Freeride claims to be a personality test, but the ingredients list states it’s a narrative RPG. So, is it Final Fantasy with a bit of judgment at the end? Why did you kick that dog and ignore that old deer when she asked you to pop down the shops? Because there wasn’t an achievement for it! I digress.
No, Freeride, from Flightyfelon Games, is nothing like Final Fantasy. It doesn’t feel particularly narrative-driven, but it does have RPG elements. To some extent. You play as a future Bill & Ted fashionista waiting at the local train station, hopping on the train, only to find it populated by the cast of Build-a-Bear.
There’s a variety of cute weirdos with their quirky ways and almost monosyllabic interactions on the commute who are challenging to understand. Fortunately, the conductor on board is relatively coherent and friendly. However, before you swap Instas, they ‘disappear’, leaving you to take on their role in an upside-down, abstract world seemingly crumbling at its core with TV white noise fanfare.
Freeride Review
This is the bit where we smugly nod to the RPG label, as now we’ll be off on side quests, levelling up, and watching countless cutscenes. Wrong. Freeride moves alarmingly quickly (unless you drag your heels while exploring), and it hardly makes sense. I found it incredibly difficult to identify, associate with, and relate to any characters. They looked intriguing but spoke in gibberish and consequently didn’t have the time of day for them. Alas, that’s what narrative games should be about.
My immediate issue with the game was the controls. Almost playing everything on the Steam Deck these days, it ran perfectly and looked great in the stapled ‘Dreamcast-like’ aesthetic. Unfortunately, the key binding was a pig as you wield telekinetic powers, hovering pots and pans in front of your face and shifting up and down the Y-axis, you can awkwardly throw and gift items.
Gifting an item in Freeride is crucial, and using a shortcut to the virtual keyboard meant switching to the gaming laptop with a mouse, which was… better. Gifting was no longer a problem, but the few combat elements were horrible: grabbing at anything within proximity and stupidly lobbing at an enemy in the hope of connecting. It was tricky and, ultimately, tedious. Coupled with excruciating camera angles, while Freeride’s average playthrough is predicted between 3-4 hours, it feels much longer.
Are You Local?
But interacting with the locals will redeem that, surely? As stated, no. Throughout the narrative and occasional fourth-wall snippets, it’s claimed that it’ll all make sense, and the more you play and explore, the more you’ll understand and benefit. As a narrative-driven whore who knows most tricks, and thinks outside of the box more than they should, even I found the dialogue and storytelling too much of an in-joke. Not that it was necessarily funny, but you had to be ‘in on it’.
That was where the indifference remained; thus, I struggled with my time in Freeride. It’s an interesting concept with a nice vibe and chill ambience. Though the characters weren’t memorable for their words or actions, their designs were decent and showed a lot of promise. However, we couldn’t get past the first date.
Freeride Review Summary
If the appeal of a personality test is drawing you to this game, consider The Test series of games or speak to your shrink. Do you miss the Dreamcast aesthetic like me? Get a Dreamcast. And finally, if a cosy RPG is on the cards, may I suggest Duck Detective: The Secret Salami? I’d never actively discourage playing a game, Freeride just wasn’t for me.
