What's it take for a game to snare me? Over the Hill is a co-op (or singleplayer!) offroading adventure that launched on Steam this week, and even just playing a bit of it has made me determined not to just play more but to 100% it. That's a feeling I haven't had about a game in a while.
Here's what my brief excursion into Over the Hill has already shown me:
- A beautiful open world
- Weather conditions and a day/night cycle
- Sweet-looking vehicles
- Challenging driving physics
- Secrets to find
- Cosmetics to collect
- Vehicle upgrades to unlock
- Wildlife to photograph
I'll be honest, it's the last one that really got me to commit to hundred-percenting it. I was driving slowly along up a bumpy trail, stopping occasionally to pull my little Jeep up a hill with my winch, when I suddenly heard the familiar croak of a raven. I zoomed out my view and eventually spotted the bird flapping over the trees nearby. I switched to camera mode and took a picture of it. Nice.
But a moment later I saw the flash of something slinking through the tall grass near my Jeep, and after following it with my camera for about a minute, it finally stepped out into full view.
A coyote! I photographed it as well, and decided right then I was going to find and document every single animal in the game.
And I'm enjoying driving around in Over the Hill so much, I think I'm gonna do it all: find every point of interest, unlock every vehicle and cosmetic, acquire every upgrade, and track down every meteorite.
(Yep, you can locate meteorites hidden around the world using a special piece of installed gear, then figure out an offroad route to reach them, then attach your winch and pull them free. I've found one already. And I'm gonna find the rest.)
And here's a bonus I didn't have on my list up top: Over the Hill is verified on Steam Deck. As soon as I'm done typing this I'm gonna kick back on the couch for the weekend and do some more driving. Over the Hill is also 20% off on Steam until October 28.