- Extensive car customization options are a highlight.
- Active development team provides responsive updates.
- Enjoyable gameplay experience, especially with friends.
- Drive, scavenge, customize, and maintain vehicles.
- Game riddled with bugs and optimization issues.
- Lacks content and world variety currently.
Verdict
Mixed
Summary
Positive 67% · Negative 33%. Score: 33 / 100
Positives:
- The game features extensive car customization options, allowing players to build unique vehicles from salvaged parts. This includes engine swaps, cosmetic changes, and performance upgrades, contributing significantly to the gameplay loop and player enjoyment.
- The developers are very active and responsive, frequently releasing patches and updates to address bugs, improve performance, and add new content. This dedication to ongoing development and community feedback is a major positive.
- Many reviewers highlight the game's fun and enjoyable nature, especially when playing with friends in multiplayer. Some even find the bugs to be humorous and part of the game's charm, contributing to memorable and laughter-filled experiences.
- The game is frequently compared favorably to "The Long Drive", with reviewers noting superior graphics, stability, multiplayer functionality, and ongoing development support. It's seen as a more polished and complete experience.
- Many reviewers express that the game has a lot of potential, with some saying that the core concept is great. They are eager to see how the game develops further.
Negatives:
- The game is plagued with numerous bugs, glitches, and optimization issues that significantly hinder the gameplay experience. These issues range from minor annoyances to game-breaking problems, including crashes, FPS drops, and physics-related bugs. Many reviewers note that the game is unpolished and requires extensive fixes.
- Reviewers consistently report a lack of engaging content, repetitive gameplay loops, and an empty game world with few points of interest. The limited variety in locations, scenarios, and objectives leads to a monotonous and unrewarding experience, especially after extended playtime.
- Many reviewers acknowledge that the game is in Early Access, which may excuse some of the flaws. However, some reviewers feel that the game's current state is unacceptable, even for an Early Access title, and that the price does not reflect the limited content and numerous bugs.
- The game's driving mechanics and physics are poorly implemented, leading to clunky handling, oversteering, and difficulty controlling vehicles, especially at high speeds. Hitbox issues and a lack of feedback further detract from the driving experience.
- A recurring bug causes vehicles to fly uncontrollably into the air, often after installing parts or performing other actions. This physics glitch leads to lost progress and frustration, as vehicles become unrecoverable.
Gameplay:
- The core gameplay loop revolves around driving, scavenging for parts, assembling/customizing vehicles, and managing resources. Players explore a procedurally generated world, encountering various locations and challenges while striving to build their dream car. The game emphasizes vehicle customization and maintenance.
- Players must manage their character's basic needs such as hunger, thirst, and even bladder, adding a survival element to the driving and customization gameplay. These mechanics function effectively and contribute to the overall difficulty.
- Zombies are present in the game, but they are generally not challenging and appear infrequently. Some reviewers suggest increasing the frequency and danger of zombie encounters to add more tension and challenge to the gameplay.
- The game features both single-player and cooperative multiplayer modes, as well as an endless mode. The cooperative mode allows up to 4 players to explore the world together, adding fun and strategy. The endless mode provides a mileage ranking system.
- The game features a detailed car assembly system with many individual parts that can be customized. Some reviewers find it difficult to figure out which parts go where and suggest adding item descriptions. Some parts, like pedals, can easily be lost in minor collisions.
Performance:
- Numerous players report significant and persistent performance issues, including low FPS, stuttering, lag spikes, crashes, and freezes, even on high-end hardware. These issues are often triggered by specific in-game events like weather changes, autosaving, or loading new areas, and can worsen over extended play sessions. The game's optimization is a major concern.
- Some players are reporting stable performance, especially in multiplayer, and acknowledge the developers' efforts to improve the game. However, these positive experiences are less frequent than reports of performance issues, and some may be related to earlier access or specific hardware configurations.
- Some players are requesting V-Sync to address screen tearing, and report that frame locking is not solving the issue. This suggests a need for more comprehensive graphics options.
- The game requires a fast PC. This is a general statement about the game's performance requirements.
- CPU and RAM usage are within acceptable limits. This suggests that the game's performance issues are not due to excessive resource consumption.
Recommendations:
- Many reviewers feel the game is currently unpolished and buggy, leading to an unsatisfactory experience. They acknowledge the game's potential and hope for improvements through updates and bug fixes. Some suggest waiting for a more stable version before purchasing, while others recommend it with the expectation of future improvements.
- Many reviewers recommend the game, citing its fun gameplay, potential, and the active development team. Some reviewers give the game very high scores, while acknowledging its flaws, and recommend trying the demo before purchasing.
- The game is frequently compared to "The Long Drive," with many reviewers recommending it to fans of that game or the road trip survival genre. Some reviewers even consider it a better alternative, praising its potential to surpass "The Long Drive" with continued development.
- Reviewers are looking forward to future updates, improvements, and content additions. They express a desire for the developers to continue working on the game and adding more content to enhance the experience.
- The game is compared to "The Long Drive", with some reviewers saying that the game is better than "The Long Drive". However, one reviewer now wants to play "The Long Drive" instead, as it is more enjoyable.
Miscellaneous:
- Reviewers are looking forward to more content being added to the game, such as new vehicles (motorcycles, quads, GAZelle model), explorable locations (maps, areas, buildings, villages), wild animals, NPCs, and car parts.
- The game contains a large number of references and memes, including video memes and references to the French community. This may detract from the core gameplay experience for some players.
- The game's atmosphere blends post-apocalyptic road trip vibes with a sense of calm. Reviewers suggest focusing on driving, upgrading, repairing, and the overall atmosphere, potentially de-emphasizing elements like zombies and weapons.
- The game has partial controller support, but menu navigation and key remapping are not fully functional. Steering wheel integration is planned, with different steering wheels affecting vehicle behavior.
- The game constantly saves, which can be frustrating if a bug causes an undesirable outcome, as players cannot easily revert to a previous state.
