Rune Runners Steam Deck news is the kind I like to see from a small indie team: the free demo of this colourful couch co-op platformer has just had its first major update, and alongside a whole new village hub, it now has menus and a HUD built to fit the Deck’s screen. Rune Runners is made and self-published by Pierogi Games, the full game is due in 2027, and the demo is on Steam right now.
The demo itself contains the complete first world, the Whispering Woods, with ten levels and the Slime King waiting at the end. The update, demo version 0.1.10, gives the time between those levels a proper home and adds a surprising amount on top.
What’s new in the Rune Runners demo update
The headline addition is a cozy village around the Rune Tree, which now acts as your hub between the worlds. Each world has its own spot in the village with a matching portal, and every world you free rebuilds its spot and lights a new star in the village sky. The story is told without a single word, using big gestures and picture bubbles, with a prologue in the village and scenes for the guardians and mid-bosses.
There’s plenty to do in the village itself. You can visit the merchant’s shop, change outfits at the tailor’s mirror, and look up every monster in the library’s monster book. The tailor, the merchant and the library owl also hand out small quests that send you back into the levels for gold, accessories and charms. A small colosseum adds a boss arena, where you can refight the guardians and mid-bosses you’ve already beaten against the clock for bronze, silver and gold medals, or take on every beaten guardian in a row in a boss rush.
The rest of the list is full of nice touches. A rare golden slime now turns up in levels and runs away, bursting into coins if you catch it. An emote wheel and pings let you point your partner at monsters or spots, online too. There’s a photo mode with a free camera, poses, frames, filters and depth of field, plus a new accessibility section with colour-blind aids, game speed, hold to fire, text size, and sliders for screen shake and flashes. Boss wins, combos and arena medals are also marked in Steam’s game recording timeline.
Couch co-op with four young mages
Rune Runners is a 3D action platformer built for one or two players on one couch. The rune torches that keep the magic of eight worlds alive have gone out, and monsters have moved in, so four young mages, two brothers and two sisters, set out to light them again. You pick two of the four, and each brings a spell of their own: water pushes monsters back and puts out flames, fire burns away thorn vines, thunder jumps to a second monster and charges pylons, and wind blows flying monsters back and spins wind fans.
Every level is designed for two players on one screen. You light the torches together, revive each other when one of you goes down, and some spots need you both at once. Every level can also be played solo with any mage, and the Steam page lists online co-op and Remote Play Together as well. Three difficulty settings, Relaxed, Normal and Heroic, can be switched at any time, which makes it a good pick for a parent playing with a child.
The full game covers 8 worlds with 80 levels, 36 kinds of monsters and 8 bosses, from the Slime King to King Bonbon, the self-declared Sugar Tyrant of the Candy Kingdom. Every boss telegraphs its attacks with warning lanes, circles or shadows. Each level has three runes to earn, 142 rune shards are hidden across the worlds, and the gold you collect buys wand upgrades, potions, shields and extra hearts.
Rune Runners Steam Deck news: what to expect
This is still Steam Deck news rather than a test, so this section is what I’d expect rather than what I’ve played. Valve hasn’t rated either the game or the demo yet, and Rune Runners is Windows only, so on the Deck it runs through Proton. The signs are good, though. The developer has made the menus and HUD fit the Deck’s screen with the Deck’s own button icons, the game has full controller support with Xbox, PlayStation and Switch button prompts, and the minimum specs are very low: an Intel Core i5-5257U or Ryzen 3 1200, 4GB of RAM, a GTX 1050 or RX 460, and just 2GB of storage.
The one real limit is the screen. Two players sharing a 7-inch display will feel cramped, so solo play or online co-op suits handheld mode best. Docked to a TV with two controllers, it should be a much better fit. If you like this kind of shared-screen game on the Deck, Vibe Together is another multiplayer indie worth keeping an eye on, and there are more to try in my best Next Fest demos for Steam Deck.
Steam Machine and Steam Frame
On the Steam Machine, Rune Runners looks like a natural fit. Couch co-op on a big TV with two pads is exactly how it’s meant to be played, and specs this low shouldn’t trouble the hardware at all. If you’re still weighing up Valve’s new devices, I’ve covered whether the Steam Machine and Steam Frame are worth it. On the Steam Frame, there’s no VR mode, so it would only be a flat game on a virtual screen.
Should you try the demo?
For a free demo, this is a generous slice. You get a full world, a boss, a village hub with quests and a boss arena, and the developer is clearly paying attention to Steam Deck players. I’d wishlist it now and grab a second controller for the full release in 2027.
