Driftwood
- June 1, 2023
- Stoked Sloth Interactive
- 20h median play time
Get on Steam"Driftwood is a single-player sport game where you longboard as a speedy sloth named Eddy, drifting through tight corners and performing tricks to unlock new boards and wheels. With sensational graphics, an exceptional soundtrack, and quirky humor, the game offers a relaxing, focused experience in a beautiful contained world, although it does have some bugs."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a unique and charming concept of a sloth longboarding, providing a fun and relaxing experience.
- The controls and drifting mechanics are satisfying once mastered, allowing for a rewarding gameplay loop.
- The soundtrack and overall aesthetic create an immersive and chill atmosphere, making it enjoyable to play for extended periods.
- The game is still in early access, leading to various bugs and performance issues, such as clipping through the ground and inconsistent physics.
- Some players find the controls overly sensitive and difficult to manage, which can detract from the overall experience.
- There is a limited amount of content currently available, with only a few maps and challenges, leaving players wanting more.
- music135 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with many players praising its chill vibe and excellent soundtrack that perfectly complements the gameplay. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack's ability to create a relaxing atmosphere, making it ideal for long sessions of play, though some express a desire for more tracks to prevent repetition. Overall, the music is described as a standout feature that enhances the game's aesthetic and enjoyment.
“The soundtrack is outstanding and perfectly complements the game's aesthetic.”
“The music, the vibe, the environment, and even the sloth make for a wonderful experience.”
“Driftwood has great controls, perfect physics for the genre, fantastic sense of speed, nice graphics, and good music.”
“Great aesthetic and soundtrack, but a mediocre gaming experience.”
“The soundtrack loops often.”
“I would call this game complete with maybe 3 or 4 more downhills, and 2 or 3 more short challenge courses with ten or fifteen more accessories, a few more boards and wheels, and maybe 5 or 6 more music tracks.”
- gameplay78 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay is widely praised for its smooth mechanics, satisfying drifting, and engaging challenges, making it easy to pick up yet difficult to master. Players appreciate the chill atmosphere, excellent soundtrack, and the depth of the longboarding mechanics, although some have noted inconsistencies and a need for further refinement. Overall, the game offers a fun and relaxing experience, with a solid foundation for future content and improvements.
“The various challenges for each map inspire honing your skills and exploring the branching paths of the maps, and it all makes for a rather satisfying gameplay loop.”
“The gameplay is smooth and easy to pick up, perfect for quick gaming sessions or casual play.”
“The mechanics behind turning, sliding, and how you choose your board is simple to understand, but has an insane amount of depth in reality.”
“Hard to give this a negative review, given that it looks so cool and feels like a lot of love and thought was put into it, but I feel like it's pretty hard to give it a pass when the drifting feels as bad as it does when that's the core game mechanic.”
“There isn't enough dynamics in the turning mechanics.”
“My concern is that the gameplay itself is not great and yet we're already on the level of cute cosmetics and systemic unlocks.”
- graphics68 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their beautiful and stylized art style, which enhances the overall aesthetic and vibe, making it visually appealing even at lower settings. However, some users report issues such as graphical glitches, short draw distances, and performance problems on certain devices, which can detract from the experience. Overall, while the visuals are well-received, there is a consensus that further optimization and refinement are needed to fully realize their potential.
“The graphics are satisfying to look at!”
“Amazing soundtrack and beautiful graphics.”
“Absolutely gorgeous art style and so much fun with all the challenges and details that go into it.”
“Objects in the background keep disappearing and reappearing due to the short draw distance, which is distracting and ruins the art style.”
“After unlocking everything in the game currently, I can say that this is genuinely a really fun game despite some buggy visuals and occasionally clipping through rails/objects.”
“When I'm going real fast, the game lags so hard; I would much prefer to compromise graphics for a smoother experience.”
- stability20 mentions
- 5 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 95 % negative mentions
The game currently exhibits significant stability issues, including graphical glitches, buggy collision physics, and occasional freezing, particularly after crashes. While many players find the experience enjoyable despite these bugs, the frequency and severity of glitches, such as clipping through the map and erratic camera behavior, detract from the overall gameplay. As it is still in early access, users express hope for improvements in future updates.
“Runs great on the Steam Deck, although it is a battery hog unless you keep the detail on low and set the framerate limiter.”
“When restarting from a checkpoint after crashing and getting immediately hit by a car, the game won't recognize it as another crash and 'freezes' up.”
“Has too many glitches, instabilities, and bugs, such as going through the map and audio controls only affecting menu audio.”
“I had the character go through the maps a lot; the game freezes when you go off the road, with a lot of clipping and stuff popping out.”
- humor10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently praised, with players finding the ragdoll physics, quirky animations, and unexpected glitches to be genuinely funny rather than frustrating. The antics of characters, such as a sloth performing comical stunts and the absurdity of wipeouts, contribute to a lighthearted and entertaining experience. Overall, the game's humor enhances the enjoyment, making even mishaps amusing.
“The sticks of butter are hilarious!”
“It is even funny to watch that sloth crashing through the air and doing 'the starfish'.”
“I'm terrible at skateboarding and I spend more time ragdolling than riding, but it's really fun; the wipeouts are hilarious rather than frustrating, and the soundtrack is great.”
- optimization10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is considered lacking, with many players experiencing performance issues and bugs, particularly on lower settings and less powerful hardware. While some users report smooth performance on mid-range systems, the general consensus is that the game requires significant improvements to run optimally, especially given its early access status. Regular updates from the developers are noted, but players are eager for more focused optimization efforts.
“The game runs smoothly for me and I don't run a high-end GPU; the controls can be a little on the sensitive side, but I could also be biased with my own preferences there.”
“As this game is in early access, there are some performance issues or bugs like clipping through the ground or sometimes physics doing weird things, but if they can keep improving this and adding new content, this will absolutely be the best downhill longboarding game ever made.”
“I understand the game is still in early access and the team is still working on it, but I think with the game graphics it should run perfectly on my Steam Deck at 60 FPS on high settings. However, it only runs at 30, so the developers should still work on optimization.”
“Dear developers, it's time to put some effort into optimization.”
“On low settings, the game breaks a lot and has low performance. On my laptop, which can run Far Cry 5, it was struggling, so it's a bit unoptimized, but stylistically, it's a really pretty game.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game offers solid mechanics and engaging map design that contribute to its high replayability, despite a limited amount of content. Players appreciate the extensive customization options and the well-executed progression system, which adds depth to the experience. Additionally, the checkpoint system enhances replayability by allowing players to continue from near their last position after a crash, rather than starting over.
“Solid mechanics that are extremely fun and replayable. The map design is top-notch and the music is just the chef's kiss atop this already fantastic game.”
“Not a significant amount of content, but the content itself has high replay value because of the different paths and the pretty extensive customization.”
“Whilst there are limited maps currently, due to the game being in early access, each map has point milestones as well as three challenges to complete on it, giving each one great replayability.”
“The board/wheel/cosmetic unlock progression is also well executed and provides yet another layer of replayability.”
“I like the feature where if you crash, you are not bound to start over again; you just start from the nearest checkpoint, which enhances the feel of replayability.”
- story4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is perceived as lacking depth and content, with players expressing a desire for more NPCs, shops, and a structured campaign or storyline to enhance engagement. While the multiple paths and missions in each level encourage replayability, the overall narrative feels sparse and lonely.
“Each level has multiple different paths and missions to complete, providing a strong incentive to replay each level.”
“The game could benefit from additional content, maps, and perhaps even a more developed campaign or storyline.”
“The world feels a bit lonely right now; adding NPCs and a shop could enhance the text-based story mode experience.”
“The world feels kind of lonely; it could really use some NPCs and a shop, or even a text-based story mode.”
“The story? It's lacking depth and engagement.”
“It could use more content, maps, and perhaps even a campaign or storyline.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is characterized by a chill and relaxing vibe, enhanced by great music and thoughtful sound design. Players appreciate the beautiful environment that complements the gameplay, making for an enjoyable and immersive experience. Overall, the combination of soothing music and a well-crafted atmosphere contributes significantly to the game's appeal.
“The music and sound design create a chill atmosphere!”
“Great music and beautiful atmosphere only add to the great vibes.”
“A relatively short although extremely relaxing downhill longboarding game that features great music, a thoughtfully crafted atmosphere, and easy to learn - hard to master sliding mechanics.”
