Sonic the Hedgehog Hasn’t Made a Peep Since the Release of This New 3D Runner

You can tell a game is off to a great start when its tutorial wraps up faster than the download itself. Haste: Broken Worlds is the speediest game I’ve dived into this year, with a demo that kicks off in under half a minute.

The idea here couldn’t be simpler: the world is collapsing, and the only way to escape is by sprinting. Haste skips lengthy explanations and plops you right into action as Zoe, a girl rocking an impressively snug pair of glasses. You’re immediately sliding down slopes with no time wasted on idle chatter.

Sonic the Hedgehog might just have a reason to be envious because Haste lives in the realm of uninterrupted velocity. Once you hit your stride, it’s all about a single button: tap the spacebar to softly descend, then soar back up. Nailing perfect landings fills up a bar that allows you to hop on a hoverboard, handy for recovering when you collide with obstacles or get caught by looming corruption waves. When you’re not racing through, you’re either upgrading your gear or catching up with your friends.

Haste takes on a roguelike flavor, letting you pick your path with each run. After hitting the finish line, you choose your next destination. Some levels challenge you to race through black-and-white landscapes, splashing them with color, while others have you dodging black holes as you scramble to find an exit before time’s up. Sparkling crystal trails show the way in each stage, and you can trade them for enhancements at shops. Most upgrades give minor boosts to speed or health, but others, like recovering health with crystal pickups, can influence your journey through a level.

The demo wraps up with a showdown against a giant robot that showers the level with lava. You’ll need to weave through danger until you can crash into it head-on. Keeping your speed is crucial to escaping the encroaching lava, urging you to seek out perfect landings to fill your hoverboard energy. Grabbing clusters of crystals for health adds a layer of strategy to the mix.

In a game with more cumbersome controls, such a complex boss encounter might become chaotic, but Haste’s smooth mechanics keep everything seamless. Navigating its levels remains easy even when things aren’t going perfectly, and you’re rewarded for daring moves. When everything clicks, it’s like playing a rhythm game where you hit every note flawlessly. The only downside is when the action finally comes to a stop.

Developers at Landfall, who not long ago brought us the quirky multiplayer horror game Content Warning, are aiming to launch Haste: Broken Worlds later this year.