The Run is the latest FMV game written and directed by Paul Raschid, whose other work includes The Complex, Five Dates, Ten Dates, The Gallery, and Hello Stranger. Originally released for mobile devices just in time for Halloween season last year, it has now arrived on PC and Mac through Steam. The game follows Zanna, an American running vlogger who has stopped in a remote area of northern Italy to create her content. But something isn’t right. There are men following her, trying to kill her for no apparent reason. She isn’t always on her own, though, as she teams up with local farmer (and also American) Matteo to save both of their lives.
This FMV game/interactive movie is played by making choices for Zanna. You are in control of her decisions, from being a good samaritan, to what to listen to while running, to which direction to take. She vlogs at various points of the trail and even chats with her brother a couple of times despite the remote area likely lacking cell service (thank goodness for satellites, am I right?). There is an option to pause at choice moments so multiple people can make the decision together, though I use it just because I like the extra time to think. I don’t find I really needed to use it in The Run, because it was so fast-paced, my decisions became pure instinct.
Blagden’s Matteo’s motivations are not always clear. You can’t really be sure whether he’s a bad dude or not until you get to the end of a run-through. The first time you see him, he is waking up with Zanna after getting blackout drunk and ending up in bed together. He isn’t seen again until Zanna has already run a good chunk of the map, fleeing from men with big guns, where she finds him shearing sheep on his family’s small farm.
The two main actors are Roxanne McKee (known for Hollyoaks and Game of Thrones) as Zanna and George Bladgen (known for Vikings, and for other Paul Raschid FMV games — Hello Stranger and The Gallery) as Matteo. Though both actors are British, they both portray an American accent in The Run. Blagden’s was believable enough, but McKee slipped several times. I believe the story could have worked if they were British as well, but maybe I’m missing something. It just removed me from the moment at times.
Otherwise, I loved their performances. McKee begins as doe-eyed and innocent, then grows a harder shell as the danger escalates. As Zanna, she makes you believe in her. Root for her. Relate to her. And hats off to McKee for running in pure nature so quickly, I’d be smacking my face into the ground every two steps. As Matteo, Bladgen is a mystery. Is he a good dude? Is he with the bad dudes? And why do the townspeople call him a traitor?
Northern Italy is basically a character in itself in The Run. The expansive green space provides ample room for Zanna to explore… and use to hide. She needs to watch out, though, because the murderous masked men also use it to their advantage. So the exterior becomes something that makes me curious and safe, yet somehow also terrified.
The story really lures you in. If you begin without knowing a thing, you could easily be lulled into a false sense of security. I find myself rooting for Zanna, despite my intense dislike of fitness influencers in general. I am also Team Matteo, praying he wasn’t with the men trying to kill Zanna. The question of ‘why?’ lingers throughout the game. Why are they targeting Zanna? Why are they wearing creepy skeleton masks? Why did they leave their car there? Why do they have so many guns with them?
From beginning to end, depending on how many times you die and what choices you make, The Run takes approximately 90 minutes to play. The story map is a map of the running trail, with little photos appearing when you’ve made key decisions for Zanna. The map is great because you can see the paths you missed and how to find them. There are over 200 scenes and exactly 20 deaths to uncover, so multiple playthroughs are a must.
The Run is a fun, feature-film-length game with mystery, murder, and a whole lot of running. I was rooting for Zanna from the beginning, when she was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with innocence oozing out of her pores. Handsome, mysterious farmer Matteo adds more questions than answers, but he’s a welcome break in watching one person run alone, interrupted now and then by masked murderers. The acting was good, but the story is where The Run shines. And the endings I found? *insert mind blown emoji here*
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