RV There Yet? Review (PC)

One of us is pulling teeth out over a malfunctioning winch; another of us is sloppily guiding the RV into a ravine; the third is smoking a cigarette and drinking a cold beer in the midst of catastrophe; and I, sadly, am witnessing the sudden downfall of a once-competent team of capable vacationers. I love these boys, but honestly, they couldn’t arrange a prayer during a Sunday service. It isn’t that they’re stupid; it’s that they lack the basic skills needed to accomplish even the simplest of tasks, like attaching a winch to an RV, for example. And yet, in spite of all our joint flaws, there is still this strange feeling that we’re collectively sharing. I guess you could say that it isn’t about the destination, but the journey — or something like that. I hate them, but when all’s said and done, I can’t do it without ‘em, either.

RV There Yet? has taught me a couple of things: RVs are fantastic — but only when they’re capable of doing as they’re told; and that people, especially those who have infinite access to cigarettes and cold beers, are prone to procrastinate during the worst possible moments. Say, if an enormous ravine miraculously sprouts out from the woodland abyss — beers, at least in most cases, are the first thing to exit the toolkit. For that reason alone, I wouldn’t say that RV There Yet? is a game that’s built with serious travelers in mind; on the contrary, it’s a rage game that lures backpackers into a clutch of alternate routes and unorthodox ways of exploring. It doesn’t want you to reach your goal; it simply enjoys watching you try and fail. Spectacularly, at that.

The Incompetent Quad

To put you aboard the locomotive, RV There Yet? is a four-player physics-based game in which you, as well as up to three additional fledgling travelers, take to the wheel of a recreational vehicle that, after being re-routed from the original road, has been instructed to follow an “alternate” path. Herein lies the problem: the route in question isn’t a simple asphalt road; it’s a wooded ravine that harbors countless weaning trees, rocky trails, and daring inclines. The goal, however, isn’t quite as difficult. Well, it is, though it’s best not to dwell on it for too long for, you know, sanity’s sake.

If you’ve played MudRunner before, then you ought to know how a winch works. Heck, you should have a good idea of how most of the components work — especially the ones that have tendencies to drag you out of a sticky situation. Well, as it turns out, RV There Yet? isn’t massively different than that. Similar in design, the game requires you to alternate between a selection of tools, cooperate with your teammates, and collectively work to ensure that the ol’ bag of bones that you actively despise will remain intact whilst you barrel through a variety of obstacles. The only thing that sets this world apart from its kin, of course, is its strange fixation on cigarettes, brewskis, and slacking. I’m not complaining, though; I’m oddly overjoyed that there’s a outlet for my ever-growing frustration towards my so-called “friends.”

He Who Dares…

To answer the question of whether or not RV There Yet? is fun — yes, it is. Granted, the entire process in itself is a headache, and it coughs up more arguments than a seasonal event in a Battlefield lobby. That said, the small moments that it frequently generates—the comical situations that occur during the eleventh hour, usually—genuinely do make the overall journey a stupidly entertaining experience that keeps you on the tip of your toes. It isn’t a long trip (unless you’re with my squad, in which case it is), but where it lacks in longevity, it surprisingly makes up for in several other ways. Sure enough, it’s as humorous as it is silly. It isn’t always rewarding, but boy is it amusing.

Of course, the journey that you take in RV There Yet? isn’t without its jitters. Mechanically, it runs all rather smoothly, despite it harboring a physics-based system that, in all honesty, most of us would struggle to tell whether or not was working, or if it was disguising its janky components with a weaponized cartoon aesthetic. Even still, for a game that relies on chaos and physics-based carnage, the game does actually look and feel surprisingly good. Again, it doesn’t feel the slightest bit rewarding, though it does find various ways to keep you chugging along, even when you’re desperately clutching at straws and contemplating, well, everything.

All in all, I’d say that there’s a lot of depth here. The goal is as straightforward as they come, true. That said, RV There Yet? still fosters some great details, including a puffy cartoon aesthetic, comical rag doll physics, and a proximity chat feature that allows you the opportunity to scream “PIVOT” at your friends for twenty minutes straight. I’d say that’s a solid amount of goodies, all things considered.

Verdict

RV There Yet? finds the middle ground between being a blood-boiling physics-based co-op expedition and an annoyingly entertaining sandbox adventure that, with its winch of chaotic energy and slapstick camaraderie in tow, has the potential to persuade even the worst shut-ins to leave their homes and board its RV of fun-fueled pantomimes.

In the short amount of time I spent with RV There Yet?, I laughed, I cried, and I more or less discovered that recreational vehicles made for pretty awful off-road companions. Did I enjoy it? Yes — but it came at a price. Yet, even with that price, there was something that kept pulling me back to do it all over again. With hindsight, it was probably the nicotine. It wasn’t the camaraderie, anyway.

Suffice it to say that, if it’s a MudRunner lookalike that you’re looking to attach your winch to, then you might as well depart from these waters and opt for an alternate route. If, however, you’re content with the idea of tearing the hair from your scalp as you bark and brawl with your friends whilst simultaneously barreling your shoddy recreational vehicle through a ravine (niche, I know), then you’re in luck, as RV There Yet? pretty much checks all of those boxes.