Race The Sun is an intensely-fast Endless Running Game developed by a two-brother team Flippfly. It was originally released as Unity Webplayer game on September 2012, followed by a PC and macOS X release on December 10th 2013, then an October 21st, 2014 release for PS3, PS4 and PS Vita, a Wii U release on October 8th, 2015, and an Xbox One release on April 21st, 2017.
The player controls a solar-powered aircraft dashing at Ludicrous Speed through a sequence of landscapes containing various hazards. Inevitable failure, as is usually the case with endless-runners, is achieved either by a head-on collision with an obstacle, or by running out of speed after one's solar energy is depleted. See, since the vehicle is solar-powered, it's not only important to stay out of the shadows of oncoming obstacles, but as the game description points out, the setting sun serves as the game's timer, and the player has to extend the timer by racing the sun, collecting boost pickups to catch up with the setting sun.
The game also features a Level Editor, as well as an interesting feature where the main 3 levels are rotated every 24 hours, giving a different struggle for the top of the leaderboard each day.
You can play the Unity version here
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Race The Sun contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The Steam Trading Cards sort of give some story, although it's mostly detailing each of the obstacles and giving them names.
- Animal Motifs: Your vehicle very much resembles a bird, and birds occasionally drop items to pick up.
- Brutal Bonus Level: Apocalypse mode greatly increases the number of obstacles and the speed at which the sun sets, making it a true challenge just to get through one round.
- Deadly Walls: A somewhat downplayed example: while a head-on impact will destroy you, a glancing blow will merely slow you and reduce your Score Multiplier.
- Double Jump: One piece of equipment that you unlock for your ship lets you carry 2, and later, 3 jump powerups.
- Endless Running Game: Or rather, endless "darting forward maniacally-fast"...er.
- Hidden Track: The game's soundtrack contains extended versions of all of the game's tracks, including a reveal that two of the tracks (region 1 and region 3) share a song (1moretime) in the soundtrack.
- The Playstation 4 home menu's overview screen for the game also shares its track with the game over theme (4ever).
- 2late (region 2), 3eeeeeeeee (sunset), APOCALYP5E (region 4), and Sunrise (DLC stage) do not share their themes between two uses.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Seems to be the theme here. You, your solar powered craft, and the ever setting sun. And the obstacle-like terrain...
- Lampshaded by the Battery powerup's flavor text. "We supposed this will help you do whatever it is you are trying to do."
- Portal Network: One of the unlocks allows travel by way of this to other player-created worlds, or one of three set worlds on later versions of the game. Another warps you to the end of region. Only the first warp will reset the sun, and will reset the music alongside it. A third is a powerup that activates upon crashing into a wall, warping the craft upwards. (Similarly to the jump powerup, craft upgrades allow you to carry multiple of these powerups.)
- Riding into the Sunset: Justified in that the player has to constantly do this to keep their solar energy up, and by proxy, their speed.
- Score Multiplier: One of the first unlocks as you begin playing is the multiplier meter — collecting 5 tris without collisions will increase the meter by 1.
- Super-Speed: Each session starts with a static shot of the level's beginning, and the player's craft dashes past at insane speed. And it just gets faster. Looking at is scientifically, chasing the sunset at the equatornote would clock your craft going about 1,400 mph (just under 1,700 kph).
- Theremin: The soundtrack occasionally uses this kind of effect, particularly when the sun is about to set.
- The Maze: This is the premise of the third gamemode (Labyrinth), and the last you unlock. Here, the sun setting is outright disabled in exchange for a tedious 4-region hell with a high overview shot that culminates in the tightest movement in the game, followed by the game literally giving up and forcing a loss upon you with the defeat text "you win". If you can avoid the text walls that tell you the game is giving up, that is.
- Color Wash: Certain objects found in region 1 of this mode temporarily change the color of the level, fading after roughly a single region. Three of these are guaranteed to appear, at the end of each region. Region 4 replaces this with the aformentioned literal text wall.
