Over the Hill to host closed playtest after hitting one million wishlists

Over the Hill doesn’t have a firm release date yet, but fans of Funselektor’s previous games can try the new off-road exploration game in a closed playtest later this month.

Registrations are open on Funselektor’s website until 16^th April, with the closed playtest taking place 24-26^th April on Steam to celebrate the indie game surpassing one million wishlists.

A new trailer shown during the Triple-I Initiative Showcase also reveals a new ‘algeria’ location. Inspired by the real-life country, the explorable environment will feature ancient ruins, sandy valleys and fallen meteorites to discover.  

In development by Funselektor and Strelka Games, Over the Hill sees players navigate challenging terrain and explore biomes in a range of rugged vehicles. Portals scattered around each location transport players to new areas, while completing objectives unlocks new vehicles, upgrades and cosmetics.

Originally slated for release in late 2025, Over the Hill is launching on Steam in the second half of 2026, with console versions set to follow for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 . The PS5 and Switch 2 versions will also be available physically, with pre-orders for the Standard and Collector’s Edition expected to open soon. 

Over the Hill’s release date confirmation expected “by the end of April”

“We are aiming for the second part of this year,” Strelka Games’ CEO Pietro De Grandi commented in a recent livestream addressing the lack of a release date.

De Grandi went on to explain that the team is working to create enough content to increase the game’s longevity. “This game is about exploration. We want to give you enough exploration content, cars, cosmetics to play around with, challenges and objectives,” the CEO said.  

In addition, the team is utilising the extra development time to improve the experience based on feedback from previous playtests. “The feedback [from the playtest] is overwhelmingly good,” said De Grandi. “But there’s still a lot of stuff not working well.

“The grip of some terrains is not working well. The handling of the cars is still not perfect. We need the time to get to the level of content that we want.”

As for when Over the Hill will arrive, Funselektor and Strelka Games are aiming to confirm a release date “by the end of April,” according to De Grandi.