Last week a driving title from Funselektor called Over the Hill arrived on Steam. Driving games are kind of their thing, having previously done Absolute Drift, Golden Lap, and Art of Rally, the latter being one of the titles I picked up in the Steam Summer sale back in 2021.
I also bought a copy of it for the Switch.
Over the Hill
Over the Hill follows their model for success so far, which is a driving game with modest, stylized graphics that still look good, which plays well, is modestly priced, and feels like they absolutely obsessed about the physics of driving. Art of Rally really showed in that regard and, while I have not played Absolute Drift, the demo reel for it pretty clearly shows it was all about modeling the motion of vehicles. (Also, the origin story of Funselektor is interesting in itself, as it is just one dev at the center of all of this.)
I tried pre-launch demo of Over the Hill back during one of Steam’s Next Fest events, which features demos, and liked the idea of it quite a bit. I was even going to write a bit about it… then somehow never got around to doing so. The only sign that I played it was a comment I wrote on a Bhagpuss post where he mentioned playing the demo.
Anyway, I put it on my wishlist and, when it launched last week, I grabbed a copy. There is a launch trailer if you need a video intro to the game.
Then I spent nine and a half hours playing over the weekend. And not nine and a half Steam hours, where maybe it sat at the menu in the background while I worked on something else. That was nine and a half ManicTime hours, which only counts when the app has focus and turns off the time if I am idle for five minutes.
So maybe it has something going for it.
As the splash screen indicates, Over the Hill is about driving off road. After a brief tutorial that shows you the basic controls you are let loose in a Land Rover Defender to roam the wilds of British Columbia.
Of in our Defender… I mean, Protector!
Except it isn’t a Defender because Funselektor is a small company… again, just one guy… and probably can’t afford to license all the names and whatever from the various companies. So all 21 vehicles in the game are unique creations and the fact that I recognize almost all of them, have seen most of them in person at some point, have ridden in a handful, and have driven at least four of them, is purely a product of my imagination, so if I refer to the Protector as a Defender… well, that is just on me.
(You can see the full list of vehicles here.)
Anyway, the Defender is a fine start, but I traded it out for the International Scout… erm, the Trail Rat… which is on the list of vehicles I have driven.
A mud spattered Scout
Not this specific version, which looks like a later revision from the Model 80 my grandfather had on the farm and which might be the first 4WD vehicle I ever drove. Also, as you can see, your vehicle will pick up a patina of mud and dirt when you are out and about.
Your goal is to drive around and find things… and take pictures of wildlife when you have a chance.
You get a map which is mostly obscured and which, in the classic video game method, reveals as you travel. The fog of war… only there is no war, except against the elements.
A bit of a map
These are real elevation maps like the USGS puts out… or used to put out, who knows these days… with trails marked where they exist and other game objectives.
There are camps, which are rest stops where your vehicle gets repaired and resupplied (and cleaned), and where you can speed up time if you want to get through the night or wait for a storm to pass. There is a full day/night cycle, so it gets dark out.
Going up a trail at night… and it is starting to rain
I went through a whole night in the dark before I figured out how to turn on the headlights.
As for weather, there is rain and fog and lightning and snow.
A Blazer in the snow
You can press on or stop at a camp and have time fast forward.
Camps also act as fast travel points. You can teleport to them from the map if you don’t want to go all the way back the way you came or if you’ve managed to get yourself completely stuck.
In the water and too far from anything I can hook the winch to
Then there is the mechanic, of which there is one per map. You go to him, Crazy Gunther, to upgrade your vehicle or apply cosmetics like the Christmas lights on my bumpers.
There are scenic point, from which you can see a wide range of the terrain… unless the fog has set in. Had that happen once. Behold my valley… of pea soup fog! With some luck, however, you do get a nice view.
Arrival at a scenic point
Also, the view distance in the game is astounding. Weather limits it, of course. But on a clear moment you can see forever in detail.
There are points of interest… lots of those… which earn you pebbles, the currency you use to buy upgrades… and unlock cosmetics.
And then there are challenge trails, which have you follow a specific route, often through difficult terrain, which is very much an off road puzzle as you figure out how to get yourself up an otherwise too steep hill or line up the approach on a boulder just right so you climb over it.
Maybe not like this
Challenge trails reward more pebbles and also unlock things. Worth doing, but after the first one… which is kind of an intro trail… somewhat challenging.
And then there are item recovery tasks, which involve you getting out the winch and towing a stuck vehicle back for repair.
Towing an abandoned Land Cruiser in the rain
Finally, there is the portal to the next map… which on the first map is actually a ferry.
The challenge is getting places. The trails are bumpy, the trees are all over, the marsh will have you slipping and sliding, and you can find many ways to just roll over if you’re not careful.
Upside down again
If you’re in a good spot you can get out the winch and right yourself. And if you do both you’ll have a pair of achievements.
Achievements for everything
So far it is a lot of fun. I have found myself doing the whole “one more trail, one more point of interest” thing when I should be headed for bed.
Part of me wants to contrast it with Forza Horizon 6, which arrived earlier this year. Unlike that, Over the Hill is a slow, almost sedate, off road game where you don’t drive fast down freeways in Japan or do rallys or races.
But, from another angle, it is exactly like Forza Horizon 6, or at least aspects of it. It has an exploration aspect, it has trails to drive, challenges to take on, and even vehicles to find… though you might have to tow the vehicles back to a camp to get them repaired.
It even has a radio… well, it has a cassette deck… where you can choose what style of music you want to have play while in game. So not polar opposite.
There are a couple of things I am not fond of. Sometimes the physics bugs out a bit when you’ve gotten yourself wedged in a fresh new location. Sure, having the earth spit you out of the hole you fell into is funny, but maybe not so realistic.
It is also a game that prefers a controller. That is fine for me, and you can play it without a controller, the way you can play Forza Horizon with keyboard and mouse. But, since Funselektor puts their games on consoles as well… Over The Hill will be on PlayStation, XBox, and Switch 2 early next year… and I will probably buy it again for the Switch… it does play better with a controller.
Then there is the camera. You only get a third person chase view, which you have to manage with the second analog stick. Too often when I am in some precarious spot and trying to pay attention to several things I’ll start trying to steer with the camera like it is an FPS. That never works out well.
Also, the camera is stuck at a somewhat higher angle than I need at times. Really, I would like to have a driver’s seat first person view as an option when I am doing something like threading through trees in the snow at night and I can barely see anything. But then they would have to have windshield wipers and it gets complicated. Also, Funselektor is also known for its top down view, so even having the camera down at a 30 degree angle is breaking ground for them.
None of those are deal breakers for me. But occasionally, in the moment, the camera won’t show me what I need to see.
Overall I have found it a good time. It feels like it is filling a niche similar to what Outbound was attempting, a semi-outdoorsy exploration title with some customization.
But I hear you saying, “Outbound hand co-op! Does this have co-op? I thought Funselektor only did single player titles.”
That has been there usual method, but not this time. Over the Hill has co-op play!
Naturally I had to tell Potshot about it, so he bought a copy.
That means a follow up post about playing together. That is where the comedy really begins.