Platforms:
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
Released:
May 22, 2025
Publisher:
Konami
Developer:
Far Out Games
It only takes one glance at Deliver At All Costs to understand its appeal. We all remember games like GTA and LA Noire, which feature notoriously unwieldy driving systems that have you bowling over pedestrians, rear-ending other cars, and crashing into walls. Funny thing is, we love every second of it. There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about blasting through a city street with no regard to property or person, so it’s nice to see a game finally tapping into that market.
Everyone knows video game driving mechanics can be a little awkward. Unlike racing games, which centre their physics engine behind the wheel, games like GTA and L.A. Noire have different gameplay focuses and therefore can’t afford to fine-tune their driving segments. Deliver At All Costs is a love letter to goofy video game driving and specifically the absolute carnage it brings.
The gameplay is stupid simple, and really, it says it all in the title. You play as Winston Green, a newbie delivery driver for 1950s family business We Deliver. Your task is always to drive from point A to point B with precious cargo, and you are very highly encouraged to collide with as many things as you see fit on the way there. Truth is, I started my playthrough intending to obey the road rules as much as I could just as a test of the driving mechanics, and it took me only a few seconds to realise that my efforts would be fruitless. Missions start out with reasonable hazards, like wet roads or fragile cargo, but quickly escalate into the realm of the ridiculous, like active missile fire or driving while attached to a bunch of balloons. Every single building, fence, and traffic light on the map is put there for you to crash through; and crash through them you will.
“Deliver At All Costs is a love letter to goofy video game driving and the absolute carnage it brings.”
Deliver At All Costs successfully toes the fine line between good bad controls and bad bad controls, creating thirteen chapters of chaotic and hilarious fun. The left and right triggers, which control acceleration and reverse, are extremely responsive and control speed just like a gas pedal, making it extremely easy to mess up your speed and cause a three-car pile-up. While your truck is in reverse, you have to invert your left and right inputs, which feels intuitive to my muscle memory, yet still easily allows for comical mishaps when I think too hard about which direction I need to push alongside which trigger.
The fact that the story never acknowledges your reckless driving is all part of the joke. No matter what you destroy on your way to the customer, they’ll always happily receive your delivery, even as the remains of their house crumble around them. And when Winston does get into trouble at work, it’s not because of his reckless driving — it’s because of his secret past. Yes, this game has a real story, and it’s far more engaging than it has any right to be.
Winston Green is haunted by a secret in his past that gets drawn out in the open by Donovan, the company president’s capitalist son, kickstarting a dramatic story about corporate intrigue and government conspiracy that would fit in perfectly in a game that took itself completely seriously. The powerful voice performances from the main leads help to sell it, to the point that I was on the edge of my seat in the final two chapters.
It’s all built with humour in mind. The already funny premise is enhanced by the nonchalance with which the game reacts to your carnage. Not only do your customers never comment on it, but even the pedestrians you send flying —interrupting their aggressively jaunty stroll, how could you— don’t feel very strongly about it. They will grouse at you and push you around for a bit, and then go back on their merry way again. I found a tutorial in the menu that claims that police will eventually come after you, but that never happened to me, except once, where the story literally put Winston on the run.
I wish the police came after you more often, because the map outside of main missions is the game’s weakest link. There’s a general lack of things to do, which limits my enthusiasm for exploration. There are a small handful of question marks littered around the place signalling side quests and ‘secret cars’ that Winston can ditch his pickup truck for— think L.A. Noire’s collection of hidden cars, but they’re not a faithful recreation of a real vintage car. I won’t blame them for that, as not everyone can use Jay Leno’s private vintage car collection to use as reference material. Still, without anything else going for them, they are only a momentary curiosity. The side quests are far more entertaining to sink your teeth into — my favourite example being the clown that requested that I drive a haunted car up to the summit of an active volcano and pitch it in like it’s the One Ring. Without more of these around the map, the small crates and chests that are hidden around aren’t quite exciting enough to waste time driving around.
Contributing to this problem are the loading zones you have to constantly drive through, and I do mean constantly. Winston begins and ends every day at his apartment, which is across town from the We Deliver HQ. The drive to work takes you past two loading zones, which only last a couple of seconds but disrupt the experience no matter what. Each zone causes the audio to lag unpleasantly, which is a rude interruption to the otherwise enjoyable 50s-style soundtrack. The maps aren’t especially large, so the loading zones don’t exactly feel justified. They’re not enough on their own to ruin anything, but they certainly make you think twice about driving across town just to visit one of the few points of interest.
8
Great
Positive:
- Driving controls feel really good but also goofy
- Each new mission throws a new funny challenge at your car
- Story is more compelling than it has any right to be
- Great voice acting sells the dichotomy between silly gameplay and serious story
Negative:
- Constant loading zones put a damper on the fun
- Map feels a little sparse for extra stuff to do
In its 10-15 hour runtime, Deliver At All Costs delivers (haha) a short and sweet package of iconic video game driving nonsense. The driving mechanics handle well enough to feel satisfying to play, while also being unwieldy enough to turn you into the worst road menace of the 1950s. Focused on feeding you laughs every chapter through its gameplay and juxtaposed seriously dramatic storyline, reckless endangerment has never been so much fun.
About the Author
Edie W-K
she/her
If it isn't video games, Edie doesn't care about it. She's been playing games since the N64 era, and only spent enough time away from her 3DS to earn a Bachelor in Games Design from RMIT.
