Heading Out - A Narrative Road Movie Racing Game

Heading Out - A Narrative Road Movie Racing Game is a story presented as a road movie. The player travels through the western regions, and the trip consists not of victories on the track, but of meetings, conversations and decisions. The mechanics combine driving and choice: in dialogues and situations you need to decide what to do, and the development of the plot depends on this. There are chases and intense episodes where it is important not to make a mistake. Some events are a consequence of past actions. The design is stylized, the music and presentation create a travel atmosphere. The length is moderate, and there are enough forks to make you want to go through the story differently. The journey is divided into chapters, and in each the hero finds himself in a new situation: someone asks for a ride, someone offers an argument, and someone interferes with the ride. Conversations affect relationships, and some events are revealed only with a certain choice of remarks. Night sections and chases add tension, and decisions here have to be made quickly, without the right to pause. Between chapters you can see how the attitude towards the hero changes. The music and presentation work to set the mood for a road movie, but you want to go through the story differently just for the sake of a different ending. The radio and music in the car changes as the journey progresses, and this maintains the feeling of a long journey. Some episodes end with a conversation rather than a race, and this does not cause the rhythm of the story to sag. Saves are made often, so you can try solutions in different versions without replaying the whole path again. For anyone who likes slow-paced storytelling on the road, the Heading Out suits it.