I have this uneasy feeling that, in a different life, I was a speedrunner. Not because I'm doing the videogame equivalent of 'I could paint that' at an art exhibit, but because whenever I sit down to play one of these games, I wind up glued to my screen for an hour in a self-perfecting trance.
If the demo's any indication, the full game—which releases tomorrow, September 4, making it one of the few games to not dodge Silksong's release window—will be stocked top-to-bottom with cleverly designed levels, each with some well-placed level geometry to skip half of them with.
Nina's basic kit has a wall-run, a walljump, and a dash (which refreshes when you hit a wall). Expanding this toolkit are a handful of in-level powerups, like a massive jump boost that you can execute midair, and every speedrunner's favourite implement: A gun.
Most levels have targets you need to shoot to progress, so you aren't just solving for speed, but accuracy as well—which is a nice puzzle to whittle your hours away with. The story's charming enough (and entirely optional), as Mercer-voiced Mick Acaster and Nina banter about Nina's terrible work-life balance. Sometimes a girl's [[link]] just gotta parkour [[link]] in a sewer. Get on that grindset, you know.
The only real downside is how the game looks, sometimes—mind, I've only touched the demo, so some of these art assets might be a work-in-progress. However, Jetrunner's levels can sometimes look a little… bare. This was particularly apparent when Mick invited a bunch of people to the sewers for some good ol' fashioned jumping fun and they were… uh, just sort of orbs.
But really, with a game like this, the gameplay's the focus—I don't need raytraced high poly-count vistas to have a good time—and Jetrunner is slick. If you've ever broken your thumbs [[link]] over strawberries in Celeste, you could do far worse than Curveball Games' latest.
1. Best overall:
Xbox Wireless Controller
2. Best budget:
GameSir Nova Lite
3. Best premium:
Xbox Elite Series 2
4. Best customizable:
Scuf Instinct Pro
5. Best haptics:
Sony DualSense
6. Best Hall effect:
Razer Wolverine V3 Pro