Heading Out Xbox Series X Review 8 /10 "drive your fears away" 🚗💨 @SeriousSimGames @CrunchingKoalas #IndieGame #GameDev

Heading Out single-handedly saved my entire weekend recently, I had a rare free day and fully intended to veg out on the couch, getting slowly tipsy on bourbon whilst diving into some gaming gold. Unfortunately, the gaming ‘gold’ that I initially decided upon was the recent Game Pass title ‘Dragon Age: Veilguard’ which I’ve been keenly awaiting since release last year, having been a huge fan of the previous Dragon Age games. Within a couple of hours, I was deflated, morose, underwhelmed…and quite frankly uninstalling Dragon Age: Veilguard quicker than Oliver Reed can get the free drinks vouchers out of his pocket at a wedding.

Having no intention of playing further through the insipid, tedious game, I was flustered as to where to turn next, my Saturday plans lay in ruins. It was then that I remembered I had been sent the review code for Heading Out and decided that it could be a saucy palette-cleanser, and indeed it was, thank you, Serious Sim!

You are the hard-riding Interstate Jackalope – a name bequeathed to you by the media - a person of roguish mystery, your hood-shrouded face graces the highways of America as you race through the states to find the fastest driver alive and best them in a one on one race to the death, all the while trying to keep ahead of your fear, which literally chases you across the map in the form of bleeding red tentacles that scour the roads for your purring muscle car.

Heading Out is split over multiple acts, which you successfully complete when you eventually reach the opponent driver far away on the map and win the ultimate race. Presented in a mostly stylised monochrome, Heading Out is separated into two main areas of gameplay; the map of the USA, in which you choose your next port of call, balancing your mental state, car health, and petrol costs against the always encroaching fear, which blocks out sections of the map – as well as possible future destinations. As you stop in the various regions, you’ll randomly encounter various scenarios in which you can make decisions as to how to proceed, these can be anything from netting you cash and items to raising your wanted level, or fame or the absolute reverse, bleeding you dry and leaving you in a worse position than before.

The audio is a huge part of this game, and the police chases and illegal street races that you’ll find yourself in are always timed to the length of the song at hand, with a cassette slowly playing out in the top-corner of your screen, in the lead when the song ends? You win. 

There are a great number of different musical tracks on offer, everything from pop-punk and indie rock through to electronica, glitch techno and some chill-out tracks. It can be quite tense when your car has taken a battering and you are running out of cash to find that you have a two minute punk song with which to get ahead of the competition, pulling slowly away from you, it’s a unique and very cool way of working, that ensures that you drink in the soundtrack, as it’s pretty vital to your progress. 

A gravelly-voiced narrator bolsters the mood of the game, as does the graphic-novel style pop-ups that occur when you shift gears, crash and move the narrative forward etc. I found myself gripped with ‘Jackie’s’ journey, and whilst the car handling takes a little getting used to, the (seemingly) procedurally-generated roads and scenery, whilst pretty repetitive and similar, are oddly zen to drive through as you listen to the radio DJs - some of whom love you, some of whom want you hunted down and arrested - spit their vitriol out over the airwaves as you screech off in yet another life or death race.

SUMMARY
The blend of incredible atmosphere, importance of audio, stylish visuals and simple gameplay come together here in a game that feels luxurious to dive into. 

The stark graphical style and comic-book nods add to that sense of a pulpy narrative, and the pull of raw America and its myriad citizens bring the states to life in a way that kept me coming back for more. 

Serious Sim have definitely nailed a vibe here, and it’s a vibe I’d very much like to see continued in future games, lovely stuff.

How long is Heading Out? | HowLongToBeat