Heraean Games

Heraean Games is a training and racing game based on the Heraean Games, an ancient Greek festival honoring Hera, goddess of marriage, family and childbirth. The event is described as the first official women’s sports competition in human history. Only women could take part, and the competition consisted of short-distance running. Eight girls enter this tournament, each with a reason she cannot afford to lose. You become one runner’s dedicated trainer and try to lead her to victory.

Train your partner

The tournament takes place five times, including the final event. Winning all five competitions leads to the true ending. Your training choices shape your partner’s performance:

• Stamina: helps prevent her from slowing down in the later stages of a race.
• Leg strength: increases her running speed.
• Endurance: reduces fatigue gained during training, making training more efficient.
• Special ability: increases the duration and strength of her ability’s effects.
• Rest: recovers fatigue from training. If she is not rested before a tournament, she competes while fatigued.

You can spend points earned from victories and other results to raise your training levels, increasing the stat gains your partner receives from training. You start with 2,000 points, and leaving them unspent lets you adjust the game’s difficulty.

Race abilities

Your training strategy and the timing of your partner’s special ability can decide the outcome. During a race, press the space bar to activate one of these ability types: dashing, confusing other runners so they run in the wrong direction, restoring stamina and recovering from fatigue, draining opponents’ stats, stopping time while your runner keeps moving, or triggering a random ability from the full set.

Sweat effects indicate fatigue and slowing. Vertical lines indicate that a runner is exhausted and moving at minimum speed. You can switch camera angles during a race with the left mouse button.