Funnel Runners Review (PC)

Funnel Runners has single-handedly caused more friction in my cozy-oriented mind than any other foraging sim on the planet. I almost blame myself, because where I’ve been pouring all of my heart and soul into wholesome things and laid-back scavenging exercises, I’ve lost sight of the endgame—the reason for the endless legwork and crafting. With there being no consequential rules or regulations, I’ve learned to adapt to the ideologies of a forgiving society—a place where you don’t need to courageously hold the weight of the world on your shoulders. But if there’s any one thing in particular that I haven’t prepared myself for, it’s an F5 tornado.

In any case, you’d have the gift of time to prepare for the harvest. But, this isn’t your typical foraging sim; it’s a battle of the mind, of the heart, and of wit. The world hangs on the edge of catastrophe, and the only thing that matters is the survival of the fittest of folk. A ravenous tornado looms, whittling everything down in its path, leaving you, your friends, and a crumbling suburbia to suffer in its wake. Time is short, and the odds of evacuating the city are at an all-time low. The only hope you have is to band together, foster gadgets that can document the storm’s behavior, and to delve deep into the wreckage in search of parts to repair a van.

Funnel Runners asks a simple question: how much can you accomplish in a short period of time? You’ve a vehicle, but no components to fuel it. You have a chain of homes to explore, but no time to forage for supplies before the tornado claims the foundations. Either as a solo survivor or as a troupe, you have the monumental goal of scraping whatever resources you can find to escape the tornado. But, here’s the catch: the weather is awfully spontaneous, and it doesn’t follow a similar pattern. With that, you have a rather difficult task: to embrace each session as a new experience, and to formulate foolhardy strategies on the fly.

The game itself isn’t designed to ease you into battling the elements. Rather, it drops you and your friends into the back corridors of a barren neighborhood and invites you to scavenge for vehicle parts, all whilst its world continues to crumble. With time being against you, you have to work as a like-minded unit, pinpoint locations that are out of harm’s reach, and do all in your power to escape the tornado before it sweeps you away in the great beyond. You can lose your way, and you can fail in your quest to flee with a complete unit. It’s simply the case of figuring out how to survive in a storm without a buoy or a shelter.

To state the obvious, Funnel Runners is just as chaotic as any pre-apocalyptic co-op game with procedurally generated gameplay. With a generously sized world to bolt around in, ever-shifting storms and ungodly weather formations to tackle, and a constant threat to keep you on your toes as you desperately search every nook and cranny for “one more” canister of fuel, the game ensures that you always have something to fret about. To make matters worse, it quite literally sweeps you away with the tide. If you get caught in the storm, for example, you don’t take a bit of damage, but you do whisk away to areas beyond your control.

While Funnel Runners is a dish best served with up to seven friends at your side, the game does work just as well as a single-player experience. Granted, it does make the general act of ransacking homes and finding evidence, supplies, and storm data a lot harder. It also doesn’t help to take the edge off, either, given that it doesn’t counter the pressure of having to survive with any form of comical relief. With friends, it’s chaotic, sloppy, and oftentimes hilarious. But alone, you lose that charm of working as a team and the benefits that come with it. You might have access to all of the tools in the book, but you also have a quieter experience that lacks the camaraderie and collaborative spirit.

To tell you the truth, there is a brilliantly crafted game that gets the sweat rolling and the heart racing here. Similar to walking on eggshells, everything that you do in Funnel Runners comes with a risk. Sometimes, it could be that the storm is passing through your area or simply doubling in size. Elsewhere, it could be that the one person on the team is behind a raging tornado that just so happens to be your next destination, and is in dire need of a last-minute evacuation. The list goes on, but you get the idea. With a tornado that is unapologetically unpredictable and worryingly capable of causing severe damage to the environment, your odds of surviving till morning are honestly rather slim.

If not for its procedural complexity, Funnel Runners would be little more than a short game with a simple gimmick. Due to its random nature and fluctuating facets, however, it does bring a good deal of replay value to the table. With friends, it’s a lot of fun. As a lone survivor, it can be a bit of a headache. All in all, though, Funnel Runners makes for an excellent thrill ride that brings more than mere padding to the co-op platform.

Verdict

Funnel Runners blends the spontaneity of a ravenous storm with the rogue-like energy of a pre-apocalyptic communal collapse to create a whirlwind of a survival co-op game that not only keeps you on your toes, but genuinely makes you feel like the smallest, unluckiest soul on the planet. With an unpredictable world that harbors more elemental power than an active volcano,  Supernova Studios delivers a thoroughly immersive disaster sim that achieves its intended purpose. With friends, it’s a hoot, albeit a stressful affair that often involves some kind of emotional sacrifice. Alone, it’s a nightmare in motion. Either way, Funnel Runners lays the foundation for a great game, and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t eager to see how it will unfold in the future.