HitchHiker Review: A Highway Mystery Lost In Translation

Across the hundreds of thousands of roads across the country, millions of hitchhikers travel. Generally, when we hear the term hitchhiker, it gives a sense of unease, the various stories about the things that happen to hitchhikers. However, in the current Mad About Pandas game, HitchHiker, they seek to tell a different story, something more profound, hopefully. To review HitchHiker the game, we set out on a mystery-solving adventure along lost highways.

The developer Mad About Pandas is known for their other games: Truck Simulator 2016, Forever Forest: The Child Of A Forest, and The Great Jitters: Panic Ride. HitchHiker is the first VR release from the developer Mad About Pandas, bringing their unique style to the VR world. So how is their first attempt at a VR game? Find out in our review of HitchHiker.

Story: A narrative-driven mystery, lost in translation

The story told in HitchHiker is one of its strongest points. The player finds themselves in the shoes of an unnamed character offering a dark, twisting mystery tale. Introducing well-voiced characters, each with their own stories, secrets, advice, and guidance for the main character. With almost no memory of who they are or why they’re, here is where the mystery begins. Spanning small roads, desert highways, and city freeways. As you hitchhike across the different sceneries, a secret about the character will start to unfold. Metting the other drivers along the way that hold the various keys to who you are and what is happening.

HitchHiker is narrative-driven so that the player experiences a relatively deep and twisting story throughout the five different drivers or “chapters.” Here, their dialogue choices will affect the story changing how the interactions with each driver will play out. The narrative begins normal and as the player begins to unravel the mystery is when it will become more strange and even touch on the supernatural. HitchHiker will remind players of games like Kentucky Route Zero, giving off almost a Twilight Zone kind of feeling.

Gameplay: There is little to do

Our HitchHiker review found that it’s less a game and more an interactive movie. Much of your playtime is sitting in the passenger seat of different cars, listening to the driver talk about various things. Here the player can choose between different dialogue choices. Players can also interact with the multiple items littered around each vehicle throughout each chapter. However, outside of the few items to interact with and the dialogue choices that can be made, there is little else but sit and listen.

Out of the various VR games out there, HitchHiker is one of the lesser games when it comes to gameplay. However, HitchHiker is undoubtedly more about story and narrative. So, for the players who love a narrative-driven mystery built around the different conversations between characters, HitchHiker might be down your alley. But for, those who aren’t interested in long-winded conversations with little to no action may want to look elsewhere.

Graphics/Audio: Glitchy and lacking on the Quest 2

Here in our review is where HitchHiker lacks the most. Immediately from the start, players will be able to tell that the graphical performance is poor on the Oculus Quest 2. Unfortunately, the problem only gets worse from here. It seems as if the game wasn’t exactly made for the Oculus Quest 2, immediately having performance issues on the device. Some of them like problems with the point-of-view of the player in the game, where it is not at a proper level or angle to the point where it’s headache-inducing.

The featured part of the game is the landscape, where the player will spend most of the game looking out at. Unfortunately, bugs and glitches ruin the landscape in HitchHiker. For example, grass will glitch in and out in several chapters, clouds will glitch in the mountains and hills, and birds will glitch across the screen. Drivers and vehicles also had their glitches and problems. Some of the cars had a shadow effect that, with VR, caused eye discomfort. On two different occasions, their drivers completely vanished from their vehicles.

The audio in HitchHiker is good. The sound quality is excellent, conversations are clear and understood. The music in the intermissions is great, offering players a break between long-winded conversations with each driver. The weather sounds effects are quality even when the graphics aren’t.

Conclusion: HitchHiker misses with various bugs

Between the story, gameplay, and graphics/audio. It would be difficult to recommend this game to others. While the story is fascinating and profound at times, it’s held up by the various graphical glitches throughout the game. In addition, the odd viewpoint inside of the car makes it difficult at times to interact with items and the driver. Lastly, the poor optimization of HitchHiker on the Oculus Quest 2 will cause the player to have to deal with minor head and eye aches while playing. For those still interested in HitchHiker, it would be best to wait until further updates to the game from Mad About Pandas. The problems that persist within the game make it difficult to finish.

Currently, HitchHiker is available on Steam, Oculus, Apple Arcade, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch for $19.99. Any information about HitchHiker can be found on their product page. Additionally, information regarding Mad About Pandas can be found on their development page.