On The Road: Keep Driving

Head for the horizon in this relaxing RPG road trip experience.

Oct 30, 2024

‣ Keep Driving
From: YCJY Games
Platforms: PC
Release: Coming soon
Steam Page • Demo Video • Developer Site

Do not drink and drive, no matter what that hippie says!

On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

And I can't wait to get on the road again

Willie Nelson loves road trips. I don't. But perhaps a video game can change my mind. Let's turn the ignition, put on some good tunes, and drive towards the horizon in the strategy road trip game, Keep Driving.

It's the early 2000s. Our protagonist just finished school. Their friend in another town invited them to play video games, so they commandeer the family car and prepare to drive to the other side of the map. This is the underlying concept of Keep Driving's demo: find a way to your friend's house.

The experience is divided into travelling roads between towns, stopping there to pick up fuel and supplies, and marking the next spot on your map to continue your journey. Except for the town sections, you don't control the car. You cruise along automatically, only intervening when an event appears. These events vary across road trip-related obstacles: passing tractors, potholes, flocks of sheep, navigating bad roads, investigating strange car noises, etc. But while these sound a bit mundane, they are fun to deal with.

You resolve obstacles with a mini deck-building game. Keep Driving measures success through your car's fuel and durability, how much energy you have to keep driving, and the cash in your pocket. An obstacle event can reduce those vitals unless you eliminate the threats with your cards. If a threat remains when your round ends, you take damage. Once you remove them all (or take a penalty using the accelerator pedal to escape), you continue on your journey.

You need cash for fuel and parts, which you can make by selling odd items or completing jobs taken from community boards at pubs. You can also pick up hitchhikers, each carrying additional cards. Successful events grants skill points, unlocking more cards. You can also buy items at local shops, such as duct tape and matches, that you can use in combat and stock up on a toolbox or gas can for emergencies—just make sure you have space in your boot!

A substantial part of the gameplay is buying (and affording) the best gear for your trip and ensuring your car is healthy and your tank is full. Some towns also have hiking trails where you can find extra items to use or sell. There are sub-quests, and the hitchhikers provide challenges with rewards (hint: do not drink and drive!). If it all goes downhill fast, you can call your parents for a bailout (but there is a small chance the game will end).

📽 Demo Snapshot: Even nighttime is nice

Keep Driving is easy-going fun. You can just sit back and click when needed, cruising between towns, enjoying the scenery scrolling by in parallax layers of lush pixel art, and listening to the game's energetic indie-music soundtrack. The demo only has a handful of songs, which became too familiar after a while, but the full game will feature a much larger selection. An active day/night cycle with weather completes the immersion and adds positive and negative buffs to the event sections.

This game is compelling and zen, perfect if you want to relax. Just sit back, enjoy the ride, and think ahead a little to ensure you keep going. I might not like road trips, but I really enjoyed this demo.

Maybe Willie was onto something after all.