“Over the Hill” is the long-awaited spiritual successor to the amazing “Art of Rally”.
It wasn’t perfect, and it certainly didn’t hold your hand, but it was great Art of Rally remains one of the most beautiful and balanced racing games of the last five years. Today, developer Funselektor has finally unveiled a spiritual successor — one that takes the driving experience to even more challenging terrain.
Over the Hill celebrates the “golden age of offroading” that promises a wonderful world of challenging courses that you can conquer alone or with friends, using vehicles inspired by iconic cars of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, such as the Land Rover 110, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Ford Bronco.
As the second game created by Funselektor and Strelka Games, who collaborated last year on the stunning F1-inspired management racer Golden Round, Over the Hill based on the personal experiences of the founder of Funselektor Dune Casu. He left Vancouver’s high rental costs behind and converted a pickup truck into a fully functional camper, complete with a kitchen, bed, solar panels and—most importantly—a workspace.
“Having developed several motorsports games, we wanted to go off the rails by offering players a massive world to lose themselves in at a slower pace,” said Casu. “There’s something special about being in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere, the tranquility, the sounds of nature and less distraction from the civilized world. I hope this game can really drive that feeling home.”
The experience aims to deliver a free-roaming off-road exploration game with beautiful graphics modeled after its minimalist art style Art of Rally. Across a range of familiar biomes and terrains, the world is subject to day and night cycles and weather changes that hope to deliver an ever-changing and consistently original experience.
“Over the Hill” puts a lot of emphasis on comfortable multiplayer driving.
Over the Hill it also aims to reward loyalty with multiple progression paths. Portals connect environments together and unlock new areas. Each area has its own objectives, challenges and hidden gems. You can also customize your route with gear that makes certain journeys easier to navigate.
From its trailer, its real charm Over the Hill seems to be its multiplayer appeal — a lo-fi Expeditions: A MudRunner Game which focuses less on overcoming obstacles and more on relaxing together.
There is no specific release date for Over the Hill just yet, but you can wish it now on Steam. There are no plans for a console release yet, though Art of Rally found itself on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch about a year after its PC debut — and this sequel feels like the perfect day-one multiplayer debut for players like Game Pass.
