During the Steam Next Fest back in June, a handful racing games were demoed for racers to try out. One such game was PalmRide, originally a pre-pandemic school project that was highly praised over social networks. That evolved into a three-person team effort, and that turned into the retro-futuristic driver that we can play today that was inspired by classics like Out Run and Rad Racer.
The goal is to drive and avoid the mayhem. “Let the synthwave beats guide you into a journey through the night,” a quote that comes straight from the release. Driving the city streets, climbing up mountains, driving to the beach, all while avoiding obstacles along the way. “Be the rad guy!”
The game includes a multiplayer feature to play against friends, as well as an online global ranking system. Some of the other features listed include an “endless procedurally-generated map,” map variants including city, mountain and ocean as well as “road rendering using classic road rendering techniques.”
Besides driving, there is a shooter aspect to this driving gamer. You can pick up extra lives, bullets, nitro, and flight bonuses as you drive around the maps, and you can pretty much shoot anything. You can listen to the synthwave background music, but you also can import your own music into the game. Be warned, however, that there are tunnels that can trigger epilepsy in photosensitive persons.
From the press material, I think it’s very clever to shape the UI like a bubbled CRT TV. Steam has a demo available to try before buying, but honestly, it comes in at $3.99 on a normal day, currently down to $2.59 with a special Steam promotion. It shouldn’t hurt too many racers’ wallets. If you download it, let us know your thoughts on it in the comments below.
