Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2007
Runaway, A Road Adventure
Developer Pendulo Studios
Runaway: A Road Adventure is a 2001 graphic adventure game developed by the Spanish company Pendulo Studios and published by Dinamic Multimedia. It follows the story of Brian Basco, an American college student on the run after he unwittingly saves a murder witness named Gina Timmins from assassination by the New York Mafia. Searching for clues about a mysterious crucifix linked to the murder, Brian and Gina embark… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
189 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 6, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
69
Fresh
129 positive · 58 negative
95% range 62–75%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 129 | 58 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
2 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
613 of 796 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 189 · most liked firstPlay with a guide, or you will go insane. Some of the puzzles are absolutely absurd, but with a guide it becomes hilarious to see what these devs thought of as "logical". The game is at times genuinely charming with its upbeat storytelling and weird characters. Not a masterpiece by any means, but if you like strange janky adventure games made by small but passionate studios, I think this is worth your time!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If The Longest Journey is the death of the classic adventure game, Runaway is the beginning of the real "dark ages" of adventure game design. This is the game that defined pixel hunting with every screen containing at least one hotspot as small as a couple pixels, sometimes next to much larger hotspots just to intentionally obfuscate what you're supposed to interacting with. The second big flaw is that protagonist Brian exists separate from the player, meaning he won't do anything unless he…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GenZ crying about a game that's over a decade older than them. Also it's not pixel hunting. Use your brains to identify the objects on the screen like you do on any point and click game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →point-and-click adventure game in which student Brian Basco and Gina become entangled in a humorous and puzzling story of escaping criminals and searching for a mysterious Native American artifact. ✅I love point-and-click games like this ✅Interesting and engaging storyline ✅Very good graphics, considering this game was created in 2003 ✅Satisfying ending to the story ✅Very good audiovisuals, good music, sound design, and professional voice acting ✅Very good price for the game's content ✅Many…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Many crucial items blend with environment and/or are too small to see. A lot of points can be interacted with only if some mandatory trigger happened. Also, several nonsensical solutions. All this makes the game far from the brightest star in the point-and-click genre. The game is dirt cheap on sale if you want it, but I would rather recommend watching it on youtube.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A tolerable point & click unfortunately weighed down by unforgivable sins of the genre: Pixel hunting. Yes, you will scour every inch of the screen thinking you've seen everything, only to find a stray nail four pixels wide that blends in entirely with the scenery. Even worse is having literally two pixels to click on once you've inserted it into its target position. Worse still, in the desert area of the game where every outdoor screen is littered with rocks, you're supposed to pick one of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wish somedays met a girl like Gina Timmins
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ma-a-an... I knew about this game since the release date. I own it in my library for ages. I have it installed on my PC for almost a decade. And now... after so many years... I finally played it. And I'm not disappointed. While not flawless - it was still a good experience. I'd call it a worthy product of it's time, which brings good memories about times of Guybrush Threepwood and Ben Throttle. What should you expect? An old scholl classic point and click game. That means? - Brutal pixel…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has everything that is wrong with adventure games: bad writing, bad acting, obnoxiously obtuse puzzles... The only thing good about this is the artwork, which is what I've found most post-2000 point-and-click adventure games try to carry themselves on, and it is not enough. Watch the start of a let's play before you buy to see if this is your cup of tea.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →And a lot of casual games: •Hidden Runaway - HOG based on Runaway: A Road Adventure myabandonware.com/game/hidden-... •More HOGs: Nightmare Realm myabandonware.com/game/nightma... 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea myabandonware.com/game/20-000-... (Also check the earlier post bsky.app/profile/myab...)
unlabelledView post →I must have been high when playing this. Bad game, not approved. One of the worst point and click adventure games I've played so far. Pretentious over complicated plot with uninteresting setting. Tedious pixel hunting needed to solve a lot of puzzles. Solution to a lot of puzzles make no sense in a lot of cases. Playing this crep without a game guide is infuriating. I couldn't take the main character seriously and there's also cliche love story of the hero falling in love with a sex doll…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best games of my childhood.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd played "The Next BIG Thing" by Pendulo Studios earlier; and came in with similar expectations. Boy, was I disappointed. This game checks everything that's wrong with Adventure games. Pixel Hunting There is an example early on where you mouse over a cabinet, and the character goes, "Oh its just files and papers"; but mousing over a particular file lets you pick *that one* up. Moon Logic One of the weirdest ones was when you used lipstick and gunpowder to make bullets to clip onto a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →“As I walk along, I wonder What went wrong with our love~ 🎶” ~Del Shannon, Runaway If I ever have to pick one single genre as my favorite, it'll be point-and-click adventures. There's nothing more cozy in the world than sitting in a dark room with some ice cream and coffee, trying to figure out what to do next in order to progress. Unfortunately, there was also a major problem with the genre. I know, I know; you've heard this story, like, a million times before. Bear with me, as it's really…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To get this game working in Windows 11 I had to use DxWrapper. These kind of applications are like magic to me and I'm glad people wrote them. The game looks great and starts promising, but soon the fun is spoiled. - There is a lot of pixel hunting. Sometimes you have to find an object that's only a few pixels wide, or an object that blends in with a much bigger object. Without hotspots these really suck, and the most likely reason you get stuck is because you've missed a small but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really like games like this, it's sad to me that the adventure games genre and particularly the point-and-click genre has basically disappeared. I was a big fan of this game when it came out in the early 2000s and replaying it definitely brought back a ton of memories and nostalgia. The art style albeit crude and unrefined at times, especially in the 3D character department, is still enjoyable. Especially the 2D backgrounds are great! In terms of puzzles, there's some fun ones in there.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A True Classic Although now widely regarded by the community as one of the best Point and Click adventures of all time, for several years Runaway was something of a hidden gem. It's shocking to think how what is now considered such an iconic and influential staple of the genre slipped through the cracks for so long, but really glad to see this fantastic game finally getting the recognition it deserves. The visuals, voice acting, and music are excellent and hold up strong to this day, The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lots of pixel-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, and solutions are blocked until the click on the right hidden thing. For instance in chapter 1 I tried the obvious solution to wake Gina and it was not permitted until I found an arbitrary, four-pixel wide item to tell me that I should do the thing I already worked out ... for an alleged 'gifted' person, the main character sure is dumb. Also, there are some LOOOOOOONG non-interactive cut scenes here, which get quite frustrating.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you like nonsensical puzzles, pixel hunting, slow movement, having to re-examine objects at certain points to find necessary items? If you answered yes to any or all of these parameters then this game is for you. The story is just okay and seems like it was rushed at the end, especially after tedious stages like the museum. Also too much unnecessary commentary from the main character. I did like the theme song though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lot of people really love this point and click adventure game and list it in their top 10 or top 20, so I think that this is an issue where I'm in a tiny minority. Some of the puzzle solutions don't make sense - don't get me started on making peanut butter or making bullets. I got stumped again 11 hours in, found a hint and discovered I have to repeat something really tedious five times for no real reason. You have to go back over areas again and again to find new things even after you're…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm really torn if I should recommend that. It isn't bad per se, but if I ask myself "If someone asked me for a good P'n'C game, would I recommend this one", the answer is no. It is a nice adventure all in all, but it has many downsides. Starts right at the, well, start. The game only runs in exclusive fullscreen on a tiny resolution. Now it is 23 years old, so that's not too much you can blame it for, but even back then at least changing resolutions or running in a window would have been…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I absolutely love the original Runaway. It might be cliché but Brian falling in love with Gina (who is caught up with mafia and thus a Runaway) and then going on their adventure is amazing. From a point and click veterans perspective the series is up there with the best, but prepare for disappointment in the sequels. Brian turns bro in the second game and there's a part that really annoyed me. This excerpt from the Wiki really tells all: Pendulo's Josué Monchan called Runaway 2 "a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Runaway, A Road Adventure is a point and click adventure. The story begins in 00s New York and follows Brian Busco, who was just accepted as student at the University of Berkley. As soon as he embarks on his journey, a girl jumps out in front of his car with some thugs chasing her. From then on it is up to you, the player, to help Brian reach his goal and to help the girl. The story isn't particularly interesting, it's just there to justify the journey and the crazy things that happen during…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a charming point&click, with some glaring issues: some nonsensical puzzles, a good dose of pixel hunting, and a main character who is a bit of a manipulative PoS. Not terrible, and can be a good pastime if you urgently need your point&click fix, but I wouldn't really recommend it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🛣️ Runaway: A Road Adventure Runaway: A Road Adventure is a classic point-and-click journey that still surprises, even decades later. For a game released in 2003, it’s impressively charming — with a stylish presentation, lively characters, and a great soundtrack. The story may seem a bit cliché at first, but it’s told with flair and that early-2000s movie feel. The protagonist narrates his adventure like in an old road film, which adds personality. The gameplay is typical for the genre…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Runaway: A Road Adventure was an attempt to breathe new life into the outdated point & click genre in the early 2000s. And although the game still holds up really well visually, except for the animations when talking, the gameplay is still pretty much the most unintuitive mess there is. One little feature, one little idea that takes the fun out of the whole game. And that is that Brian, our game character, has a separate level of knowledge to us. What do I mean by that? Very often Brian refuses…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Análisis corto El "Brayan" se ve envuelto en un follón gracias a la "Jenny", pero nuestro protagonista, como buen paga fantas, decide ayudarla hasta el final.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I always had a difficult relationship with Pendulo, personally: my Spanish pride and my love for adventures should make me love them but their games never quite let me do so. Runaway was their most successful game and it is, above it all, a technical marvel, a beautiful adventure that looks better and plays faster than any Future Games, Kingart, Cranberry, IC, House of Tales, etc etc etc. The animations are fluid, the backgrounds are very detailed, everything looks fantastic. But the puzzle…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played this a few times over the years, and trying to replay it recently reminded me that it is a terrible, awful game. Just a total POS. It came out at a time when point and click adventure games were at a low point, and so reviewers were way overenthusiastic to have anything and way overrated it. So it has a reputation that is much, much higher than it comes close to deserving. It does have going for it that it looks great even now almost 20 years later. But as a game it is the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Runaway, a Road Adventure, is one the most frustratingly annoying point & click adventure I've played, and I’ve played hundreds. Sure, the graphics and animation are beautiful and clearly much care was taken to polish the look & feel of this game, but the underlying puzzles and story are just horrible. From pixel hunting, to illogical puzzles, to annoying characters, to lengthy and pointless dialogue, to try-every-item-on-every-hotspot-until-something-works, Runaway makes every classic point &…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The moon logic and pixel hunting in this game drains the experience for me ;(
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Competent classic point-and-click adventure with (although not original) for video game standards well fleshed out writing. Genre-classic pixel hunting and a number of instances of repeating the same action on the same object at different times for different results may annoy. Long-ish. 12 hours would be fast; 20 not very slow. At currently 2,99€ for the five game Pendulo adventure pack it's a steal.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Every few years I have to come back and play Pendulo Studios adventure games. Runaway series is still my favourite Point & Click series ever, nostalgia might have a big role in that but I honestly don't really care. Every time I play these games I have a tun of fun. Just wish my second game's box wasn't cardboard and a bit messed up from moving around. A Road Adventure might not be as crazy as the rest of the series but it's still amazing. The story is engaging and, although I forgot how…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First Runaway is probably the best out of three due it having it's unique feeling and having overall package good, while 2nd title is similar to it, it becomes scrambled in big picture and third felt like it lost it's Runaway style and became more of Broken Sword like game, though probably most well done out of three. So for the story, nerdy guy is going to make his future under well regarded professor until suddenly beauty runs to the road where he is driving and tells she is chased by mafia.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Runaway, A Road Adventure A point and click adventure of superlatives. Starting off as a simple car accident Brian Basco - a phyisics student from New York and the protagonist of this game - staggers right into the adventure of his life. What seemed to be some misfortune in the life of a poor waitress goes deeper than he could've ever imagine. Encountering various types of people and some of the most mysterious places and situations you are challenged with solving a puzzle spanning all the way…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →pros + gorgeous looking and colorful hand drawn background artwork + well made long cartoony cut scenes + many different, funny and colorful cast of characters + good character animations + decent voice acting + nice musics + some enjoyable puzzles. there are also inventory puzzles you can combine some items + story is intriguing cons - severe pixel hunting - some obscure puzzles with nonsensical solutions. there are also a few trial and error puzzles. - sometimes you don't know what to do…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a really good point and click but you gotta install a few mods to make the game run better it will not run swell on a modern windows 10 PC or probably windows 11 at all. Some parts of the game didn't age super well in terms of humor and jokes. Moving on to the sequel next.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a game I remember when it first came out. I was a kid and watched other people play; it was so unique that it stuck in my mind and twenty years after it came out, I bought it to play as an adult. It is exactly as I remember it, even if I have a better appreciation and understanding about it. I fell in love with this game just through its opening into. It is absolutely amazing. The story itself is really a ridiculous journey that somehow works. Some of the mechanics are a little awkward.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good point and click adventure is one where you are challenged but the solution is achievable without a guide. Often times when you do break down and look up the answer, you feel embarrassed for not figuring it out yourself. This is not one of those games, it sucks. The puzzles REQUIRE a guide (which ruins the challenge) and finding items can be a pixel hunt. There are many great point and click adventure games, especially from the early 2000's. This is not one of them.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a bad point and click adventure game, but there are some issues with it. What bothered me most about it is that I never played a point and click adventure game where I got stuck so many times. A world record. Some of the actions you need to perform are just too difficult to figure out, and they don’t always seem logical. What makes matters worse is that some actions you need to perform are actions you tried earlier on but did not have an effect but do have an effect later on because…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is by far the worst point and click game I've ever played. For starters the story is just extremely boring. It could have been decent, but it's presented to you by a main character so bland it makes you feel like studying pocket lint for several hours would have been more worth your time. As you start the game you're forced into watching cut scenes for more or less 10 minutes to explain you the main plot, but this could have been done in 30 seconds. Sadly, this continues throughout the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Twenty years after first attempting this game, I finally came back and beat it. It's pretty decent, especially when viewed in the context of the period in which it was released, a relatively sparse era for point-and-click adventure games. The story is slightly confusing but basically works out okay in the end, with you controlling Brian, a nerdy grad student who accidentally gets involved with a girl named Gina in trouble with some big time criminals who want the MacGuffin she has. There are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well it is an overall mediocre game. It is mediocre in everything. The plot is ok but generic, no originality. The writing is a little better than your average adventure game. Voice acting is admittedly good quality and that's all that is good with this game. There are gateway puzzles, like objects that can't be interacted with unless you speak with certain characters to trigger certain events which is totally misleading. Puzzles are plain annoying and disappointing and the graphics are not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a MUST PLAY for any adventure game lover. It's classics of the genre. Amazing characters, dialogues, puzzles!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →When you pick up a game this old you gotta be ready for hard difficulty and general... rawness. But Runaway somehow managed to go beyond that to the point where it's not entertaining to play at all. It starts out fine and feels like your usual point n' click, but once you spend an hour on it you realize you're not sure what's happening or what you're doing. In order to progress you have to literally hunt pixels, which is already a very bad start in my book. There are no hotspots, no hints or…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Most of the recent reviews, I have read are bashing the game. I first played that game waaaaaaay back and I have decided to play it again after finding the whole series on a sale and get a fresh perspective. There are good elements in this game and not not so good but overall I would recommend this game. Graphics Great artwork for the locations that no matter the years that have passed since the release, they simply haven't aged. (Try to take a look at any 3D game of the same period)…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was attracted to this title out of nostalgy to Monkey Island and Broken Sword. I had the wrong expectation about a funny hand-drawn adventure. It was actually not funny at all, only partially hand-drawn and there was no adventure. I quited after watching the cut scene opening chapter 4. There are better reviews saying it with more words but briefly: characters were totally uninteresting, their motivation - ridiculous, the logic behind most of the puzzles - weird and finding useful objects - a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Such an awesome nostalgic game! Love the early 2000s vibes and the soundtrack rocks!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Outdated today, but being a point and click game when I was young, it was definitely one of my favourite ones. BUT this one is broken, the original needed multiple CD roms, because of that the game was programmed around that. Today we do not need it, it makes the porting hard and the team did not make a good job on it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Originally this game would not work. However if you are having problems on windows 11 with the screen in black and white and off centre you have to go into the settings on the main menu and change the video definition from high to low. Once you do this the game ran fine for me. As for the game. Was not bad for an adventure game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As an Adventure game enthusiast, I'm quite enjoying this one! I feel like it's right up the alley with the games i usually like to play. It has an interesting story that captivates me. I found myself thinking about it even when i'm not playing. I like the vivid colors and graphics, the puzzles are nice. It is sometimes hard to find all clickable items on the screen and I get stuck because i didn't pick up something really small, or had to go back and try to pick up after certain dialogue was…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →we need the next Runaway version
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Runaway, A Road Adventure is an ancient game from 2003. It's a whopping 21 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for any modern gaming display resolutions (or widescreen monitors), hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on modern gaming PCs. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an ancient game. This seems to have been put on Steam as a nostalgia gouge, or just a cash grab to try profit from abandonware. It's an…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i loved the classic point and clicks mechanics! the cartoonish sstyled graphics and the contrary with the raw scenario and the "cruel" it depicts! totally worth the time of any pnc fan out there
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the games ever
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →5 minutes into it and I already know I'm going to love this game! For such an old and dated game, the animation is pretty good/nostalgic, great attention to music, lighting and hilarious character modeling/faces. But what is so amazing about this game is the artwork. Each scene I like to just admire the hand drawn art and coloring of the surroundings. It's really quite interesting and different than your more modern point & click games! I personally love old, gimmicky stuff. I will update this…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It was my childhood favourite game so I had to play it again! Story is interesting but game is little complicated and odd. I recommend for fans of this game, it's good to buy on sale. Not sure if everyone will like it but not bad to give a try. Runaway 2: The Dream of the Turtle is much better and it's better to finish Runaway: A Road Adventure first to know the story better :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unlikeable characters, silly story, boring graphics - okay, but you want good puzzles, right? Well, there are indeed some puzzles in the game - however at least some of them are ruined by undetectable items and illogical design. Just not fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really nice adventure game. Super keen to dive into the next in the series :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a great game. Graphics are great for a game of that age. Gameplay is interesting, puzzles can be challenging, but mostly they are chill and not brain-breaking. The humor is great, i recognize good old Pendulo. I like Brian character really much, he is a great not judging respectable man. It's rare to see this kind of characters in a humorous point and click puzzles. The game even found some place to represent minorities in a funny and not offensive way! Rare in 2001. Other characters…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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