The Long Drive

honestly it was good but the game has definitely been ditched by creators dont bother buying

I bought The Long Drive at the height of its popularity in the viral landscape. I enjoyed it for what it is, a wacky, buggy but amusing mess. After months without updates, the gameplay became stale, to the point where there is no reason to keep it on your disk. Multiplayer is nothing worth writing about. Latency issues make it very hard to play with friends who might not have the best internet connection. The most egregious thing about the game is the developer himself, who seems to be gaslighting fans into thinking he does still care about this project while never updating on progress, instead choosing to upload gameplay from other games to his YouTube channel. Some people choose to believe a man who quit his job because of the profit this project gave him can't pump out an update for it in over 2 years, while others sensibly doubt the credibility of his reassurances and ask what he was up to all this time. DO NOT PAY FOR THIS GAME. YOU DON'T WANT TO SUPPORT THIS GRIFTER.

PLEASE READ! The Long Drive is a game that I recommend, kind of. It has a very interesting concept that I and many other people love, and with the game being as beautifully scuffed as it is, playing with friends or alone can be absolutely hilarious. However, the game CURRENTLY sits in a state of limbo. It has not received a single update in 3 years (although beta tests have been released, with the newest being just about a year old at the time of writing this review) and there has been barely any communication from the dev. Ever since its release in 2019 the game has been plagued with the issue of spaghetti code. Spaghetti code is code that is written in a very inefficient manner, and it has had a huge effect on the game as a whole. The code is so inefficient that it brings very capable computers to their knees. The multiplayer is very fun to play but can suffer from very severe desync issues, and in its current state is not worth playing. There also are some AI generated paintings being used within the game, they are difficult to notice at they match the vibe of the game very well, but they are still there. In the game's CURRENT state, I cannot recommend it to anyone. However, in contrast to what many reviewers are saying the game is NOT abandonware! The reason why there has been no updates in the past 3 years is because the spaghettified state of the game's code makes it next to impossible to update and maintain. As a result, Genesz (who is the game's only developer) has started rewriting the entire game's code from scratch, which includes a new game engine and improvements to the game's performance. This process is taking much longer than initially anticipated to complete, and this has led to many people viewing the game as abandonware. If this new update rolls out and the game is playable and operates well, then I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in the game!

This game is fun for a couple of hours, especially with friends, but beyond that the lack of updates and goals leaves little reason to return after the initially fun. With how poorly optimized the game is and with how little the dev actually does, there is little to no reason to buy it. Especially since the better alternative in Drive Beyond Horizons exists. If you like the idea of this game, buy Drive Beyond Horizons instead. That game has actually development and work put into it instead of the most recent 'update' being excuse of "I don't like communicating" from almost a year ago now.

the game hasnt had an update for a few years now, the multiplayer just doesnt work at times, the last update from the devs was that they hate social interactions but atp the game is not being worked on

Abandonware do not buy until the devs decide to update and finish the game.

The game on it's own is fun, but it's unoptimized as hell specially for online. And the developer is a lazy ♥♥♥♥ that excuses the lack of updates and communication by saying he doesn't like to communicate

If you would have asked me a couple years ago if I recommended this game, I probably would have said yes. I'm talking like, BEFORE Drive Beyond Horizons started turning into what it is now. IF you've played Drive Beyond Horizons, The Long Drive is where I would imagine that they got their inspiration from. If you've played neither, here is what you can expect from both games: - You start the game with a car, a random car, usually a low tier clunker. - You drive in a procedurally generated map, meaning that it's essentially an endless drive (TLD road stops generating at 5,000 km, and around 15,000, you end up back at the start... So, not exactly endless drive, but it takes you a MINUTE to get to 5,000 km) - As you make your journey, you'll come across various things like engines, wheels, tires, headlights, other cars, and so on. Of course, there are consumables you come across like oil, gas, water, beer, diesel, food, ammo, and weapons. It's obviously up to you to decide what cars you want, wheels, engine, etc. - As you drive, you should be wary of obstacles in the road. Things like rocks, bumps, light poles, etc. Overall, the game is wacky, crazy, buggy, and is a great time killer. It's a game that doesn't take itself seriously, but can definitely end your run in the blink of an eye. What I personally like about the game: - The idea that I have the ability to customize (to some degree in base game, better with mods) - A good selection of vehicles and the ability to change how they perform with engines and wheels (again, better with mods) - Some of the bugs and stuff add to the fun with how funny things can be. What I don't like about the game: - Some of the bugs are plain annoying to deal with, you come to learn that every time you stop somewhere, you should save the game. The main reason is because the game has certain things that can end your run randomly, and it's really not supposed to. - The terrain generation can be outright terrible, literal holes ripped through the map that lead to the abyss. These same holes will show up randomly, without any sort of reason to explain them and at times can make it impossible to get entry into buildings... Which can be very annoying, especially if you've driven for miles and miles, and this is the first building you've seen in ages. - Compared to Drive Beyond Horizons, this game is severely lacking in content. I won't say that DBH isn't the same way, but I would venture to say that TLD is worse on this aspect... When you loot so many different types of buildings, you come to really learn what is and isn't worth your time to loot unless you actually need like food or something to drink. Mods DO help with this, but as has been said with MANY other games, it should not be up to the modders to determine how great a game is or isn't. Giving credit where credit is due, the devs did try to fix some of the BIG issues with the game, some of which I did not mention because they have been fixed. As a player, one thing I don't appreciate is the lead dev putting out a sort of "Hey we're not dead..." but not doing it in a way that is exactly in a way to say, "Sorry, life got busy." No, the game hasn't/ had not been updated for quite some time and when the dev was asked about it we got: "Game is not dead, Genesz just doesn't like social interaction. Thanks." I mean, your playerbase is curious what the hell is going on with the game. The game hasn't been updated in SOME TIME. Whether you like social interaction or not, you can explain to your players WHY you aren't nearly as active with updates. Whether it be life, money problems, no time, or whatever, I'm sure people would be understanding... But no, "Genesz doesn't like social interactions." Yeah, that's clear, because when you made that announcement on Steam, people jumped to the comments to be like "Ayo, wtf?" and you locked the comment section down. With closing remarks, if you want to play this game, you CAN still have fun with it. Some of the moments can be very fun/ funny and upgrading your car into something really mean can be satisfying. With that said, however, Drive Beyond Horizons (to my knowledge) is ALSO still in Early Access and has stuff in the BASE GAME that you would have to have mods for them to be in this game. DBH devs are seemingly active, at the time of writing this review, they just added like 5 different cars to the game. Overall, whether you get this game or DBH, that's your call.