Driving through the semi US/Euro roads to highways, 90s alt-rock inspired music, a cross-country adventure with many strangers to pick up, many stories to tell too. Why not? From the madmen who brought us Post Void. Comes this cruise around adventure RPG.
It goes from just about managing resources like car health, energy, and fuel, buying groceries, finding stuff on the road and picking them, exploring for lost loot, doing jobs, picking up strangers and driving them to their locations while they level up with skills and traits to provide. God forbid, you deal with sheeps, potholes, speedtraps, and the worst one of all, traffic jams.
The game has it all, and then some. I'd say it's harsh at first, and lets you lose a bit before figuring things out. Which works for me since the whole point of this adventure across the country with my Volve 240, is to take in the experiences, and enjoy the company. Even if they steal your money.
My character finally become their own adult, and has gotten to choose between 3 cars; a pickup, coupe, and sedan. I picked the sedan, providing a nice balance of cargo space, and allowing 4 passengers to tag along. Gee, I hope they aren't weirdos.
I choose between two avatars, name, relationship with my parents, employment, and personal items. It's not too many options but, probably enough to get it kicking. From home, outside the letter inviting me to the festival, I can choose between my guitar, pack of beers, and cigarettes. God, this was what the 2000s felt like, without the judgy eyes of my own mother.
If I was you, I'd pick whatever I can, before figuring out what I'll exactly need, the biggest unique thing about the game is the sense of discovery and where your curious mind will take you on the journey. You're starting off fresh, you have to get a hang of what the outside world is like.
And the game, despite the low pixelated look, and minimalist yet colorful visuals might present, imbues so much responsibility of driving several kilometers across towns. Working odd jobs to earn money for fixing the car, fueling it up, installing parts, doing grocery shopping, and more. Trust me, you'll need to figure these out, because of what transpires in the road ahead.
These are called events, they can be all kinds of obstructions, discoveries, conflicts, things that you sort of deal with on the road. You have skills, items from glovebox to use on turns to eliminate the effects it'll have on your car. It's simply, and fighting to keep resources and surviving, otherwise you'll end up disappointed, stuck and having to choose between fixing your car with stuff from your trunk, calling a tow truck if you have money, going to a near gas station, or worse, calling your parents.
My first defeat after coming across a traffic jam, yes, events are basically harmless to ones that will destroy you if you don't play right. Heck, there's even a timer for some of them, so drag and click fast while you can. Even the thought bubble questions I've dealt with, the results never always come out well. Oh, also my first hitchhiker also has his list of skills too.
Though, do note, every passenger have their useful skills and often have traits that'll annoy, like this guy stealing money and gambling them every time I go to sleep. It becomes apparent later on that he does help more often, but dude's a grouch. Some of the traits I earn come from doing the weirdest of things, the game embraces almost every trope you'd expect beyond Eurotrip.
Though, as it becomes obvious, the bigger issues aren't the events, as traits and skills of ours help to deal with them eventually, it's not preparing well enough. Stocking up like having coffee or medicines to alleviate negative status effects also help out a lot.
I mean, sure I go on long drives without taking a shower, but I had to sell my stuff for a hotel stayover. The guy with me is still taking my money every nap, maybe it's my fault for indulging in my curiosities this far. The mood is lightened by the best part, the music. As the further the journey goes, I'll be unlocking music albums which I can turn into mixtapes and play them on the drive.
My car also be upgraded, like increasing its stats for better durability, also installing the AC does wonders. It also helps to take stuff like shopping carts on top to add more items, and having different set of tires based on the road I'll travel to. Yeah, you thought the headaches stop there, my man, I forgot I have a deadline to get to the festival and this guy.
I picked up more people, like this old guy who is also unemployed, but likes taking in nature and hates being around cities. He doesn't take my money, or I don't know, weird hippy stuff, all he wants me to do is drop him off on top of a mountain. Someone even tasked to join a street race.
Eventually, I got better at this, and probably might push the pedal to skip those events and survive their onslaught. Whatever this guy is going through, is also affecting me as well. Even if I can hold up with how much I've progressed, sometimes my situation never improves, and constantly evolves to something weirder.
I picked up a kid who takes pee breaks a lot during the trip, a woman who throws trash inside my car. The Reason I kept her is, well she is sticking around the little girl, it's weird being alone with unemployed adult males. Boy, do things get more interesting. My parents send me a letter, requesting me to show up at my grandmother's for my inheritance, and half of calendar's time gone.
I have little left till to get the ticket, tent, and get to the festival. I have to drop these people off too. Furthermore, I already kicked the gambling guy despite him reaching max level. Can't wait for new game, definitely choosing a pickup. Game isn't perfect, items from glovebox get stuck at times, events would auto skip turns out of the blue even, then again, sure was having the time of my life.
