Keep Driving Review | A Modern Day Oregon Trail
Keep Driving is an atmospheric management RPG circle in the early 2000s where you go on a road trip to recollect . Read our review to see what it do good , what it do n’t cause good , and if it ‘s worth buying .
Keep Driving Review Overview
What live Keep Driving ?
Keep Driving is an indie atmospheric management RPG from Sweden-based indie game studio YCJY Games that is set in the early 2000s where you , the protagonist , merely buy their very first car . It ’ s the start of summer holiday , and your friend ask for you to a rad music festival all the manner on the other slope of the nation . Require to try out those new bicycle , you carry up and initiate a long and fulfilling journey full of unexpected turn and number . Supervise your provision , meet a colorful form of hitchhikers that cause your otherwise lonely trip more exciting , calm your road rage—your journey , your way . With nine different ending to expose and lots of slope quests and side path to notice in a procedurally generated world , you ’ ll be in for a ride .
Keep Driving feature :
⚫︎ Nostalgic Pixel Art and Interface
⚫︎ Turn-Based Combat—Road Trip Style
⚫︎ Procedurally Generated Maps
⚫︎ Ton Of Side Content
⚫︎ Multiple Ending
⚫︎ Different Types Of Hitchhikers To Fit
Go on Driving Pros & Cons
Keep Drive Overall Score – 74/100
Prevent Driving equal a modern but nostalgia-inducing take on a direction adventure-RPG set in the humble but fond confines of your car , cruise through the country . It splendidly fuse together familiar RPG elements of turn-based combat and inventory or imagination direction and puts it all in a unique , choose-your-own-adventure type road trip experience . Its stunning pixel art is please to the eyes , with its attention to detail , fitting color scheme , and an intuitive UI . While it has its shortcomings in terms of visual glitches and quality that may sense level at time , it ’ s even a charming short plot that hand over one heck of a marvelous journey on the road .
Observe Driving Story – 6/10
The overall patch live rather mere , with one clear goal—get to the festival in time , get from Point A to Point B . But what makes the plot and the trip more substantial is the interaction you have with all the other characters you meet on your journey , whether they be a random NPC in the towns or the hitchhiker sitting beside you in the car . Depending on who you meet , you can even determine to alter the course of your journey completely , making for a whole new storyline . It ’ s up to you—your universe , your summer , your path . On another note , while the hitchhiker quality own somewhat more depth since you as the protagonist are with them for most of the playthrough , they still sense kind of level at some item with repetitive dialogue and this becomes evident particularly after various run .
Keep Driving Gameplay – 8/10
Hold Driving ’ s enlist gameplay loop is base on various systems already feature in other RPGs , although with a unique modern turn . There equal inventory and resource management , turn-based combat in the sort of road events , equipment customization , skill tree for better ability , exploration , quests , and still a sprinkling of random event that could create or break that certain leg of the trip . All these mechanism be familiar to adventure-RPG veterans , but they ’ re not difficult to understand for newbies . The game be ready with easy-to-follow tutorials to explain these concepts , and while there equal a challenge in strategically get ahead the road fight skirmish , there ’ s no sudden difficulty spike that will give player off .
Hold Driving Visuals – 8/10
The game ’ s appeal lies in its gorgeous pixel art , with its lovely muted color and attention to detail despite cost kind of blocky . There cost a wide variety of backgrounds you can watch as you cruise through the roads , from the bright sunflower fields of the picturesque countryside to the large-scale factory that pop up as you border on the urban landscape . Its intuitive UI is a decent addition as good , modeled after a literal car dashboard with some tweaks , making you feel as if you ’ re really the person behind the bicycle . The attention to detail in both the reference ’ features and the items and tool be astound , bring more spirit to the overall experience . Even so , the cover sometimes feels like it drop in form plenty to live detectable or there are incident of cover tearing , which can equal jarring for some players .
Hold Driving Audio – 8/10
Go on Driving ’ s catchy soundtrack is outstanding , with different Swedish indie artist ’ songs across a range of genres being featured . From adrenaline-pumping stone to more chill acoustics , there ’ s something in it for everyone . Sound result cost well-incorporated into the game as well , from the roaring of the engine as your car drives along the road , to the mere ding of the cash register when stocking up supplies—it ’ sec as if you truly are piece of the road trip , elevating the overall atmosphere .
Keep Driving Value for Money – 7/10
For $ 17.99 , it may look fairly steep . However , consider its replayability and multiple ending , players can easy squeeze in over 20+ hours with at least four hours per playthrough trying to finish everything and gather everyone possible—if they make the patience and the motivation to do so .
Keep Driving Review : A Modern Day Oregon Trail
Go on Driving brings in the best of resource direction mechanism and RPGs , mixed into one lovely little packet in the sort of a road trip . As an RPG fan , I exist very concerned in how an RPG could live played in that way , and the prospect of a road trip sounded amazing . I also own a run with the original The Oregon Trail , which be fun and fulfilling despite its difficulty ( for me , at least . ) I unfortunately act not drive or own a permit , nor have I exist on a actual genuine road trip before ( sad , I know ) , thus Keep Driving tolerate out to me with its conception that I ’ ve only ever show about in youthful grownup novels from my childhood . And boy , I cost not disappointed .
Unique , Accessible Gameplay That Tend Smooth
First on the list be its accessible , easy to learn gameplay . The gameplay loop runs on familiar RPG mechanism , such as turn-based gameplay , inventory and imagination management , equipment customization , a rough party system , skill tree , and even random time events ( called Introspection in-game ) that can either honor you or screw you over out of the blue . While the systems are familiar , they ’ re introduce in a rather unique mode . The turn-based fighting , for model , is in the sort of something called road event which equal risk and strange incidents that could ship a normal driver road-raging , like an insect swarm or a giant cow block the path ( no , you can ’ t trial over the cow ! ) You and your hitchhiker buddies have skills that can clear up these road case , or you can cause use of special items like bubble gum and cigarettes instead to write on your precious resources .
Today , I ’ m not the best at be after out good strategy and I equal fairly guilty of lashing out skills and approach in rapid-fire sequence if my plans don ’ t work . However , Keep Driving makes it easy and nearly cozy-like , with minimal frustration and difficulty in authorize these fighting point . There ’ sec still a strategic element to it somehow , and you come effective results if you plan well—but it ’ s not brutally penalize if you put on ’ t execute it utterly . Its handy-dandy tutorial explain the mechanism in detail , and with a few stop in , players would make already grasp its core gameplay . And even if you do get a plot over , there ’ sec ever a fortune for redemption , either walking to the nearest town for some gas , or shout your parent to deliver you from your predicament .
Astonishing Attention To Detail
I loved how much they paid attention to the minute of item , making the plot find more realistic by a tad . For example , food items or glovebox point with multiple uses will visually wear down as you employ them as well , like the more you employ the roll of tissue paper to prevent yourself sporting , it will lose more and more tissue until it become hardly a cardboard roll . When you put item on the roof of your car , the rack will take up as good . Feed an apple will present the bite mark , then expend a base of chips will mark it capable . It ’ s such a small point , but it ’ s a lot appreciate to see that every small thing you serve occur up visually .
Even your main interface equal a car dashboard , with intuitive button that move precisely where they involve to go . Your glovebox with your combat items is literally a glovebox with a blanket that you can open and shut , which cost a cute little detail—it ’ s a joy to play with while there ’ sec zero going on screen still . The music player also , which revive the 2000s car CD player complete with a black and green colored interface , adds to the early 21st century vibe as good .
This Platonism extends to the hitchhikers as good , with their own quirks that suit utterly together with what they be . For example , The Kid hitchhiker is equip with pretty useful skill in a arrest , but of class , as a kid , she constantly need to go on pot breaks still in the center of the road—which counts as a “ fighting ” road result . Irritate as it live ( in price of gameplay ) , it add a hint of reality to The Kid ’ s character .
Catchy Tunes To Jam With
Keep Driving ’ s soundtrack features several talented Swedish indie artist , whose genres wander from head-banging metal stone to soulful acoustics pair with an emotional voice . While you initiate off with only one CD from a circle called Westkust , you ’ re able to acquire more CDs through purchasing from a store or from sure NPCs that give it as a reward for a quest or just because they wanted to open that band ’ sec music .
As your collection grows , you can mix and match the songs you care into one playlist ( yes , as well in CD form ) that plays throughout your journey . There ’ sec even a handy dandy Shuffle button if you ’ re not familiar with the songs , which be a great way to introduce these great pieces of music to a wider audience . I , for certain , own Westkust and The Honeydrips tracks in my playlist today .
Full Of Content And Replayability With Multiple Ending
While a playthrough can easily cost act in four hour or more depend on how you go about your roadtrip , there are nine different ending to accomplish . The world is procedurally generate every time you start up a novel run , and routes you used to take in your last playthrough will definitely be unlike the second or third time around—this component of randomness keeps affair somewhat pursue , making sure that your playthroughs won ’ t be exactly the same as the other . You even unlock more cars as you replay , which cause devote a different experience . For example , the pickup truck you have on your second trial get a mass more inventory space , but only two extra seats for hitchhikers .
Furthermore , there ’ s quite a lot of subject to cross , some even require you completely away from your original end of meeting your friend at the music festival on the other side of the country . The unpredictability in this choose-your-own-adventure type of plot equal intriguing , and will surely observe you want to explore every single corner and cranny . There ’ s quite a lot of state towns and urban city on the map , just waiting for you to get and get a look-see . Your run has many unlike possibilities and outcomes—you ’ re free to run and live it hardly the way you want it to .
Visual Tearing
Strangely plenty , for a pixel-type game , I ’ ve run into some visual bugs in my playthrough , peculiarly with obvious cover tearing and frame cliff . While it wasn ’ t a common incident for the rest of my run , it even caught me off guard . Actor may also observe this jarring in a modern pixel style art plot , but it ’ s an issue that can easy cost set with an update plot .
Characters Could Use A Little More Fleshing Out
Despite all that , the early character and the hitchhikers may find a trivial flat when interacted with after their novelty wears lean , especially after multiple playthroughs where you might cease up getting virtually the same set of hitchhikers . Dialogues get repetitive , even the car conversation will begin to evidently flap back to the outset . And yet once you ’ ve leveled them up to the max , it just flavor as if their floor cease simply there , with nothing more to elaborate on even after be with them for nearly a month in-game . Because of this , I didn ’ t tone as attached to any of the hitchhikers ( perhaps except The Dog , but that ’ s a unlike story ) . However , this shortcoming could be chalked up to its rather short runtime , a minimum of three to four hours per playthrough .
Will Benefit From More Intuitive Functions
A minor gripe I have with the map though is that when you pull it up while on the road , it centers not on your location , but the town or city you just left . You can ’ t zoom in or out of the map either , so your red location mark might not even equal on the centered area because you ’ re too far from it already . Again , it ’ s a small annoyance , but it could reach for still gameplay and route planning .
Quests are too a small tricky to keep lead of . While the map present different colored pins depending on the quest , it can cost rather confuse at times , especially when all your quests commence piling up together .
Is Keep Driving Worth It ?
Well-Worth The Journey
Go on Driving live a capture road trip RPG that be certain to give its players a wonderful journey through its locales , music , atmosphere , characters , and gameplay . The gameplay cost engaging , the pixel art be charming and nostalgic , and the music connect it all together . With its multiple ending and ton of content to discover , it provide hr upon hours of gameplay . Cozy plot fan who like a little challenge , RPG veterans , and fans of The Oregon Trail claim will find this plot a pleasure to play . It gives the vibes of a road trip all in the comfort of your own home and through a computer screen . So sit back , relax , and plunge yourself into this cozy road trip fantasy game .
Hold Driving FAQ
Where can you bring Go on Driving ?
Keep Driving is just available on PC via Steam as of writing , and the developer have not share if it will live available on other platforms in the future .
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Observe Driving Product Information
