Keep Driving
You’re low on gas, out of cash, and one pothole away from disaster; but the mixtape’s bumpin’ and the vibes are chillin’.
Keep Driving is a narrative-driven roguelike life sim set in the early 2000s, where you’re not racing toward a finish line, you’re chasing experiences. You play as a young traveler on a cross-country road trip, managing fuel, food, energy, and money while navigating encounters both heartfelt and hazardous. The game blends light survival mechanics with a heavy dose of storytelling, wrapped in nostalgic pixel art and an unforgettable lo-fi mixtape. With multiple characters, loadouts, vehicles, and routes to choose from, every run feels like a new story in the making; one shaped entirely by your choices behind the wheel.
UX (Control Feel & User Experience)
Keep Driving places you directly inside a pixel-style dashboard, simulating the interior of a car. From fuel gauges to energy meters, every bit of useful info is woven directly into your car’s layout. This style literally brings your HUD to life, making it an integral part of your gameplay, not just something you glance at for information. It might take a minute to adjust, but once you do, everything feels comfortably lived-in.
You won’t actually drive in the traditional sim sense; this is more point-and-click life management than racing game. But the car is fully interactive: you can pull over, pop the trunk, and access your inventory at any time. Organizing your gear becomes its own little game of trunk-Tetris as you balance spare parts, food, tools, and whatever you’ve picked up along the way. Menus are clean and easy to understand. And because the entire UI is stylized around being in a car, it maintains immersion while still being fully functional.
Gameplay Progression
Keep Driving starts with one of the best setups for replayability I’ve seen in a sim like this. You build a backstory for your character, choosing from a student, unemployed drifter, or part-time mechanic; and that choice actually matters. Each role comes with its own perk, like cheaper repairs or building skills faster while on the road. Every option is clearly explained and takes the guesswork out of these crucial decisions.
You’ll also pick your starting loadout: maybe a fully stocked care package from Mom, a few handy tools, or a guitar and case of beer you can pawn if things get desperate. Finally, choose your ride. The 1981 Sedan is your starter car, but eventually, you’ll unlock other options with their own tradeoffs in storage, performance, and style.
One detail I loved? You can set how strong your relationship is with your parents. It seems small, but it plays into one of the most important systems: how likely they are to help you if you get stranded. For a hard mode experience, burn that bridge early and see how far you can make it on your own.
The core gameplay loop kicks in early: drive, manage fuel and supplies, deal with events, repeat. After a run or two, some encounters may start to feel familiar, but that’s where the game’s charm takes over. With 9 different endings and just 17 achievements, it seems beatable. But in reality? You’ll be replaying again and again trying to find the right combination of choices, characters, and random events to unlock them all. There’s even an achievement that requires you to fail a police encounter while intoxicated.
Immersion
Immersion is everything in Keep Driving.
From the moment you’re handed your license and say goodbye to your parents, the tone is set. You open a letter from an old friend, urging you to meet them at a music festival on the East Coast. Whether you make it or not? That’s entirely up to you.
Every encounter on the road feels like a page out of a coming-of-age novel. You’ll stop at small towns and big cities alike, pick up hitchhikers, find some odd jobs for quick cash, and even explore on foot. Some NPCs are helpful, some hilarious, others just plain weird. And the game’s turn-based encounter system adds real stakes to every mile.
That tailgater might take more energy out of you than you realize. Hit a pothole, and you might lose cash or car durability. These aren’t just random stat changes, they feel like situationally appropriate, real-world consequences.
By the time you’ve been on the road for a few in-game days, you aren’t just “playing a run.” You’re living a story.
Stability & Performance
Flawless. I’ve logged over 30 hours with no bugs, no crashes, no weird hiccups. It runs perfectly every single time.
Value for Price
At full price, Keep Driving is $17.99 USD / $24.65 CAD / € 16.40 Euro. At the time of writing, it’s 10% off through July 27 ($16.19 USD). I grabbed it during the Steam Summer Sale for $14.52, and my current cost-per-hour is just $0.48.
Even at full price, this is an incredible value. It’s got high replayability, branching paths, and an emotional narrative hook. You’ll want to go back just to see how things could’ve gone differently.
Final Verdict
Keep Driving isn’t just a roguelike road trip game, it’s a deeply immersive story generator that puts you behind the wheel of your own emotional journey. Every decision matters. Every encounter builds the world. And every run feels personal.
Joystick Score: 5/5
Whether you reach your final destination or break down somewhere along the way, this one’s absolutely worth the ride.