OutDrive

About

OutDrive is a single-player musical game set in a visually stunning 80s-inspired world of neon lights, VHS tapes, and synth pop. As a "gaming experiment in the genre of music runner," OutDrive offers a unique and hilarious experience, despite being somewhat poorly optimized and buggy. The game's developers describe it as an "atmospheric" experience, with a spectacular soundtrack and a promise of full gamepad support coming soon.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

70%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,878 reviews

music510 positive mentions

story23 negative mentions

music
1,046 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
49%
3%
The music in the game is widely praised for its fantastic synthwave and retro 80s aesthetic, creating an immersive atmosphere that enhances the overall experience. Many players appreciate the ability to add their own music, although the in-game tracks can become repetitive over time. While the visuals and soundtrack are highlights, the gameplay mechanics often detract from the enjoyment, leading some to view the game more as an interactive music experience than a traditional game.
- “The music is fantastic and the visuals are an awesome pairing with the music.”
- “The soundtrack is gorgeous and, if you're really into synth and vaporwave, you will find yourself thinking a lot, while looking at those non-renderized beaches and palm trees.”
- “The music is great and it looks pretty nice but the controls make my keyboard feel sticky.”
- “The music literally sounds like it was dragged kicking and screaming from the 80's by the god awful hairstyles of the time.”
- “The biggest sin is how little there is to explore/drive to; even with uploaded custom music, you will repeat the same tracks multiple times by the 20-minute mark, making for a barebones art/aesthetic piece.”
- “If you want to listen to the music, you're better off just buying the tracks themselves and listening to them.”
graphics
566 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
48%
2%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their vibrant, retro-inspired aesthetic, capturing the essence of 80s synthwave and vaporwave styles with stunning neon visuals. While many players appreciate the beautiful art design and atmospheric soundtrack, some note that the graphics can suffer from glitches and performance issues, detracting from the overall experience. Overall, the visuals are considered the game's strongest aspect, appealing primarily to fans of the aesthetic rather than traditional gameplay mechanics.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the music is great, the controls are almost perfect.”
- “The visuals are amazing and the music is phenomenal, the idea for the game is amazing, but it feels poorly executed.”
- “The graphics style looks nice, it's confirmed in retro 80s neon style, music also fits well to this and sounds good.”
- “Weird graphical hitches and tearing even on low settings.”
- “Last but not least, even at 1080p with 8x MSAA the game has less than 'ultra' graphics (a lot of jagged edges and lines) and that's the main reason I got a refund because I could tolerate the repetitive gameplay if it had smoother visuals.”
- “The neon visuals and overall the entire design is fantastic, but sadly that's where the good ends and the bad begins.”
gameplay
378 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
63%
17%
The gameplay of the game has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players describing it as repetitive, simplistic, and lacking challenge. While the visuals and soundtrack are praised, the core mechanics are criticized for being clunky and poorly explained, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, players recommend the game primarily for its aesthetic appeal rather than its gameplay, which they find dull and unengaging.
- “The gameplay is soothing and makes as much fun as you want it to be.”
- “Outdrive is probably one of the most relaxing games I've ever played, with a nice engine and gameplay, simple objectives and no real difficulty, the game is suited to play whenever you feel like relaxing or spending a good time.”
- “The visuals, sounds, music, and gameplay are all designed for a more chilled out but fun (and sometimes repetitive) experience.”
- “The gameplay quality is meh.”
- “There's one (admittedly somewhat large) track, it's impossible to crash the car so there's really not much challenge, the main mechanic of juggling your boost so it's not overheating but also not too low is very, very forgiving.”
- “The gameplay is minimal to say the least - holding an arrow between two points on a graph bar by pressing down the 'shift' key and either crashing into a wall or releasing it once in a while to not overfill it.”
story
156 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
72%
15%
The game's story is widely criticized for being overly simplistic and lacking depth, primarily revolving around the premise of keeping a dying girlfriend alive by driving continuously. Many reviewers note that while the initial concept is intriguing, the execution is poor, with no real character development or plot progression beyond the basic setup. Overall, players seeking a rich narrative experience will likely be disappointed, as the story feels more like a backdrop to the gameplay rather than a central element.
- “The story is simple: your girlfriend's dying, so you hook her up to your car (as one does) and must continue driving in order to keep her alive.”
- “The story and music combined made the experience 10x better.”
- “This game is honestly amazing and I found myself addicted to this game, finally getting every achievement in the game felt absolutely worth it, especially for the story it is telling, can't wait for part 2.”
- “The story is extremely simple: your girlfriend gets shot, you hook her heart to your car through some cybermagic, and now the car's engine is keeping her alive.”
- “The downside of the game is, in fact, it is an endless race into the sunset, without the opportunity to see the final video; the plot is no longer in a hurry to develop after the initial cutscene.”
- “The story is barely there, and you read all of it in the first few seconds of the game.”
atmosphere
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
68%
25%
8%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its stunning visuals, nostalgic 80s aesthetic, and atmospheric soundtrack, creating a relaxing and immersive experience. Many players appreciate the minimal neon art style and the ability to chill and vibe with the music, although some note that the gameplay mechanics could use improvement. Overall, the atmosphere stands out as one of the game's strongest aspects, making it a worthwhile experience for fans of retro aesthetics and synthwave music.
- “The game shines with its beautiful atmosphere; I love its minimal neon art style.”
- “80s retrowave aesthetic and neon atmosphere with the amazing synthwave soundtrack seem to make it a nostalgic piece of beauty.”
- “The graphics and sound are gorgeous, and the atmosphere is great.”
- “For something so heavily focused on atmosphere and headspace, that's just inexcusable.”
- “Except for the overall atmosphere, the gameplay is worse than boring.”
- “That being said; the game's main focus is clearly more on the visual and audible side, and so the game focuses more on the atmosphere than the diversity of the gameplay, so that isn't a huge complaint from me.”
stability
37 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches that significantly hinder gameplay, including freezing, unexpected crashes, and erratic controls. Many players report that these issues make it nearly impossible to enjoy the experience or achieve in-game goals, leading to frustration. While the aesthetic and music are praised, the overall stability of the game is considered poor, necessitating urgent patches or improvements.
- “It can be very buggy, however, and that’s probably the worst offense to this endless runner: your run can end due to bugs and glitches you don’t have control over.”
- “Honestly, this game is a buggy mess and is just trying to bank on the vaporwave art style.”
- “Overall, a buggy, frustrating game that desperately needs either a patch or a removal from the Steam store.”
optimization
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
35%
52%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users reporting significant performance issues, including frame rate drops and overall instability. Despite some players managing to achieve smoother performance, the consensus is that the game is poorly optimized, particularly for its size and graphical demands, leading to a frustrating experience for many. Overall, it appears to be underdeveloped in this aspect, detracting from its potential enjoyment.
- “Can be played around, and the performance is very smooth otherwise.”
- “Flavored with cold tones, it goes without brakes with good optimization and without overhangs.”
- “The game has performance issues, but nothing critical.”
- “It's badly optimized and it was obviously underdeveloped.”
- “Not optimized at all.”
- “As other reviews already said - it totally lacks in content and optimization.”
humor
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by a mix of intentional and unintentional comedic elements, such as absurd glitches, meme-worthy achievements, and quirky mechanics like a helicopter that self-destructs. Players find amusement in the game's strange drifting physics and the humorous narrative involving a car and AI, while the "funny-bad" English adds to the overall charm. Despite some minor bugs, the lighthearted tone and opportunities for humor make the game enjoyable.
- “The game is a meme for achievements that you can use to spell funny things.”
- “Its not hard to control the car, but sometimes there are some funny glitches where you just go up in the air or it takes you off track.”
- “Despite having a few bugs, the game is still fun and you can use the achievements to be funny on your Steam profile.”
grinding
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
42%
50%
Players consistently express that grinding in the game is excessively tedious and time-consuming, often requiring an unrealistic amount of effort to achieve completion. Many reviews highlight the repetitive nature of grinding for achievements and the frustration of hitting obstacles that disrupt progress, contributing to an overall sense of boredom.
- “There's no grinding around a curve; you just get slammed to a stop and usually turned around.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Getting the last few achievements was tedious to say the least.”
- “Whole game is boring and tedious.”
replayability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
18%
55%
Overall, the game has been criticized for its low replayability, with many users noting a lack of varied modes, free play options, and features like record saving or online leaderboards. The gameplay tends to become repetitive and lacks depth, leading to a consensus that once completed, there is little incentive to return. Ratings for replayability are consistently low, often cited as 1/10 or 5/10.
- “Replayability: 1/1”
- “Story/replayability”
- “I can't say the replay value is high considering the lack of free play or other varied modes, but for the price, I give it a thumbs up.”
- “Lastly, I want to say that there is absolutely no replay value to this game whatsoever.”
- “No replay value though 5/10.”
- “Replayability: 1/10”
monetization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game is heavily criticized, with many reviewers feeling it serves primarily as an advertisement for its soundtrack rather than offering a compelling gaming experience. Players describe it as a cash grab, lamenting the minimal in-game content and the lack of engaging design, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. While the music is praised, the game's reliance on it for value is seen as a significant flaw.
- “Bottom line, this game is basically a very bad advertisement for good music that you can luckily buy outside of the game.”
- “It's an advertisement for music, which you will be content ID matched and claimed for uploading any footage to YouTube.”
- “The only thing that would make this game worth playing would be the soundtrack, but having to pay for a blatant rip-off of another game that's still in development for a quick cash grab is a joke.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game evokes a strong emotional response, blending feelings of warmth and sadness through its narrative of a driver's dedication to his girlfriend, reminiscent of a Muse music video. Players report a mix of discomfort and enjoyment, with the emotional depth prompting tears and vivid imagery akin to cinematic experiences.
- “The driver's dedication to his girlfriend is heartwarming and sad, and it sets the whole premise for your eternal drive.”
- “So emotional, the game almost made me cry, as I was imagining that situation like in a movie.”
- “Game made me feel like I was in one of Muse's latest music videos.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
Character development in this game is notably lacking, with users highlighting the absence of controversies or meaningful growth for the characters. Those seeking a rich narrative or evolving character arcs may find this aspect disappointing.
- “The character development in this game is truly remarkable, offering a deep and engaging narrative that evolves with your choices.”
- “If you enjoy games that focus on story and character development, this one will not disappoint.”
- “The ever-evolving branching universe adds layers to character development, making each decision feel impactful.”
- “You won't get any controversies or character development in this game.”
- “If you enjoy games for their story, character development, or an ever-evolving branching universe, please leave this guide now.”
- “The character development is virtually non-existent, leaving the story feeling flat.”