Beautiful open-world JRPG inspired by Persona and Xenoblade is set to smash its $50,000 Kickstarter in barely 16 hours

Runa
(Image credit: Fennec Studio)

Runa, an indie game "inspired by classic and modern JRPGs," is closing in on its $50,000 Kickstarter campaign target after just 16 hours.

A gorgeous, open-world JRPG with shades of the Xenoblade series, Runa promises to fill out that world with turn-based battles, base-building, farming minigames, and a Persona-style social links system to help you befriend its substantial cast of 15 romanceable characters.

Set in the science-fantasy world of Akasha, that cast will have to contend with the Runas, the leftover technological advancements of a long-forgotten civilization. Akasha seems huge, with a large number of beautiful environments to explore. But while the world may look beautiful, it also seems pretty threatening, and you'll have to master a complex elemental battle system in order to succeed.

Despite only being made by a three-person development team, it looks as though Runa is well on the way to delivering on its lofty goals. That's because, at the time of writing, the game is sitting less than €300 ($320) shy of its €45,000 ($48,000) target. Given that its crowdfunding campaign only began yesterday and that we're less than 24 hours out from that start time, it seems fair to assume that Runa should cross its finish line very soon.

The 'estimated delivery' for Runa is November 2026, which means there might be a bit of a wait for backers. The plan is to launch the JRPG on PC via Steam first, with planned releases on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch down the line. You can secure your own copy via the Runa Kickstarter.

While you wait, check out our list of the best JRPGs.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.