Keep Driving Review (StemderS)
I got my driver's licence less than a year ago. Was not much into cars before, but when I first sat in front of the steering wheel... Adjusting the seat, turning the ignition on.. You know, sometimes it just clicks in you. And then you go somewhere, anywhere, day or night, nothing matters when you've got some chill tunes playing, a friend or two beside, and a never-ending road, swirling into the horizon.
This game... This is the feeling. THE feeling. You have time, you are hungry for adventures. Or maybe you just want to see the landscape change in your windows. Maybe you just want to hear your motor relaxingly humming and listen to your favourite music. Maybe you want to imagine yourself being Ryan Gosling and driving in the night on an empty road, staring into the distance. This game has it all, the exact emotion of all of these moments. Diverse and cathy characters, music that never stops hitting, and which you want to listen to again and again. Just a s t o n i s h i n g views...
Honestly, I wished this game would never end. I wished you could just drive on and on, while reshuffling your playlist for the 100th time. You forget about any problems, you just widely smile and feel happy.
You can create such vibe pretty effortless. Chris and Josef, however, took a long route and filled this game with pretty fun and unexpected mechanics, as if when you eat too much junk food you become addicted to it. It's not that deep, but most games dont do that anymore, and here you will find a lot of cool stuff and have a laugh or two. And the design is.... It's just on another level. Every menu, every text, color, font is stylized beyond amazing. As a person who's into design, all of it just made me chuckle from joy for the longest time. It's like you scroll through an amazing design project, where every pixel is alligned and every small detail is thoughtfull, but you scroll though it for 20 hours straight and keep admiring all of it.
I just WISH it was longer... The replayability is great, but maybe make something like an "endless" mode? Or the ability to get different endings in a single playthrough? Maybe after one you just press "keep driving"? :D
And more upgrades to cars, please... I was a bit sad that there are so many interchanging upgrades, like you cannot put sport seats and roll cage, or you can't put exhaust pipe and bassboosters in the car at the same time. My take on this: double the upgrade slots and make game harder (optionally longer), you can easilly do this by making "second-wave threats" during the event phase. As right now (for me at least) it is a bit on the easy - side, giving all the different skills you've got, as well as all the hitchhikers, and the utility items.
Man, this game is great. Maybe it is not for everyone, maybe I am biased because I specifically enjoy this exact vibe, but in my opinion it is just pure enjoyement, to which you vibe for the whole journey. Thank you for this experience, and I guess I'll..
Keep driving... ;)