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Preview: Petal Runner

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On June 20, 2025

There were a lot of big games at this year’s Summer Game Fest Play Days, but one title that especially stood out to us was a smaller one. Petal Runner, an upcoming indie game blending Warioware and Pokemon with a sci-fi twist, stood out with its charming art style, funny character interactions and unique approach to combat-free gameplay.

A New Kind of Job Sim

Petal Runner puts the player in the shoes of Cali, a trainee on their way to becoming a Petal Runner, specialists that deliver and calibrate Leap Cells containing HanaPets (a new form of artificial talking pet) for their new families. HanaPets come in a variety of styles and breeds, each of which is perfectly tuned to their owners’ lifestyle and interests. Cali’s HanaPet Kira, an adorable cat/dog hybrid, is the perfect assistant for Petal Running (sarcastic commentary aside), equipped with a Tamagotchi-style “leash” allowing her to roam outside.

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One run that we went on for work was for a family of surfers, the father of whom had been sadly neglecting his family’s hobby in recent weeks. Cali delivers the family’s new HanaPet, a bright-green miniature land shark, which immediately starts dashing throughout the house, unable to be caught or tamed. Cali quickly plugs into the pet’s LeapCell, recalibrating it and showing the family how it can help them when surfing, reigniting the father’s passion for the sport.

Cali’s HanaPet Kira, an adorable cat/dog hybrid, is the perfect assistant for Petal Running (sarcastic commentary aside).

Gameplay is mainly found in the form of calibrating Leap Cells, either when delivering a new HanaPet or helping to repair a malfunctioning one. Instead of entering a turn-based battle to weaken the pet, Petal Runners “calibrate” Leap Cells to their HanaPets by conducting a series of tiny mini-games like those seen in WarioWare. During our gameplay session, we had a blast playing mini-games that included dodging asteroids, parachuting onto targets and feeding giraffes with a spoon, among tons of others. Ideas for each game were extremely unique to each other, so gameplay never got stale.

Welcome to the Big City

While the world of Sapphire Valley (the big city Cali now resides and works in) takes on a minimal Game Boy Color pixel art-style, the world still felt vibrant and full. Every person you see can be spoken to (several of them with side quests to take on and hilarious dialog), and is accompanied by a unique HanaPet that can also be conversed with. Talking to HanaPets adds a new entry to your HanaBase file, which serves as a PokeDex of sorts that keeps track of all the HanaPets you’ve run into.

We had a blast playing mini-games that included dodging asteroids, parachuting onto targets, and feeding giraffes with a spoon, among tons of others.

Exploring the world is even more fun thanks to Cali’s custom motorcycle, which boasts super-smooth controls when driving from place-to-place in the game’s open world. We found many enterable buildings while cruising through town, each with hand-crafted interiors to explore. The most interesting location in the demo is the mall, which contains a series of strange and interesting stores that reveal more about the futuristic world Petal Runner takes place in.

As the small bit of story progressed, we found ourselves running into various gameplay setpieces, including speeding through a sewer tunnel on the back of a giant lizard HanaPet, dodging floating trash and boxes as we zoomed through the drain. This was the thing that stood out to us the most about Petal Runner; it never gets stale and is filled to the brim with creativity and variety.

The two-person dev team at Nano Park Studios are working on something really special with Petal Runner, which is a delightfully cozy experience for the brief minutes of gameplay we saw at Summer Game Fest. With healthy doses of charm, style and nostalgia all in the mix, this is an indie title we’ll be keeping an eye on as it continues development (and is a must-add to any indie or retro gamer’s wishlist on Steam.)