Drive and Survive

Actually, it's more like "The Endless Drive" in it's current state

As anyone who has consistently been reading this blog can probably surmise, I have an interest in obscure or niche video game subgenres.  In the past, I've posted about survival strategy games (such as Frostpunk and Outpost), as well as Factory sims (like Satisfactory and Factorio).  This time around I want to talk about the "Road Trip" genre.

Like many subgenres there aren't all that many games that fit into the category.  To name a few though, there is Jalopy (and its Chinese knockoff Road to Guangdong), My Summer Car, and the seemingly abandoned Under the Sand.  Perhaps the oddest one of the bunch though is The Long Drive.  Like all the aforementioned entries in this subgenre, the environments are procedurally generated.  Unlike those games, there are extremely hostile large rabbits that attack on sight.  If they get within biting range then it is instant death.  Adding to the weirdness are UFOs, killer snowmen, a flying broomstick and even working Commodore 64s.

The Longest Drive is a glitchy game, but even so it holds "overwhelmingly positive" status on Steam with close to 5000 user reviews.  Then again, when some of the review quotes are as follows...

"man hot pebble on road.  man fly 400 feet and lose everything.  other than that.  good.  fix fly man glitch."

"+ you can drive - you can't fish"

"This game plays like getting away with 4 separate murders within 1975-1984 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan"

"Pro Tip: Drink gasoline, so when you run out of gas.  You can just piss in the tank and be back on the road in no time."

"I can rip out the engine while driving"

...it's a bit hard to make any kind of rational judgment.  On top of this the game is in early access.  So, this is still very much a work in progress.  Incidentally, I feel like Road Trip genre is in many ways the natural evolution of that classic educational game, Oregon Trail.  The primary difference being everything is handled in real time by the 3D rendering engine rather than having several different subsystems (or mini-games) working in tandem with each other.  Obviously, the historical trappings have been abandoned in lieu of quasi-post-apocalyptic set dressing as well.  Regardless, the ultimate goal for these games remains unchanged; start in one place and get to another without dying in the process.