Run Sausage Run!

Genre: Auto-Runner

Players: 1-8 Competitive (Local)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Sausage Bundle: Till the Last Drop of Ketchup, along with Sausage Wars. It is also in Best Mobile Games 5-in-1, along with Dig Deep, Om Nom: Run, Pudding Monsters, and Sausage Wars.)

Run Sausage Run!, released on mobile devices in 2017, then ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2022, and then to PC in 2024, is a side-scrolling Auto-Runner where players take the role of an anthropomorphic sausage trying to dash through a dangerous area while avoiding the hazards.

This game uses simple, cartoony 2D visuals with lots of blood (or… sausage juices?), all in a whimsical style. This is backed by a fast-paced and repetitive acapella theme that gets old very quickly. In short, nothing exciting here, but I suppose in short bursts this might be engaging.

The gameplay does have one clever trick, and that is that your one input in the game does two things at once – it speeds up your character, and it makes you lean back to avoid higher hazards. Using this, you must both dodge those higher hazards, while also slowing down when you need to avoid timed hazards and speeding up to cross hazards that will take you out if you’re too slow.

While this is a decent enough mechanic, Run Sausage Run! doesn’t do anything especially clever or interesting with that mechanic, and in fact the game’s levels are all randomized, so there’s not any sort of thought or consistency at all here – fail a level one time and the next time you try it you may find that the hazard you had trouble with isn’t even there anymore. In fact, the only thing I can say this game does right is its 8-player local competitive mode, which is a nice addition, but it doesn’t change that the base game here is pretty severely lacking.

Overall, as Auto-Runners go, Run Sausage Run! is pretty sub-par, and even those who enjoy this genre will find numerous other better options on Nintendo Switch. Run Sausage Run! only has one really good idea, and it does nothing to capitalize on that idea, resulting in a game that is only at best passable as a time-waster.

tl;dr – Run Sausage Run! is a side-scrolling Auto-Runner where players try to get an anthropomorphic sausage to safety. This game has one good idea, and that is that one button does two things – it speeds you up and makes you duck underneath high obstacles. Unfortunately, it does nothing with this gimmick, and in fact the randomized levels lack any kind of structure at all. This isn’t a terrible game, but it’s not a very good one either.

Grade: C

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