Second Stage Studio has launched Sprint City, their competitive 2D platformer, into Early Access on PC via Steam today, March 31, 2026, priced at $11.99. To mark the occasion, the game is available at 20% off for the first two weeks, bringing it down to $9.59 through April 14.
Sprint City is the first release from Second Stage Studio, a Utrecht-based indie team co-founded by Casper van Est, one of the original creators of SpeedRunners, and Koen Bollen. The studio has presented Sprint City as spiritual continuation of that legacy rather than a direct sequel, as tinyBuild, which owns the SpeedRunners IP, is working on SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed, currently in development at Fair Play Labs. Van Est described the direction the team took with the new title at the time of its December 2025 announcement:
With Sprint City, we wanted to focus on what we love most in games and what we’re best at, which is pure movement. It’s a shared world multiplayer experience built around how good it can feel just to move around, so we worked really hard on a satisfying game feel and a visual style that never gets in the way of that.
The game takes place in a solarpunk city built around the premise that human locomotion replaced vehicles entirely, and every surface is designed to be traversed at speed. Momentum is the core skill, as players learn to keep their velocity alive across rooftops and alleyways by chaining movement techniques without losing their rhythm. The city itself operates as one continuous open environment, populating with real players in the vicinity as they explore, with friends able to stay grouped regardless of where their routes take them. Players without a copy of the game can join sessions for free through their browser using the Friend Link system.
At the center of the multiplayer selection is Clockout, a mode that sets time as a resource. Up to eight players enter each match with a 10-second clock. The first runner to complete a lap begins draining everyone else’s remaining time, and only stops when they finish their own lap. Every new lap sends the field back to the start with a shorter clock than before, ratcheting up pressure as the match progresses and eliminating players until one is left.
Outside of Clockout, the game includes solo time trials, daily challenges, custom challenges with shareable codes, and global leaderboards. Second Stage Studio has confirmed the Early Access build delivers the complete core experience, with expansions to game modes, city districts, and available activities planned throughout development.
To celebrate the launch, the studio is running a week of daily developer-created challenges beginning April 1, with prizes each day including HyperX Origins 2 65 keyboards. On the final day, the winner earns the right to design challenge that will be permanently playable in Sprint City. Participants must be in the Discord to be eligible. Sprint City is available now on Steam.