I spent a couple of hours this weekend playing a handful of upcoming indie games from the Steam Next Fest, and boy am I glad I did! My choice was limited as I was playing on Mac, so I sadly missed out on the massive repertoire of PC-only games, but the handful that I played were all completely unique with fantastic vibes. Read on for my impressions of indie developer Sam C’s debut game.
Easy Delivery Co. First Impressions
This game replicates those retro vibes from the late-90s so well, with low-poly graphics, a short draw distance and an optional CRT filter all building a tense atmosphere within its eery Silent Hill-esque game world.
You drive a small pickup truck in sub-zero conditions, delivering an assortment of goods for the town’s Animal Crossing-looking inhabitants with some light survival mechanics baked in. If you leave the warmth of your truck for too long, the frigid atmosphere will cause you to black out; carrying goods will deplete your energy, and of course driving the truck burns its fuel.
Maintaining all of the above costs money, and based on my short experience it seems like it’s going to take some careful planning and management to turn a profit, or even stay afloat for that matter. Fuel and energy drinks don’t come cheap – stocking up after completing three or four deliveries completely drained my in-game wallet and I had to get back to the grind, with the hope that I’d be able to save at least some of my earnings to cover the costs of embarking on a side-quest, in addition to the standard delivery job.
Immaculate vibes and thoughtful balancing aside, Easy Delivery Co. handles great. In fact, it handles exactly like some of your favourite PS1-era driving games handled, with heavier packaging affecting your truck’s handling, and additional gameplay mechanics – such as clearing snow drifts with a shovel (another expense!) – keeping things fresh throughout my short time with the game.
So far, so good! This is looking like a fantastic little commentary on gig economy that clearly takes inspiration from a handful of sources. We’ll find out whether it can deliver on this hype when it launches later in 2025.
Links: Steam | Nintendo eShop
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