Heading Out (2024)

Heading Out opens strong but runs out of gas near the end. It's a unique experience that taps into the joy of long hours on the highway, stopping in random cities and towns for food and fuel, as well as the dangers of a road trip.

Story: You play as The Jackalope, an ungendered character who stands in for the player, escaping your past by driving real fast. Cops don't like this, radio personalities are split, and the mini-stories you encounter on your cross-country trek out west are strange in that '90s Americana way before everyone went online and became Nazis or flat-earthers.

Heading Out's story changes based on your decisions in a roguelike fashion, but the key moments are selected by you from a fill-in-the-blank questionnaire before starting your runs. This can make your story hit a little closer to home, but ultimately it never goes anywhere beyond the predetermined end.

The side stories are mostly for flavour and can be hit or miss, but they're usually charming upon first discovery — they do start wearing thin after a while.

Gameplay: Heading Out is a mixture of choose-your-own-adventure narrative, resource management (sleep, fame, car condition, etc.), and OutRun-style arcade racing.

I feel the gameplay elements all feed into each other organically and effectively, but they wear thin before too long. There isn't enough variety.

Sound: The sound is serviceable, with each vehicle having a distinct engine whine and acceleration. The diegetic elements are unremarkable but functional. The voice acting ranges from good to amateurish. The main DJ who accompanies you on your journey often sounds like the voice actor is putting on a voice; they slip in and out of it and frequently descend into caricature. The music is excellent and does most of the work to make the driving sections feel good. I never got tired of listening to it and can recall tunes from the game months later.

Technical: Probably the first thing people will notice is the black-and-white aesthetic. I was drawn to the game because of it, but I wonder if it truly serves the game better. I feel like a grindhouse or film grain with washed-out colours would be more appropriate for the '70s neo-noir vibe the game provides — look at films like Duel, The French Connection, Death Race, The Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit, etc.

The game ran well for the most part, though I think it crashed or had a bug that required me to restart it once.

I wish Heading Out was shorter or had enough content to keep me engaged for the entire runtime. It didn't evolve enough for its playtime.

That said, I think it's a good foundation for a sequel or spiritual sequel. We are just starting to see this genre burgeon, and I am excited to see where it goes.