LifeisXbox’s Hitchhiker review | When present in movies or series, hitchhikers are often represented as people running away from something. And more than once, I remember that their life or their past to be shrouded in mystery. Under this exact scenario, we start our adventure in Hitchhiker, the new game from the German independent studio Mad About Pandas and published by Versus Evil.
In this title, you are a hitchhiker who doesn’t have any clue about his past and doesn’t know where he’s going. You will catch rides with different people you don’t know or remember how you get there. But as the conversation goes on, you will discover more about your troubled past until you finally discover your destination – and I promise you this is going to be a unique journey. Since we are no strangers here, let me give you a ride and show you everything these roads have to offer.
Rafa hitchhiked for more than 6 hours on his Xbox One X to discover more about himself. I must say he came back a little surprised with what he found. This game is also available for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Steam, Apple Arcade, and Nintendo Switch.
What we liked!
- Visuals | The visuals of Hitchhiker are colored and cheerful while still hiding a good amount of mystery behind its curtains. Each of the drivers you will take a ride with has appealing models and feels very different. The interior of their cars doesn’t show too much detail. Still, they fit the low-detail atmosphere of the game, providing an impeccable immersion in its world. The visuals of each road made me feel like I was really inside of those cars, thanks to the beautiful scenery of each chapter. Yes, they feel a little repetitive, but it’s part of the game. Don’t worry about it.
- Stories inside of the tale | The story of the game is excellent! The mystery here only grows, instigating you to keep going forward. From the beginning to the end, you will always question what is going on with our character – and it’s hard to talk about it without spoiling anything to you. What I can tell you about is that besides the ongoing mystery you are living in this adventure, each of the drivers you will travel with has a fascinating story ready to be told. These stories are told in different art styles: some go through comics, others using characteristics from a children’s book. These stories are beautiful and creative, breaking the game’s rhythm elegantly and interestingly.
- Superb voice acting | The music and sound effects are good, but what I want to emphasize in the audio department is the exquisite voice work of each of the characters you will interact with. Ok, there are only a few of them, but their interpretation really gave life to these drivers. I salute and congratulate the team responsible for the voices in this game. You nailed it and made Hitchhiker so much more enjoyable!
Somewhere between
- Gameplay | For a game that works like a walking simulator (when we think about ‘things to do’), you should not expect an exciting adventure. The gameplay in Hitchhiker revolves about talking to each driver by selecting your answer to each given situation, interacting with items inside the car (like the car window or objects in your backpack), and solving small puzzles – and with it, uncovering your story. The puzzles are creative and particularly interesting because they break the cycle of talking and looking through the window. I just wish there were more of them during each chapter. But I can say their frequency and the difficulty level were adequate.
- Replayability | Although there are no prizes (like achievements) for replaying each chapter of the story (that become freely accessible after you complete them once), your curiosity will motivate you to come again and check what will change in the story once you change your answers. I won’t spoil it for you, but I can see that players who complete them once and get their sweet 1000G will hardly come back to the game to check if there are different outcomes for each chapter and the main story. SPOILER ALERT: Not a chance I’m going to tell you that =P.
What we disliked
- Visual glitches | During my hitchhikes, I encountered just one bug – or better saying, visual glitch – in the game. A glitch that allowed me to see through the neck of one of the drivers. Nothing game-breaking or that would jeopardize my gameplay – but still worth mentioning.
CONCLUSION
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With a history of gaming that goes from his old man’s Atari 2600 to his Xbox One, Rafael or RAF687, our Brazilian editor, has a love for games as old as he can remember. He has already spent countless hours in many consoles (Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360) and is always ready for more (as long as his wife is asleep). Raf has been writing for LifeisXbox since 2017, with a passion for games of almost all genres – though we know he has a special place in his heart for RPGs, racing games and anything that includes pixel art. Writing about games has always been a childhood dream to Raf, dream that he has fulfilled reviewing games for you here. You can drop him a message at Twitter, Facebook or Xbox Live at any time.