Over The Hill Review - It`s My Game of the Year!
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Video in English, published by the channel TeleMenace.
About this content: The summary, key points and topics below are generated automatically from the video transcript. They reflect the content, opinions, claims and predictions presented in the video and do not represent a position, validation or fact-check by Game ARX.
Video summary
The video presents an overview of the off-road exploration game Over the Hill, discussing its gameplay loop, atmosphere, mechanics, available vehicles, and release content across regions like Canada and Algeria.
Key points
- Over the Hill focuses on off-roading, exploration, and atmosphere without hard objectives or obnoxious waypoints.
- The game features 21 vehicles at launch, including iconic off-roaders, SUVs, and trucks, offering a balance between arcade and simulation physics.
- The release version includes two regions, Canada and Algeria, spread across five maps with different terrains and difficulty levels.
- Players can collect customization items, unlock cabins for fast travel, complete demanding trails to unlock vehicles, and perform vehicle recoveries.
- Additional activities include gathering meteorites and wildlife photography to earn currency for vehicle upgrades.
- Performance optimization allows the game to run smoothly on modern PCs as well as handheld devices like the Steam Deck.
Topics
Over the HillOff-road explorationGameplay mechanicsVehicle upgradesWorld buildingWildlife photographyMultiplayerSteam Deck performance
Video transcript
Transcript from available captions; it may contain errors.
I cover a lot of off-road and trucking games and this year there aren't many games that I would recommend more than over the hill. It's really that simple, guys. Quite frankly, ask yourselves, do you like off-roading and do you like exploring and discovering awesome places while taking in absolutely breathtaking views with the awesome soundtrack? If the answer to both of those questions are yes, then close the video, go buy the game and discover this masterpiece of a game yourself because this review is going to be me blazing about this game and simply how good it is. Over the hill is one of those games where you can experience everything as many times as you want and yeah, there's replayability, but nothing hits the same as the first time when you overcome the odds and get to the top of the mountain. Or maybe the first time you see the sun disappear into the horizon. Or the first time you witness a meteorite illuminate the night sky. This game is magical. Yes, the game is about off-roading and exploring uncharted territories, but it is as much about just switching the engine off and soaking in the atmosphere. See, the vision from developers is that nature is a big and very important part of this game and the cars, well, they are the means to [music] see all of it. So, I know what you're thinking. How can a game with such simple art style capture the sense of scale and adventure you speak of? See, over the hill has three elements that makes this so amazing and so capable of jaw-dropping moments. One is beautiful lightning, two is world building, and three is astonishing soundtrack. We will touch on all of those separately, but I suppose for me to paint a full picture of what the game really is, we need to start at the beginning. As its core, over the hill seems simple. Grab a vehicle and go off-roading. There are no mission objectives screaming at you where to go or obnoxious waypoints or arrows pointing you in the right direction. In fact, there are no hard objectives at all. You get the uncharted map and off you go. So, the gameplay for me goes something like this. You see something in the distance, you start moving towards it, get distracted by something else, take a completely different route, and end up somewhere you never intended to go while making discoveries along the way. That is the loop I found myself in. With every discovery you make in the world, you are given currency called pebbles or a cosmetic item for your vehicle. The further you venture into the map, the more difficult the terrain gets, and you will eventually have to upgrade your ride to go further and higher. In the starter map, it's entirely possible to go without upgrades, but it's better if you start installing them sooner rather than later. Trust me on this. But those are not even the real rewards that you get. The real rewards are the views, the scenery, the cozy log cabin you unlock at the end of your trail, and the adventure you experience to get there. That is the real reward. There are not a lot of places I went to that left me feeling that it was pointless or it wasn't worth it. I think it's all thanks to the wonderful world building that makes every journey so memorable. Eventually, you get into the rhythm and start scouting most of the map to get everything there is to find. There is a lot of satisfaction in having things ticked off the map. You will start heading towards a reward or a watchtower, and I guarantee you that you will get distracted nine times out of 10. You will see something else over in the distance that will look so enticing that is going to make you forget your original destination. Next thing you know, you're photographing the wildlife for extra pebbles or camping on the hill with your friends. The game does really good job with sense of discovery. And yes, as I mentioned, there's a lot of things to collect in the world, but the game doesn't feel like collect-a-thon because you really get lost in this game in all meanings of that word. And the items you find are just a byproduct of it all. The 24-hour night and day cycle, dynamic weather, and stunning lighting in this game is just all comes together so nicely that you are simply left in awe of it all. Top all of that with three different albums of ambient and chill music, and it's just the most atmospheric game you'll ever play. In some ways, the atmosphere in this game reminds me of a game called Journey from a few years back. And that is a huge, huge compliment to any game. But yeah, that's the atmosphere and the world setting, but now let's talk about the mechanics. Straight off the bat, full disclosure, the game is not an off-road simulator. If you are expecting real-life physics, you will not find them here. But it's not a complete arcade game either. It's somewhere in between. The game will feature 21 trucks at launch, and there is a bit of everything for everyone. You have the '80s and '90s iconic off-roaders like the Scout 800, Land Rover Defender, and multiple Toyota Land Cruisers. You have your American SUV and pickup trucks, and even some minivans and a Unimog. So, there's truly a nice variety of trucks. The vehicles have their own characteristics, and some are stronger than the others, but it's absolutely your preference and your choice which vehicles you're going to take out into the wilderness as they all have their pros and their cons. The game has things like friction values for different terrains like ice, mud, water, and rocks. And the vehicles have low and high gears with a manual gearbox if you choose to use it. Even engines have simulated RPMs. But that's not the only things that are simulated. You know, you have your suspension simulation, damage simulation, and so on. But it's all done really subtly, and it doesn't get in the way, and it doesn't become tedious or frustrating. In my opinion, the game strikes a nice balance between still being challenging but forgiving. There's a lot of simulation and other things that's is going on under the hood here in this game, but it's also free from all that noise to let you enjoy the journey. See, your trucks can be equipped with things like jack to flip you over if you get stuck, or a winch that can be placed with the radius of your vehicle to winch you out. Or maybe a couple of planks that can help you cross the crevasse. If you're playing multiplayer, you and your friends need to coordinate who's carrying what as there are limited slots for consumable items. So, that's the vehicles, but now let's talk a bit more about the maps and what is there on the release day. So, the game will feature two regions in its 1.0 release, Canada and Algeria. Canada is a three map region with some of it being winter maps and Algeria is a desert region with two maps. How you progress within the region is absolutely your choice, but you are strongly encouraged to upgrade your truck. See, in Canada you start in the valley on the first map while moving higher and higher and ending up on the top of snowy peaks of Asgard mountain on the third map. You travel between the maps through gateways that can sometimes be a ferry or a tunnel. So, naturally the first map is a lot more forgivable, but the third map you will need some or all of the upgrades for your truck. And Algeria overall is a step up in difficulty from Canada, so upgraded trucks is absolutely paramount there. So, both of these regions and five maps across them are really nice and they have nice visuals, but the world is not just full of nice views. There are things to do also. There are dozens of crates to collect within each map which usually have customization items for your vehicle. There are also cabins to reach and unlock which will serve you as a fast travel points when you want to track back or when you fully stuck and you need to recover the truck. The main way to unlock new vehicles is through these really demanding trails. There is no time or rating, the only objective is to get to the end of these trails and the new vehicle will be unlocked and yours. These trails can seem okay at first, but as the game progresses they will really test your skills and precision while driving. All of these can be completed in single player, too, so there's no need for multiplayer. The next activity that can be found on the maps is vehicle recoveries. Each map will have a handful of recoveries where you have to tow a broken down vehicle to a designated space. And lastly, there are scenic points to collect which are these photo op locations that you need to collect around the map. If you like pictures, though, there is an outstanding photo mode built in into the game with millions of sliders so you can really take some stunning shots. So, these are the activities that are required to 100% a map or a region, but then there are in-world activities that can bank you some pebbles to fully upgrade your truck. One of these is a meteorites. You can see them fall from the sky or you can see them glow in the distance at night. Some of them are small, some of them are medium or big. For the big meteorites, you and your friends need to attach the winches and try to pull them out of the out of the ground together. Smaller ones can be done by yourself. These are simply a way to upgrade your truck fully. As if you are like me, you can only upgrade five or six trucks fully before you are out of pebbles which you earn from the region. So, if you want to own all of the trucks and for all of them to be fully upgraded, you'll have to grind some meteorites for extra pebbles. The next way to earn a few extra pebbles is wildlife photography. You have this scrapbook in your inventory that shows you how many animals can be found in this region. And it's your task to find them and photograph them. They're not marked on the map, so you need to explore and find them. Once you photograph them, you get pebbles as a reward and you store the picture in your scrapbook. If you find the same animal just with better light or a better angle, snap again and you will be asked which picture you want to keep. Both Algeria and Canada have different scrapbooks for different animals. All of the pictures you take in this game are displayed in the main menu as Polaroids, which is a nice touch. For a game that is this beautiful, it's only natural that photography is a key part of this game. So, that is the content that is releasing with the game in 1.0, but I'm sure more regions and more vehicles will be added to the game later on. Performance-wise, I'll say this. If you played the demo a while back and your older PC or your Steam Deck was struggling a bit, the game has come leaps and bounds with optimization. If you have somewhat modern PC, you will run this sucker on ultra settings with no issues. And older PCs will still run it on medium with no major problems. In fact, I am myself a Steam Deck owner and now, after many, many updates, I can run it on medium settings with FPS sitting between 55 to 60 if my camera is pointed at the vehicle and 35 to 40 if I'm looking from the top of the mountain into the valley with a really incredible draw distance. So, on a small 90 Hz screen, it feels incredible and fully playable on the Steam Deck. So, in keeping this video as a review and not just me glazing about the game, do you I recommend Over the Hill? Yes, 100% in a heartbeat, no questions asked. Over the Hill is really that good. The team at Funselektor has managed to capture the magic of exploration, being at one with the nature, and using your vehicle as a vessel for all of this. 10 out of 10 game, mark my words, this is going to be nominated for an indie game of the year award, and easily the best driving game to be released in recent history. Don't only take my word for it, 1.5 million people has wish listed this on Steam alone, and I mean, that says enough. But, that is it, guys. Thank you for watching this video. I'm going to be streaming Over the Hill for foreseeable future and making content for it. So, if not my words, my actions will show you that I really love this title. And no, I am never sponsored to make these type of videos by developers, but I am sponsored by Instant Gaming and I need your support. This video is brought to you by Instant Gaming, a trusted platform offering thousands of digital games at best prices available. 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About the game
over the hill is an off-road driving game developed and published by Funselektor Labs Inc. and released on Steam on October 14, 2026. According to its Steam page, players drive iconic 4x4 vehicles from the 60s to the 80s, alone or with friends, through challenging trails and scenery, in a setting inspired by the golden age of off-roading.
The Steam page lists single-player and online co-op, and an interface available in 16 languages, including Portuguese and Spanish. Besides PC (Windows), Wikidata also lists PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 among its platforms.
Fact sheet
- Game: over the hill
- Genre: Off-road driving (adventure, racing, simulation)
- Developer / Publisher: Funselektor Labs Inc.
- Release (Steam): October 14, 2026
- Modes: Single-player, online co-op
- Interface languages: 16
- Other platforms (Wikidata): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
- Steam page: store.steampowered.com/app/2929250
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Sources and references: Wikidata (Q134965317) · over the hill on Steam · video by the TeleMenace channel on YouTube.
Publicação: Game ARX · Fontes e correções
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