Before continuing our traditional impressions of Gamescom with a video, I’ve decided to offer some of the experience in text form, since Zdenek and I won’t be seeing each other again in front of the cameras until Monday. One of the games that surprised me at the event was offroad racing Overpass 2. Of course, this wasn’t the most exciting thing I’ve played in the last few days, and I didn’t think the news would be great news either. great surprise and commercial success, but it was an enjoyable difference between expectations and reality. And I don’t belittle the author a priori, to be honest I’m interested in this game and curious about it. Otherwise, I would not have ordered a demo. However, I thought I would have had a more average experience. The results appear much more optimistic. This means that many bugs in artificial intelligence, crashes and physics can be fixed before release. Of course I can’t promise that.

The first Overpass was released in 2020 and was made by the Zordix Racing studio. Average review scores range from 50 to 60 percent depending on the platform, and the same goes for titles on Steam, where 53 percent of players rave about them. But the bigger problem is shown by the fact that the number one only has a rating of 73(!). It’s no use pretending, this topic is a bit marginal in the context of digital motorsport, but that’s not to say it’s not fun, so it might be better the second time around. The studio picked up the sequel Neopic and released again under the banner of Nacon, at whose stand I tried the game. The developers presented it in May this year, pulling out licensed engines and tools and specifically Unreal Engine 5 from Epic Games. Overpass 2 will offer 37 ATVs and UTVs in three categories, we will go to five different environments on 31 tracks in various modes, and the team promises, among other things, a much more complicated career.

If this gives you the impression that the game should be more diverse, then this is the right emotion. Of course, the theme remains the same, but even I felt, at least on first contact, that the game offers quite a lot and tries to maximize the theme in terms of breadth of content. The author generally calls for improved graphics, physics, terrain and a new engine. Among them you will find licensed items from companies such as Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki, Kawasaki or Arctic Cat. Of course, the equipment is also similar, although the rider himself is fictitious. You can also create your own environment and start a career with it, which should offer a similar experience to, for example, games from the long-running WRC series published by Nacon. This means you will not only care about your rider or machine, but also the entire stable, staff and financing.

In individual races the team tries to maximize variety and offers, for example uphill races, precision driving, maximum hurdles, but also races on closed circuits, where you compete against other racers at the same time. At the same time, I enjoyed the control itself. The studio promises convincing terrain physics, vehicle behavior and an overall authentic experience. Dojka is supposed to be more challenging than the first part and I can confirm that I often had to follow the “Hurry slow slow” motto. When overcoming obstacles and tricky tracks in the wild, you have to think, analyze the space in front of you, work with the differential lock and the like. At its best, it resembles lighter, more action-oriented versions of games like MudRunner and SnowRunner. In fact, the impression that somewhere there must be a similar experience is felt, for example in the video game Dakar, such tension is practically absent.

When you’re stuck somewhere, it becomes a survival game of sorts, with a boulder taking the place of the boss.

In the demo I was able to play, I repeatedly traversed the diverse wilderness of several countries around the world and loved finding a compromise between speed, precision and safe driving. When you’re stuck somewhere, it becomes a survival game of sorts, with a boulder taking the place of the boss. In racing against opponents moving along the same track, you may not have uneven terrain waiting for you, but it is also wilderness. But at this point, the writers still have a lot of work to do on the artificial intelligence, which wanders the circuits like a madman and is basically unable to complete the loop. But I was forewarned that the AI ​​was not working and everything would be fixed upon release, so let’s hope so. After all, the physics and the crashing or impact of the engine, which can sometimes feel like it has no real weight, undoubtedly requires further tweaking.

Hopefully the writers can figure it all out, they don’t have much time left. This game was released on October 19. It’s aimed at PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, which lets studios go without having to consider legacy hardware. And at least it should be visible on the chart. Overpass 2 won’t play in the first league, but it might look very good. And he pleased me, for example, with the many possible camera options, which facilitate orientation in space and overview of the surroundings. Finally, I should mention that while I didn’t have a chance to try multiplayer, the game will offer the popular split-screen in addition to the online mode, which has been hugely popular in recent years. It seems to me that the developers have a slight plus in that they have not neglected split-screen play. Overpass 2 may not be a box office hit, but it can delight fans and represent its world with dignity.