I was pretty hesitant coming back to this game, mostly cause from trailers and a friends synopsis it sounded like a straightforward 4-7 hour long game about driving in anomalous areas and solving mysteries, similar to Oxenfree but on wheels and while the description isn't that far off, the length and style of game i wasn't expecting.

This game plays like a survival crafting/roguelike and while im not super opposed to those styles, they tire me out pretty quickly. Adding on the fact it has a semi-linear story that requires you to have the necessary resources to continue, and to get those resources you need to do side drives just to scavenge areas which if you are unlucky could make you waste more than you gather. It feels like the game stretches what could have been a concise experience into a 35+ hour slog and it bored me to tears at times.

All that aside this game looks and plays beautifully, I loved driving the car it controls wonderfully and having the game throw hazards at you and you needing to swerve and adapt makes you feel like you're living out some dystopian Baby Driver. The environments also had me hooked, there are key moments that are stunning and even the small drives from junction to junction could give off immaculate feels with its atmosphere.

Im at least happy with myself to see the game all the way through, cause I felt like i would've missed a tight knit vision executed well, even if that vision suffers being stretched out between boring gameplay loops

I was made aware of this after doing some late night listening of older Emma Essex/Lapfox music and im surprised i didnt know about this sooner. I was guessing this would've lost media but thankfully the Lapfox fandom are so keen an preserving almost everything related to the artist, the game is still playable after the hosted website went offline. The game is a simple shmup with nothing outstanding gameplay wise, it has a focus mode and 6 levels each with a boss at the end. Im not an avid shmup gamer so idk if this game is considered good or not, but my bias scale is tipping way in my favour solely from the fact it stars Mayhem and Mischief and those sharks can do no wrong. Another highlight is the original soundtrack made for the game, done by Emma Essex and it slaps pretty hard, done in Mayhem's MegaDrive musical style. Pretty happy I got around to finding out about this little piece of history of Emma's massive catalog of work and makes me wonder what other neat things im missing out on from her