Overland Review
"Hauntingly Impossible"
Campaign
With Overland you’re on a cross country mission to generally just survive. This is a hardcore turn based game, where these crystalized bug-like creatures are taking over. For the most part you have a car, and whatever other survivors you can find along the way. It’s an interesting premise and you sadly don’t get much world building here so it’s mostly a mystery narrative wise.
You do get to visit a number of locations, if you can manage to survive. The game is straight up savage and essentially impossible. I’m not sure many will be able to beat it, or really even push through the first area of the game. It is seriously that hardcore. It restricts progression and aims to constantly have you killed. You will be playing the same sections many, many times. The car needs gas for stops, and walking or running out of fuel goes into a death state of play.
You’re always out of supplies, you can’t stash things and are practically defenseless the entire time. It’s an odd situation, and one that doesn’t encourage continued play. It does offer procedural generation for the setup, so it’s somewhat like a rogue-lite minus any sort of progression carry over. You just live to die basically.
Gameplay
Visually this is a rather atmospheric and lovely game of gloom. It feels grim, and definitely like the end of the world. You’ll work through what are essentially board pieces. Each chunk of land has supplies to scavenge for and minimal places to go. They are always filled with enemies and there’s not much freedom for movement.
You’re also very restricted point per turn wise and always vulnerable. It’s easy to control, the touch based options on iPhone XS were great. Still, limited options to undo or even use things. The game is overly brutal and it’s hard to get anywhere within it. It’s also a very limited turn based game, no stealth or cover options. Like with the visuals, guess the game is minimalistic. Just not a whole lot to it. Also, mobile wise this is rather intense on your battery.
The Conclusion
Overland brings a heavy, yet well done atmosphere of play that’s left stranded by minimal interactions and an impossible difficulty. This is way too tough to play, not even enjoyable despite an enticing setup. There’s not a whole lot to this one and I certainly wouldn’t suggest checking this out.
It looks really cool, the concept is great, it’s just not very good however. It might be frustrating to some, but I just felt helpless while playing and decided it was easy to simple just call it quits on this one after dozens of failed ventures. I really want more details on the creatures and their purpose, oh well.
Read our Sayonara Wild Hearts Review
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Overland Review on iPhone XS Apple Arcade
Rating Overall: 4.0
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