On my never-ending hunt for the next big Steam indie, an upcoming co-op title caught my eye this morning: it’s called Funnel Runners, and I think it looks promising.
“Friendslop” has become slang for a variety of co-op multiplayer titles on Steam these days, thanks to the massive popularity of games like Lethal Company, Repo, Content Warning, and the like. I’ve tried some of them, had some fun, but moved on pretty quickly. But this new one looks like a bit of a step up with its presentation and premise, so I’m intrigued.
Funnel Runners puts you and up to seven other players into the role of storm-chasers, who work for a company called APEX Storm Monitoring Services, and your group gets deployed into a doomed city that’s on the verge of destruction from a massive F5 tornado.
“The weather is your worst enemy here,” the Steam description says. “Tornados and storms will spawn randomly, grow stronger over time, and tear the whole map apart. Buildings will collapse piece by piece, and items will no longer be found in destroyed areas, so you must adapt quickly. Be careful not to be swept up by the wind; you may not be found again.”
In each game, the group is tasked with completing a variety of objectives like scavenging for vehicle parts to fix your van and escape the area, gathering tools, and finding fuel, with each game featuring “randomized environments, weather, items, and problems to solve on your vehicle” so that “no playthrough will be the same.”
The concept sounds truly awesome and a bit more serious than most “friendslop” titles, but it does look like the gameplay has some of that all-too-familiar early access jank and wonkiness. It’s made by California-based Supernova Studios, and this is listed as the dev’s first game, so hopefully it plays well because I think it has potential for good fun with pals—especially content creators who have a big group to play with.
Funnel Runners is launching into Steam early access later this week on July 16, and now all I need is to convince some friends to pick it up with me so we can let the friendsloppery commence.
