file's contents to your own computer. Then play using the Runo.exe file.
If you are having trouble opening the .zip file, I noticed that Itch.io is having some issues with its downloads, where it cuts the downloads short. So maybe the download was not fully completed and as result the file was corrupted. Try downloading it again.
thank you!
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AMAZING GAME AND STORY
Thank you for playing!
This was so beautifully crafted! It looks great, the music is well chosen, it plays well, there is nothing not to love about this!!!
Wow, what a response! Thank you so much for playing and for making a video about our game :)
A beautiful game. We had fun testing it.
Thanks for playing, sorry to see you had some problems with the UI with such a wide screen, we'll definitely get that fixed :)
This was a beautiful experience, thanks for putting it together! I've recommended it to likeminded friends also.
Only issue I experienced (spoilers!) was that I missed the Kantele on the rocks. I was then able to outmaneuver the water daemon by jumping between the rocks and then swimming to the right of the bank while jumping, and was then unable to get the Jar of Barley from the hiidenkirnu. Went back to get myself captured by the daemon so I could restart and all was fine :)
Hey, thanks for playing!
We are planning on doing some small tweaks to the area to prevent skillful escapes from the daemon and making the kantele more visible :D Glad you were still able to continue!
Really loving the game, glad to enjoy a little bit of Juhannus even if summer is still very far away :D
Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish the game yet. I ran into an issue with the blue ingredient in the hiidenkirnu. I happened to throw a snow ball in there before using the kantele and the physic pushed the ingredient too far and I wasn't able to pick it up. Unfortunate little bug, but luckily the game isn't too long : )
Awesome to hear you enjoyed the game! There's only 111 days to go until Juhannusaatto! Hope Runo eases the wait! : )
Thanks for letting us know about the hiccup you encountered, we'll look into it!
Thank you, it was a very beautiful experience! I'm glad I stumbled upon it on Muropaketti.
As a suggestion for improvement, it would be nice to have a volume slider in the options menu.
Glad you liked it! Suggestion noted, we'll look into it :)
What a nice game!
Thank you for playing! Happy to hear you enjoyed it
I LOVE this game so far, but a bug I've experienced is preventing me from completing the game. When I pick up a jar, I can't seem to do anything with it, softlocking the game. The jar even showed up in the main menu! I'm not sure if anyone else is experiencing this, but I hope this gets fixed.
Sorry to hear that, and many thanks for letting us now! We'll look into it.
thanks!
We think we know what the issue is. When the player has picked up a jar, they are supposed to target the big stone in front of the cottage, not the bucket, to use it. This has come up as an issue before, and we'll definitely be looking into improving the usability of this puzzle! Hope this helps, and again, thank you for playing and for letting us know.
Hiii, I've made a video playing the game for a while and wanted to share some feedback about it :D, hopefully it helps you :).
-Visually the game is pretty amazing, a lot of times I've found myself just looking at the landscapes the game gives you.
-There're some minor performance issues as I've seen some random deeps on the FPSs.
-The gameplay mechanics are pretty amazing, but making some of the puzzle mechanics more clear to the player could be great. The gameplay mechanic I liked the most was the entire movile phone as it is a very interesting way to carry the history, AND DUDE IDK why but I love that camera haha.
Hopefully this is useful to you :D, also if you could subscribe that would help me a lot :)
Regards
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, thank you!
You are welcome :D
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good storyThank you for playing!
pog
thx!