$19.99Sunset Overdrive Grind, bounce, blast mutants
A fast, funny open-world shooter where you never touch the ground for long and the apocalypse is the best thing that ever happened to you.
Is Sunset Overdrive worth it?
Sunset Overdrive is worth it if…
- you want a shooter where the movement matters as much as the aim
- you like humor that breaks the fourth wall and never takes the apocalypse seriously
- you enjoy collecting things across a bright open city
- you want a main campaign you can finish in around ten hours
- you would rather keep moving than plan from cover
Screenshots
A city that punishes walking
Sunset City is built like a skatepark with buildings. You grind rails and power lines, run along walls, bounce off cars and air-dash between rooftops, and the game makes the ground itself something to avoid: the floor is lava, so you learn to never touch it. Once the movement clicks, you cross the whole city without landing, chaining grinds into bounces into wall rides while the punk-rock soundtrack keeps pace. Combat runs on the same rule. Fighting from the ground is slow and dull; fighting while grinding past a mutant horde builds style points, and style points power your amps, the special abilities that make you hit harder. Move like a maniac and everything gets easier.
Weapons with no respect for physics
The arsenal is the kind you assemble from a hardware store after a very bad week: dynamite, fireworks, harpoons and acid all find their way into gun form, and there are more than twenty of them, each with its own gimmick. Weapons level up and take different amps, so a favorite can grow with you across the campaign. Your character is customizable too, from abilities down to a wardrobe of deliberately goofy clothes, and there is no fixed protagonist: you pick who you are. The campaign itself is a colorful, fourth-wall-breaking romp about a contaminated energy drink that turned the population into mutants, with two bonus expansions included, plus a weapons pack to get you started.
What should you know before playing?
How long is the campaign?
The main story runs around ten hours if you focus on it, and a full run with all quests, collectibles and the two expansions took one player about 26 hours. It is a compact game rather than a hundred-hour one, and it respects your time: short sessions, quick missions, and plenty of optional challenges and collectibles if you want to stay longer.
Can you play it with friends?
No, this version is single-player only. The whole campaign, the two expansions and the open city are built around one player, and the fun comes from the movement and combat rather than multiplayer mayhem.
Is the story worth following?
It is light on purpose. The plot about the mutant-causing energy drink is a vehicle for jokes, fourth-wall breaks and eccentric allies, and it works best when you sit back and enjoy the ride rather than expect depth. The writing is clever and the humor holds up, but the gameplay is the real reason to be here.
What if you get bored of shooting mutants?
The city is full of side things to do: collectibles to hunt, challenges that push you to master the movement system, and minigames. Fair warning, the missions lean on go-there, kill, collect structures, so if you dislike collectathons the campaign loop may wear thin. The traversal itself is what keeps most people coming back.
