Lake

If ever there was a game for which an option halfway between 'yes' and 'no' existed it would be this one. I am a sucker for these kinds of games set in the PNW, and as someone who doesn't mind a walking sim now and then, driving the mail truck around a gorgeous lake day by day didn't bother me as a gameplay loop. There's no complications with the mail or the truck, its not a game where you have to memorize street names or orient yourself, the driving is very much the 'empty space' between conversations and picturesque views. In this area I really don't have any complaints, as someone whose only interest in American Truck Simulator is the view, having 0 gameplay pressure or friction is completely fine, but if that is something you expected, you will find it lacking. Not a personal drawback for me however! Whilst I wish the soundscape was a bit more vibrant, the game nails the cozy idyllic aesthetic it strives for well: The landscape of lush forests, lakes, rapids and quiet americana mesh well and become deliberately familiar as you take the same route again and again. Towards the end its easy enough to navigate the map from memory, which felt intentional and inviting, The characters are archetypal, not 'flat' or 'boring' but they are archetypes that don't often surprise; you play Meredith Weiss, who picks up for hometown to deliver mail as a kind of 'vacation' after a 22 year stint studying and working in computing. Naturally the town has a lot of faces both new and happy to welcome you back, and whilst I never talked to anyone that felt two-dimensional, the dialogue definitely felt closer to a soap opera than something that had the textured discomfort and bitterness that might affect people seeing someone close casually drop back into their lives after so long. My mind often wondered back to some of the brilliant exchanges in Night In The Woods and came back somewhat lacking. It may have been a conscious choice to keep the conversations on the warmer/nicer side, but for me I could've used some higher personal stakes. What I find downright negative with the game is firstly technical; this game is *buggy*, LOD pop-in can happen more often than I'd like and its immersion breaking in a game that *needs* to get the immersion right above all else. Character animations and faces are very stiff, in a game where the meat is largely the series of reactive conversations you have, I would be more forgiving were it not the main focus, but as the gameplay loop kept repeating I disliked the lack of detail here, and in other small things like the NPCs and the lack of steering animations for Meredith more and more. It is a begrudging recommend, ultimately, this isn't the kind of game that's going to frustrate the type of person attracted to it in the first place, but I don't imagine it will wow you like other games within this genre might. I don't see myself necessarily replaying it, but I certainly finished it willingly and enjoying my time with it, and sometimes that is enough.