Straightforward Supply Co. assessment: a comfortable, Lynchian dream

I’ve been a fan of David Lynch ever since a pal’s older brother interrupted a thirteenth birthday celebration to insist all of us watch Eraserhead. Within the realm of horror films, it’s a standard option to be launched to a seminal movie: be it in a pal’s basement, illicit underage viewings, or a stray advice from a pot-smoking sibling. It feels apt, then, that my first introduction to Straightforward Supply Co. was a pal insisting I drop every thing as a result of a recreation exists that allows you to play as a cat driving a kei truck.

I admit, these two issues don’t instantly correlate. However it’s clear that Lynch, significantly Twin Peaks, was a significant affect for developer Sam Cameron, in what the Steam description explains is “a soothing driving recreation, with undoubtedly no secrets and techniques.”

Straightforward Supply Co. begins you off gently. You’re a anonymous black cat, rendered within the type of Animal Crossing on the GameCube, working as a supply driver in a sleepy mountain neighborhood. Day and night time, you shuttle provides between retailers and companies snowed in by a perpetual blizzard. Like most real-world supply drivers, resting is discouraged. As an alternative, you neck vitality drinks and occasional to maintain at bay the biting chilly that threatens to beat you the second you set foot exterior the adorably small cabin of your kei truck.

That chilly will probably be your first signal that each one is just not what it appears. Succumbing to the blizzard as you shuffle to a merchandising machine or take too lengthy shutting your truck’s tailgate briefly transports you to a darkish and ostensibly countless maze, earlier than you wake to renew your deliveries. But, as your world expands to different cities, you’ll additionally discover that, curiously, all of the shopkeepers stay the identical. Then there’s MK, the one character you’ll meet exterior — and the one canine on the town — who leads you away from the repeating internet of deliveries to set you on the trail to unraveling the mountain’s mysteries.

Straightforward Supply Co. is just not a fancy recreation. You drive, choose stuff up, and spend your earnings on the means to do extra of that. This low-poly mixture of Lake and Silent Hill makes for an attention-grabbing idea, even when, like many indie video games that come across an intriguing hook, the story is slightly clumsy — particularly as the sport shifts from a meandering string of ostensibly unrelated duties towards its narrative climax.

There are tough edges, too. Amongst just a few minor bugs I encountered, dropping cargo — which you’ll do usually on these icy roads — can generally depart you unable to retrieve it despite the fact that it’s proper in entrance of you. These tough edges, nevertheless, should not terminal. That particular bug is well remedied by aborting the job and choosing one other, as Straightforward Supply Co. is pleasingly forgiving, levying few penalties for leaving a job or having a tough drive.

Driving, the factor you’ll do essentially the most on this recreation, is enjoyable with out being passive, a tough stability to strike. Setting Straightforward Supply Co. in a snowy tangle of mountain roads, delivering quite a lot of gadgets that impression how your truck handles, is a brilliant flip. You may zone out considerably, however not utterly, as it’s a must to alter for the circumstances and hundreds. That is one thing you’ll grow to be accustomed to after you careen off the street and roll down the mountain just a few occasions — one thing I did slightly extra usually for enjoying with the peerlessly manageable keyboard controls, relatively than a controller. None of that’s irritating. In actual fact, greater than as soon as a mistake led to an unintentional shortcut, achieved principally by someway surviving a prolonged cartwheel down an incline with my cargo intact.

If I’ve one obvious subject with Straightforward Supply Co., it’s the stability between course and freedom. Many mechanics in-game are present in readable tutorials but additionally in a position to be puzzled out. For example, I appreciated with the ability to ignore steering and work out how you can make espresso myself or that my lighter will let me keep out within the chilly for longer. Being ushered by way of the sport’s predominant quest by MK, I discovered myself — oddly for somebody normally allergic to obfuscation — wishing there was extra of the central thriller to find independently, extra secrets and techniques past the odd collectible to unravel myself. Although that, I believe, comes from a want to spend extra time in Straightforward Supply Co.’s eerier aspect. Both that or I’m only a cat particular person.

It’s an indication of how versatile Straightforward Supply Co. will be, nevertheless. You may, should you’re inclined, race by way of the sport’s predominant story with minimal deliveries within the area of some hours. You can too utterly ignore it — and MK — and keep frozen in a sequence of deliveries, basking within the low-poly, nostalgic atmosphere and listening to catchy jingles by way of the radio.

My favourite option to play was to make Straightforward Supply Co. small within the nook of my display screen, the place it remained completely seen and playable, whereas watching YouTube or TV… which can have contributed to how a lot time I spent off-road. I may be biased, if solely as a result of Straightforward Supply Co. feels prefer it’s been developed from a Venn diagram of my particular pursuits (particularly adorably proportioned motor autos). However one in every of my gaming holy grails is one thing I can play and luxuriate in whereas watching one thing else to go drained hours — in Straightforward Supply Co. I’ve lastly discovered that.

_{Straightforward Supply Co. is offered now on Steam.}