▲ Recommended
1 hrs
Alright. Easy Breezy Drive is exactly as it is described on the product page. A relaxing driving game with no objective other than to drive while listening (or not) to some kinda chillstep style tunes influenced by bands like Thievery Corporation. So, with that in mind, I'm going to just get into the pros and cons as I see them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267961884
The developer states that AI was used for conceptual ideas, referenced while the dev reworked the graphics to suit what they were looking for in the game. By my mind, this is fine and it is a stellar looking game overall. There are both pros and cons attached to this though. The main issue is that there is basically one biome: Pine Valley. More biomes definitely will need to be added to the game if there is any hope of having people continue to revisit the game. I actually live in a forested mountain town IRL, and I would also note that on maintained roads and highways, the Bureau of Land Managment and the Forestry Service (or similar organizations wherever you might live) keep the sides of the roads free of trees and significant debris for a number of safety related issues. Not so much in this game lol. They're right up to the asphalt quite often. The actual assets used are pretty true to the setting however, and it does carry a realistic appearance.
I've had a chance to drive through the second map (added recently) called Astral Voyage. It's a very nice kind of high desert setting with a giant moon and aurora borealis always on the night horizon. No weather effects or daytime driving, and you arguably don't need your headlights despite it being a nighttime drive. Some new tunes were also added for this, which is cool.
The other part of this experience that is front and center is the music. This is all music licenses utilized via Creative Commons, and again this is definitely not an issue. It's all very pleasing and perfect for the setting. The tunes themselves are almost definitely AI creations, but they do work for this setting. If anything, I'd also like to see more songs added to the radio since you can expect to be driving for upwards of fifteen hours to earn one of the achievements. And since the licenses are free via CC anyway, there doesn't seem to be any reason not to. That would also elevate the experience even more.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3303249101
The controls are pretty simple. Forward is also accelerate, backward is also brake, left/right are that. You have headlights available, and you can adjust the camera pretty freely to suit whatever angles you prefer. I played this with both an Xbox One controller and k/m. I thought the controller was a bit loose and difficult to control. K/m on the other hand functioned fine and the controls were pretty tight. There is no penalty for hitting trees or what have you, so even if you do lose control, it's not such a big deal. And if you do get stuck, there is a teleport function to get you back on the road.
I did go back and also test this on the Steam Deck. It loads up fine, controls actually feel much tighter than either a gamepad or k/m. However, it seems to render assets a bit more slowly and feels a touch laggy as a result.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267399638
The one thing that does change is the weather, and this was a very nice feature. The thunderstorms are stunning. Snow was not bad. Foggy weather alternates between a light mist and pea soup. Pea Soup is the fog that counts towards achievements. There is also a day/night feature, which also spruces up the experience. And, if you don't mind disabling achievements, you have total control over what weather patterns you'd like to drive through. Default, most of the weather effects happen at night. Getting a bit more parity between day and nighttime weather effects would be ideal.
All in all, I'm enjoying my time with this game, although maybe simulation is a more appropriate term for what this actually is. I do plan to drive around a bit more as it is very pleasant and provides a chill atmosphere that isn't common in gaming; and also will wait for some new biomes to be added, something I believe I saw the developer mention they were working on. And something of a rarity for me, but I'll actually keep this downloaded in anticipation of that. Adding new biomes would really make that $7.99 price tag more palatable than it is currently and kind of tie everything together nicely. It's on the cusp of earning that retail price IMO, as things stand right now.
I received this license via our IndieGems Curator program.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267961884
The developer states that AI was used for conceptual ideas, referenced while the dev reworked the graphics to suit what they were looking for in the game. By my mind, this is fine and it is a stellar looking game overall. There are both pros and cons attached to this though. The main issue is that there is basically one biome: Pine Valley. More biomes definitely will need to be added to the game if there is any hope of having people continue to revisit the game. I actually live in a forested mountain town IRL, and I would also note that on maintained roads and highways, the Bureau of Land Managment and the Forestry Service (or similar organizations wherever you might live) keep the sides of the roads free of trees and significant debris for a number of safety related issues. Not so much in this game lol. They're right up to the asphalt quite often. The actual assets used are pretty true to the setting however, and it does carry a realistic appearance.
I've had a chance to drive through the second map (added recently) called Astral Voyage. It's a very nice kind of high desert setting with a giant moon and aurora borealis always on the night horizon. No weather effects or daytime driving, and you arguably don't need your headlights despite it being a nighttime drive. Some new tunes were also added for this, which is cool.
The other part of this experience that is front and center is the music. This is all music licenses utilized via Creative Commons, and again this is definitely not an issue. It's all very pleasing and perfect for the setting. The tunes themselves are almost definitely AI creations, but they do work for this setting. If anything, I'd also like to see more songs added to the radio since you can expect to be driving for upwards of fifteen hours to earn one of the achievements. And since the licenses are free via CC anyway, there doesn't seem to be any reason not to. That would also elevate the experience even more.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3303249101
The controls are pretty simple. Forward is also accelerate, backward is also brake, left/right are that. You have headlights available, and you can adjust the camera pretty freely to suit whatever angles you prefer. I played this with both an Xbox One controller and k/m. I thought the controller was a bit loose and difficult to control. K/m on the other hand functioned fine and the controls were pretty tight. There is no penalty for hitting trees or what have you, so even if you do lose control, it's not such a big deal. And if you do get stuck, there is a teleport function to get you back on the road.
I did go back and also test this on the Steam Deck. It loads up fine, controls actually feel much tighter than either a gamepad or k/m. However, it seems to render assets a bit more slowly and feels a touch laggy as a result.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267399638
The one thing that does change is the weather, and this was a very nice feature. The thunderstorms are stunning. Snow was not bad. Foggy weather alternates between a light mist and pea soup. Pea Soup is the fog that counts towards achievements. There is also a day/night feature, which also spruces up the experience. And, if you don't mind disabling achievements, you have total control over what weather patterns you'd like to drive through. Default, most of the weather effects happen at night. Getting a bit more parity between day and nighttime weather effects would be ideal.
All in all, I'm enjoying my time with this game, although maybe simulation is a more appropriate term for what this actually is. I do plan to drive around a bit more as it is very pleasant and provides a chill atmosphere that isn't common in gaming; and also will wait for some new biomes to be added, something I believe I saw the developer mention they were working on. And something of a rarity for me, but I'll actually keep this downloaded in anticipation of that. Adding new biomes would really make that $7.99 price tag more palatable than it is currently and kind of tie everything together nicely. It's on the cusp of earning that retail price IMO, as things stand right now.
I received this license via our IndieGems Curator program.
If you found this review helpful and would be interested in supporting my Curator group, Robilar's Reviews, it would be appreciated. Cheers.Also follow IndieGems for more reviews like this one.
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