Run the Realms is a fantasy-themed workout assistant that lets you run to progress the story

• Run the Realm is a new fantasy-themed fitness app
• You’ll play a survivor of an otherworldly attack who’s only option is to run
• Play as a knight, mage or thief as you level up by jogging, running and cycling

When it comes to fitness apps it seems that one of the major trends in the past few years has been to gameify everything. And why not? After all, I think anyone but the biggest fitness fanatics among us will say that working out is usually far from thrilling. The latest release to try and up the ante and excitement for your morning jog is Run the Realm, taking your fitness goals to a fantasy world!

Newly re-released on Google Play and the iOS App Store, Run the Realm is as you might expect. In this fitness tracker, you become a mighty fantasy warrior like in D&D, using your fitness goals to advance the story and complete quests; whether that be with biking, jogging or even just walking.

You’ll also gain points towards improving the abilities of your chosen character class, being able to pick from mage, knight or thief. With an otherworldly attack having destroyed your home city and only a disgraced knight as an ally, your only option is running (or just working out I suppose).

Get fit fast

Run the Realm boasts plenty of intriguing features, such as a bardic radio to listen to and the ability to hear narration that progresses the quest in between your own musical playlist. However, it does have a few hallmarks of some new releases that put me off, like the clear use of AI art that just tends to look a bit muddy, especially on closer inspection.

Of course, you’re not exactly using a fitness app for the purpose of looking at pretty pictures. And if Run the Realm does deliver both an engaging story and helps you get fit then it does its job.

Want to find other top releases? Why not check in on our regular feature of the top five new mobile games to try this week?