Best Games Centered Around A Road Trip

Summary

Classic road trip games like Jalopy and Keep Driving offer unique, immersive experiences.
Narrative-driven games like Death Road To Canada and Darkest Dungeon 2 bring adventure and replay value.
Games like Pacific Drive and Kentucky Route Zero offer atmospheric journeys with supernatural elements and deep storytelling.

Games can take on many forms and structures, but there’s something quite succinct about a good journey. And there are few ways to structure a journey that are more natural than a classic road trip. Be it through environments of the urban or fantastical variety, a road trip often offers an immediately meaningful framework.

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These games all work around a journey (or multiple journeys) from point A to point B, predominantly through vehicular travel. From the surreal travels of Kentucky Route Zero to the procedural styling of Road 96, there’s something here for all kinds of player.

1

Jalopy

A Simple But Immersive Journey

Jalopy is a pure road trip experience that tasks players with upgrading, repairing, and generally maintaining a dilapidated vehicle across miles of a minimalist but serene landscape. The gameplay is fairly simple but detailed, offering a driving simulator that’s more about the journey than the destination.

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It’s a quirky experience, but Jalopy may appeal to fans of both driving simulators and atmospheric games. Players can even choose their own route along the long open roads, allowing for a little expression throughout this scenic road trip.

2

Death Stranding

A Combination Of Arduous Hiking & Vehicular Travel

While players aren’t always using vehicles in Death Stranding, this immersive title is all about the journey. In addition, players can use multiple vehicles to assist them on their many treks across Death Stranding’s often dangerous landscape.

The slow and methodical exploration may be tedious for some, but Death Stranding presents players with frequent road trips that are as rewarding as they are arduous. For players that don’t mind a great deal of hiking, Death Stranding is likely to be a worthwhile journey.

3

Road 96

A Replayable Road Trip

This story-driven road trip is an immediately vibrant and stylish title, boasting plenty of bold landscapes and scenic highways. Its gameplay promises a procedurally generated road trip, offering opportunities for discovery that allude to a more personal experience.

Despite being a narrative-driven experience, Road 96 is able to offer replay value via its procedural generation. For fans of narrative experiences that don’t mind more experimental games, Road 96 might be worth a shot.

4

Keep Driving

A Charming Road Trip Simulator

Focusing on atmosphere while still featuring detailed game mechanics, Keep Driving is a hard left turn from YCJY’s last release, the frantic FPS Post Void. Keep Driving is a relaxed game that combines thematic gameplay, inventory management, and RPG elements.

It promises a nostalgic experience that champions freedom and atmosphere above all else, and it may appeal to a very specific niche of players. For fans of road trip experiences, though, Keep Driving is likely to please, sporting inspirations from games such as FTL and Jalopy.

5

Death Road To Canada

An Arcade Journey Through The Apocalypse

Death Road To Canada takes the gameplay loop of games such as The Oregon Trail and combines it with arcade action. In addition, Death Road To Canada features a roguelike structure and a zombie apocalypse setting that frequently throws hordes of undead at the player.

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Death Road To Canada tasks players with managing a small rag-tag party of survivors through the apocalypse on a road trip to a potential safe haven. The arcade gameplay is both intuitive and tense, and the replay value provided by its roguelike systems allows for hours of play. Furthermore, the game features local co-op, where it arguably excels.

6

Darkest Dungeon 2

A Dark-Fantasy Roguelike Road Trip

Darkest Dungeon 2 is in many ways similar to its predecessor, particularly in its combat and classes, offering an experience that’s familiar but far from identical. One notable change is the removal of the town management layer that was so prominent in the original game, replaced by a new road trip structure.

In the game, players assemble a group of four adventurers on a road trip through a burning fantasy world overrun by horrors. Some players may find tedium in the drive from one point of interest to the next, especially as driving the wagon requires little focus or input. However, it brings with it a certain atmosphere and momentum that is sure to appeal to certain players.

7

Pacific Drive

Road Tripping Through Supernatural Landscapes

Fans of atmospheric driving games and supernatural settings are sure to get a kick out of Pacific Drive. In this immersive exploration game, players venture out on expeditions with a customizable station wagon, attempting to maintain it on dangerous roads rife with supernatural hazards.

The gameplay loop, reminiscent of extraction shooters, tasks players with scavenging environments up until the last possible moment before returning in a hurling blitz back to base. This base is a tremendously cozy garage, where players can perform customization and upgrade their vehicle. It’s satisfying, addictive, and atmospheric, offering repeatable road trips that vary in length.

8

Kentucky Route Zero

A Deeply Atmospheric Narrative Road Trip

Kentucky Route Zero is an immersive but experimental game that’s essentially interactive fiction. For fans of games that focus on narrative and atmosphere, it’s likely to please, but those that like a little more gameplay in their digital road trips may be disappointed.

This utterly memorable adventure is bolstered, however, by truly evocative and emotional writing, cinematic visuals, and a poignant soundtrack. Tragedy, hope, and heart are all on the table in this magical-realist adventure, providing an unforgettable road trip through a surrealist interpretation of Kentucky.