I have a complicated relationship with open roads. For nearly seven years, my anxiety wouldn’t let me get on a plane, so it was trains, buses, or automobiles to get home during and after college. I’ve driven from Vermont to the southeast and back more than anyone should. One instance was best documented in a text I sent to a friend: “I drove down the New Jersey Turnpike and for a moment it was nothing more than the purest man-made cancer.”
Thankfully, my relationship with the skies is much better. But when I drive now, I somehow get nostalgic for those dozen-plus-hour journeys. The liminal freedom between destinations, the way specific albums come to define each trip, and every roadside detour.
That peculiar sentimentality for road trips made Keep Driving stand out from the moment I first read about it. Oli Welsh’s preview for Polygon in October 2024 described it as capturing “the precarious freedom of a long drive when you have no money and all the time in the world.” That single line won me over. I immediately wishlisted the game and counted the days until release.
Fast-forward to February 6, 2025. I’m reading Mood Machine by Liz Pelly, and my phone vibrates with a notification. Keep Driving is finally out. I don’t know if I’ve ever bought a game on Steam faster than at that moment. I tried to resist playing but had to pause my work to get in a little more than an hour of game time.
What I initially expected would be an experience akin to A Short Hike — just get from point A to point B at your own pace — quickly revealed itself to be much deeper than anticipated. Within the first 30 minutes, my understanding of the game transformed completely.
That’s because Keep Driving offers:
- Multiple starting vehicles to unlock over time
- A large map of procedurally generated routes to add replayability for every run
- Quests, exploration points, and detailed in-game status effects
- Nine distinct endings to experience
- Several delightful hitchhikers to bring aboard, each with their own personalities and stories
The management aspect becomes clear early on. You’re constantly balancing fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance, your emotional state, and the all-important dollar on each route. Fatigue, hunger, inspiration, and feeling social all affect your journey in tangible ways.
I knew to expect the hitchhiker companions along the way, but I underestimated how central they’d be to the experience. These characters, like The Bride, The Hurricane, and The Convict, grow throughout your journey. They assist in the game’s diverse turn-based “road encounters” (from aggressive drivers or animals in the road to getting pulled over by the cops) and unlocking new abilities as they level up.
More importantly, they bring moments of genuine humanity to each run. Their personal stories connect and unfold with one another against the backdrop of endless highways or country roads.
But where Keep Driving truly won my heart was its fantastic soundtrack, transforming the entire experience. The game features an impressive collection of indie bands from Gothenburg, Sweden’s vibrant music scene. Hitting the road on my first playthrough and being greeted by Westkust‘s soaring shoegaze guitars immediately changed the entire tone of my journey. I had to stop and wonder if the music was composed specifically for the game or sourced from existing artists.
A quick search confirmed my suspicion of the latter: Westkust wasn’t just any band, but a Run for Cover Records artist that had somehow flown under my radar all these years! This first discovery set the pattern for what would become as much a journey of musical exploration as a road trip in game form.
As you progress through Keep Driving, you can buy or receive CDs with new artists, albums, and tracks to add to your growing collection. It’s made special with each new find happening organically: a hitchhiker shares their favorite band; a guy living in his van gives you a mixtape; a gas station or thrift store has one on sale.
The in-game stereo initially lets you select or randomize a 6-song playlist, which subtly reflects the limitations of early 2000s car audio systems. True to the game’s management RPG elements, you can choose to upgrade your car with speakers (2 more songs) or subwoofer (bass boost) — as long as you go without more practical choices for the long drive.
Different hitchhikers react to your music choices in fascinating ways. They will give their opinions, for better or worse, and often comment the most whenever I have nothing playing. The songs you choose soundtrack your drive or play quietly in the background in different locations. Once the playlist is done, you’re left with road noise or city chatter until you queue up the next batch.
Over time, Keep Driving evolved from a game into a surprising method of finding new artists. I found myself seeking out new CDs in-game with the same enthusiasm I once had for finding new bands on music blogs. Several artists I discovered through the game, like Mundane and Holy Now, have made their way into my regular listening outside the game.
The sound design is so on point for a road trip that I’ve gotten into the habit of listening to new music while I play. I listen to songs as if I’m vetting them for the game’s soundtrack. It has inspired a weird form of active listening; I can’t imagine hearing music without it in the back of my mind.
I hadn’t even completed my first playthrough before reaching out to the developer, Y/CJ/Y, to learn what inspired the game’s soundtrack. In an industry where licensed music is often an afterthought or simply used for marketing, Keep Driving represents something different: a game where music discovery is woven into the core experience, similar to how titles like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and even Guitar Hero introduced players to new genres and artists.
What is your personal connection to the bands, albums, and/or songs that were included in the game?
Y/CJ/Y: Some of the bands are our friends, some we listened to a lot a few years ago, and others are new to us, and we’ve grown to love them through the game.
Makthaverskan is a pretty big band in Gothenburg, at least in the indie rock scene. That one is kind of crazy to have in the game. Every time I hear it, I can’t believe it’s playing from the in-game CD player.
My darling YOU! is also one of those mid-2000s indie bands that really defined Gothenburg’s sound. A friend recommended them, and their lyrics fit the game so well.
How did you go about getting permission to use the songs you chose?
The short answer is that we asked them. Some of the bands are just really good friends. For the majority of others, we had our friend who has worked with them before reach out and ask if they were interested. We tried to keep it as simple as possible, so there were no big record labels. It took some time, and I think we were just kind of lucky as well.
Have you received any positive responses to the game from the artists you collaborated with?
Westkust and Zimmer Grandioso told me during the release party that they were really happy to be a part of it and that their numbers had increased significantly.
If you had to pick an album or song to represent your time developing this game, what would it be?
That’s a tough one. At first, it was probably Holy Now‘s Wake Up. But the last 8 months of the project, “Swirl” by Westkust really took it home for the both of us.
Personally, I listened to a lot of Big Thief and another Swedish band called Terra, which both exemplify the sentiment we were going for with Keep Driving.
Obviously, no game is perfect. Keep Driving’s gameplay loop can get repetitive, and certain characters are banned from my car. But these minor issues fade against the backdrop of what the game accomplishes. It’s a cultural artifact for a specific moment in time: that intersection of 2000s indie music culture and coming-of-age road trips.
It’s worth noting that my first playthrough didn’t take me to the music festival. Instead, I finished first in a rally race — but only with financial help from my in-game parents. My third run saw me finally commit to getting my ticket, tent, and a perfect gang of characters to meet with friends on the eastern coast. All it took was 4414 km of gas, highway eyes, and several in-game days to get there.
And yet, that wasn’t the end. I still had six endings to experience, now down to five. With each one, the game continues evolving in surprising ways. There’s only one way to see them all: hit the road again and see where I end up.
With the perfectly curated playlist, of course.
Keep Driving is available now on Windows PC.
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