Today’s demo coverage is for DriveWave on PC. The amount of demos I’m covering at the moment takes me back to the days of starting this site, where I was no longer writing for other platforms/magazines but myself. However, it’s not such a step back as I’ve been able to play a little more than usual, where in the past few weeks, the majority of time has been invested into Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, or replaying Cyberpunk 2077. Again.
TLDR exposition aside, DriveWave by Dumbbell Games is a unique experience similar to Whimside, where it’s a desktop companion more so than a dedicated ‘I’m going to be laser-focused on unlocking all achievements, secrets, and RSI’ title. All you need to do is click and type. On Steam, the game has been categorised as a clicker, which is fair, but it’s nothing like the conventional clicker, such as the unknown Femdemic. Equally, it’s not a game where you have to have the window open and type in commands/prompts.
I typically write my reviews on my Macs simply for convenience. They’re always connected, and I can multitask, having the PCs open for playing games and watching YouTube like some deluded Architect from The Matrix. Is it efficient? Probably not. However, because of the idle element of the game, much like Whimside, I found it much more constructive to write on my gaming laptop, as each time I type, the rev counter flashes on DriveWave, increasing my progress and potential of unlocking the dream car: the Nissan GTR (R35). However, considering the volume I write, the keystrokes are making minimal dents.
You can have the game load up on startup, and a tiny screen displaying speed, distance, fuel, and credits will appear on screen. The settings have a toggle for this to be on top or not, yet however many times I change this, DriveWave ALWAYS shows on top. It’s a small footprint for resources, but when playing other games and obtaining screen captures, I had to switch the game off, often forgetting to put it back on. Equally, the screen is tiny on my ultrawide, and I can seldom make out the figures for credits.
This might look a little boring and pointless, but again, as an idler/casual experience, you can drag the screen off to one corner and forget about it, or you could do what I’m doing right now and typing and watching my car drive down a retro highway. The moment I stop typing, it slows down and comes to a gradual halt. You may be wondering whether I have a great imagination of what my car looks like, considering I described the UI, yet you can open up an additional animated window – essential when you aren’t playing any other titles. It’s somewhat therapeutic, like a lava lamp or fish tank.
But what’s the point of typing if you’re simply trying to accumulate the miles and lower the value of your car when you sell it to Car Dealer Dan, who’ll knock off thousands due to wear and tear? The more miles you consume, the more credits you earn, which unlocks a plethora of new, unlicensed vehicles. Naturally, we know who all these manufacturers are, so it’s no big deal to be driving an Arta Roma or Astoria. If you like your cars, you’ll know what they are.
You might recall that this is a demo, and there’s a fair amount of words written above. My motivation? A new car. There’s not much else to write about the DriveWave demo besides being able to customise the wheels and change the paint job with one of four choices. There’s no release date yet, but do download it on Steam and see how much you actually write over the course of a week. You never know, you might be able to buy an Audi – rather, Auvex.
