Hidden Runaway Preview

The romantic couple from Runaway: A Road to Adventure is having relationship problems, and the only cure is puzzles.

Ten years ago, the PC adventure game Runaway: A Road Adventure brought Brian and Gina together, and then forced them both to run like hell from Mafia hitmen nipping at their heels. At least the time they spent together on the lam gradually melded them together as soul mates—for about a decade, give or take a year. It’s 2012, Brian and Gina can’t stand each other, and it’s up to you to comb through their story and re-ignite the spark in Hidden Runaway, an upcoming adventure/hidden object game.

By the time you take the reins in Hidden Runway, Brian and Gina won’t even look at each other. You become a hybrid therapist and producer as you get the couple to open up about their past adventures together and hope they’ll soften up enough to call a truce.

You play through Brian and Gina’s “recollection,” which is actually a re-imagining of the first Runaway game. You talk to characters, gather up items, solve puzzles (which, according to a press release distributed by game publisher BulkyPix, have been simplified a bit from their original point-and-click incarnations), and work through hidden object scenes.

Runaway veterans should be familiar with the scenery and story in Hidden Runaway, but there’s plenty of new content to work at, too. If you’ve never played a Runaway game, here’s your chance to jump in. You’ll have a good time, and you just might mend Brian and Gina’s co-habitation situation.

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Hidden Runaway hits the App Store on October 18. Remember to occasionally tell your significant other that you cherish them.

Nadia Oxford

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In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.