Truant Pixel has been watching plenty of AKIRA, it seems. The developer – perhaps best known for its suite of PlayStation 4 themes – has announced next-gen PSVR game RUNNER for PlayStation 5, an arcade-inspired throwback where you’ll be embroiled in shootouts on the back of a motorcycle. It looks every ounce as intense as it sounds.

“Players take on the role of Mina, a rogue mod-courier at the centre of a massive city-wide pursuit,” the blurb explains. “Beginning in the heart of Presidium, the neon-drenched capitol of the mining colony moon N-351, Mina’s only means of escape is the ‘Thoroughfare’, a massive high-speed expressway that snakes through the entirety sprawling colony complex.”

It’s a deep narrative setup for what amounts to shootouts on a speedway, but you can tell there are a ton of 80s influences that have gone into this. You’ll be able to customise your motorcycle as you progress, while there’ll be multiple hogs to unlock. There’s no word on a date yet, but presumably it’ll be targeting next year, when Sony’s new PSVR headset is scheduled to launch.

The game certainly has bags of style, but the gameplay does look a little on the simplistic side in this clip. Still, there’s plenty of time for the developer to flesh out the idea, so we have high hopes for this one. If nothing else, its overwhelming sense of style should help it to standout – we’ve always wanted to ride our very own lightcycle, after all.

[source youtube.com]