Keep Driving captures the tranquility of the open road, but could use a few more potholes

My dream game would be one that captures the feeling of a road trip. It’s more than just driving somewhere; there is an atmosphere to it. It is expressed in the connection between a familiar car on an unknown road, the signs of a gas station in the distance, the buzzing fluorescent lights of a 24/7 restaurant, moments of contemplation or waking up every morning in a new place.

There have been a few games that I can point to that have succeeded somewhat, sometimes without trying. Jalopyfor example, even if the end product was not quite what one had in mind. Sitting in the pub My summer car captured some of the feeling of watching the drunks have a lively conversation over a beer and a greasy meal. But nothing that went completely straight to the point. Heck, Final Fantasy XV would have been perfect if the car hadn’t been dumped mid-game.

Keep driving is an unexpected effort from the developers behind it Message invalid And The water adventure of the last man. I may not have expected my intended road trip game to take the form of a 2D game, and that’s probably because it doesn’t, but it’s pretty close.

Screenshot from Destructoid

Keep driving has more in common Oregon trail than any racing game. It is depicted from a sideways perspective. You don’t actually drive the car; you just stare at the passenger door as it drives down the road. While he drives himself, you can play with the radio or just look at the landscape. Then you will occasionally encounter a hitchhiker or reach a road event.

Road events are where the meat of the game is. Each problem presents another problem, ranging from potholes to a slow-moving tractor. Then you must use your skills and tools in your car to limit the damage caused by these hazards, whether they threaten to damage your car, exhaust you, or leak your fuel. This is done with maps that can eliminate these hazards before they can hit you (or your car). It’s not the deepest system, but it’s relatively fast, offers variety in challenges, and works for its purpose.

After you have covered a stretch of road, you will arrive in a town with various facilities. Sometimes it’s gas. Other times you can do a job for money. Every now and then you’ll find a forest path that lets you search for items in a dungeon-like 3D environment, and if you’re lucky, there’s an inn if you need it. You will come across shops and garages where you can buy upgrades for your car or essentials for your trip. Once you’re done, check the map, choose your next destination and set off.

The goal is to reach your friend’s house and play your favorite video game together. Apparently you’ve just graduated from high school and feel that your youth is coming to an end, and you want to go out in the phosphor glow of a turn-of-the-century television and the company of a distant friend. I can tell me. This was evident in the time before the internet poisoned everything meaningful in the world.

There is a character creator where you choose your face, your relationship with your parents and your profession. This is not far away Oregon trail‘s character setup, where your profession would determine your readiness for the journey. Some sort of difficulty, or perhaps more of a modifier. Either way, once you find yourself, you can move to the tune of Swedish rock, which helps set the tone beyond what I could ever believe.

That’s largely all there is. Your job is to keep you and the car around you from falling to pieces. That may sound simple, and it is. This early demo of Keep driving is easy as pie. I mean, I’m currently playing the pre-release version of a demo, so it’s hard to really judge where this one will end up, but right now the biggest problem is that there’s nothing going on.

Screenshot from Destructoid

I assume that I am not only very skilled at it Keep drivingwhich I think it’s safe to assume because I’m not skilled at anything. If I consider myself miraculous at that, that would be really disappointing because I’m not sure where I could apply it elsewhere in life.

I didn’t come close to losing my run. There are not many needs that require constant attention. As long as you spend your skill points and buy extra supplies for your glove box, you can get through the various encounters with ease. Fuel isn’t that expensive, and being a poor high school student, I was strangely flush with cash most of the time. It got to the point where I was trying to get rid of it and buying car upgrades that I didn’t need. I just chose my route based on what I needed at the time and still made it to my friend’s house with time to spare.

Maybe that’s something that was also inspired by Oregon trail. In most versions of that game you can just do the hunting mini-game and destroy the animal population to stock up on embarrassing amounts of food. That makes the game very simple, and I wonder why so many children died of dysentery. Couldn’t they shoot the virtual bears? Is this something else that I am inexplicably wonderful at? My talents all have to do with Oregon trail derivatives?

I only picked up one hitchhiker the entire way. He was quite depressing. He recently lost his job and feels quite directionless. Whatever. He didn’t drug me and steal my kidneys. Maybe that’s where the challenge should lie. I’m just really good at keeping my kidneys in my body. Very well practiced. I doubt it though. I’m pretty sure this is a chill game, and not chill like you feel when you wake up in a bathtub full of ice.

Screenshot from Destructoid

I also had issues with bugs, but between when I first started playing and today there was already a patch that fixed some of the stranger bugs. Like I said, this is an early demo. It even warns you when you start it that some elements are just placeholders. I haven’t seen anything that really makes me concerned about the quality of the final product.

Balancing happens over time. A game might be too hard at first, so perks are added to make things friendlier, and the same thing can happen in the opposite direction. If the game is too friendly, certain aspects can be changed to make it stiffer. The release version will have multiple endings, perhaps arriving at a friend’s house and playing Halo on Legendary difficulty is actually the worst.

There are many places where Keep driving finds success. While the fact that you’re not actually behind the wheel takes away some of the road trip feeling, it gives you the chance to just sit back, listen to the radio, sip your tea, and dip your hand into a box of Frankenberry. There’s still a sense of directionless freedom and self-reflection, even though you know there are problems to solve along the way. There’s a clear intention here, and a lot of it gets across. It’s clear that Y/CJ/Y Games knows what they’re doing, and it’s not that hard to imagine them making their vision a reality.

The release date for Keep driving is not yet known, but a demo will be available next Next Fest (October 14).

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