Review
"Void Sails" tested: A successful indie game that hits my nerve
by Cassie Mammone
Deliver At All Costs review: madness on wheels
28.5.2025
Translation: Julia Graham
Pictures: Kim Muntinga
One courier, three cities and a whole lot of chaos: Deliver At All Costs is a visually striking indie game with absurd missions and a bizarre story. But can first impressions keep me hooked in the long run?
Tyres squeal. There’s a van in front of me and a guy in sunglasses honking his horn behind me. To my right, there’s a staircase and to the left a fire hydrant. I pull over but it’s too late – I crash. Sparks fly. Something explodes. As my battered truck slowly slides along the pavement, I think to myself: welcome to St Monique, circa 1959.
Rather than an AAA title, Deliver At All Costs is the debut from Studio Far Out Games, a small team of three Swedish students who want to shake up the indie scene with their absurd vision of delivery chaos. The game is reminiscent of a wild mashup of Crazy Taxi, American Fugitive, the first two GTAs and a Pixar film on speed.
Story and game world: three cities with loads of bizarre delivery jobs
In Deliver At All Costs, I slip into the role of Winston Green, a hot-headed courier with a mysterious past and a penchant for self-destruction destroying his surroundings. The story unfolds in three acts and takes me by surprise with real twists. Between absurd missions and charming cutscenes, a plot emerges that’s got more depth than I’d have expected – including conspiracies, old enemies and a pinch of sci-fi.
In the missions, for instance, I transport live swordfish, ticking bombs and helium balloons that make my vehicle take off. The cutscenes feature charmingly animated dialogues, mostly with stylish voice-overs and satirical exaggeration. They break up the chaos of the missions and make Winston surprisingly tangible. The story itself is so absurd that it piques my interest, even if it only trickles along superficially for a long time.
Each act of Deliver At All Costs is a narrative section as well as a clearly defined setting spatially, with its own personality, rules and problems. Rather than offering a completely open game world, all three maps provide several zones that represent different parts of the city. A short loading screen appears each time I change zone.
St Monique: the entry to chaos
The tropical island of St Monique is the starting point with its retro charm, palm trees and neon lights. This is where I learn the basics of delivering – and get my first cryptic clues about Winston’s past. The missions are already playful and wonderfully absurd here.
Shellington: shadows of the past
Shellington is the industrial heart of the game. The city is rough, narrow and dangerous. This is where gameplay becomes more complex, as I manoeuvre through narrow alleys, dodge explosions and fight against physics. At the same time, the story thickens, with old enemies emerging and the conspiracy taking shape.
New Reed: showdown in neon lights
New Reed is the final urban showdown: a vertical city full of neon, surveillance and secrets. Everything escalates here, as the missions become more dramatic and the story more emotional. I slink about, flee, deliver and bring the truth to light.
From A to B: with style, scrap and spark
The basic mechanics of the game are simple. As a courier, I deliver items, either by vehicle or on foot. The aim is to get parcels from A to B as safely as possible within a certain time frame. However, the way this is done is anything but ordinary.
The world awaits me with traffic and obstacles. Every job brings new challenges, from blocked roads to narrow thoroughfares, roadworks, police checks or simply the pitfalls of my car’s physics. The controls are deliberately overdriven.
My truck swerves, jumps and explodes. All with a physics engine that’s more reminiscent of cartoon logic than realism. While fun, it also causes moments of frustration when a package gets destroyed by an unfortunate crash just before its destination. Turns need to be planned, loads secured and routes improvised.
Between actual delivery trips, there are also sections where I have to get out, carry objects or complete smaller tasks. Some deliveries require finesse (think fragile goods), while others call for pure speed or tactical detours.
Deliver At All Costs lives in the moment, from the next crazy delivery, to the next crash and the next «What the hell was that?» This works really well for quite a while, as the missions are varied enough to keep me entertained – especially when I play the game in short sessions. The problem is, as bizarre as some jobs are, in the end it always feels the same. It’s just a case of having to transport something, which does eventually get boring.
Without the missions, this game world can’t maintain its chaos and my interest. For instance, I explore the nearby area, but it’s lacking that GTA feel from the first couple games. The police only showed up once after some wild driving, but I managed to hide from them quickly in a bin. Funnily enough, I climbed into my ingenious hiding place right in front of them.
Atmosphere and style: a miniature world with oomph
Visually, Deliver At All Costs looks like a mixture of diorama and retro animation film. The isometric perspective lends the world a miniature charm that perfectly matches the over-the-top gameplay. Houses, cars, explosions and generally speaking everything seems stylised, but with great attention to detail. The designers have done a great job with the small animations on the roadside in particular, from fleeing or angry passers-by to fluttering adverts.
The soundtrack is a wild mix of jazz, rockabilly and sci-fi synths: sometimes driving, sometimes playful, but always harmonious. Meanwhile, the sound effects are exaggerated but effective with screeching tyres, rattling collisions and panicked shouts. The voice acting is deliberately clichéd, which is exactly what makes it charming.
From a tech point of view, the game runs solidly on my PC. I didn’t experience any crashes, and the loading times between districts are also short. But they still annoy me. They just happen too often when I need to drive back and forth between several districts on a job. Aesthetically speaking, the game world looks tidy and the menus are functional. However, some animations seem stiff and the camera can be fiddly during tight manoeuvres.
For the controls, I switched from keyboard and mouse to my PlayStation controller, which felt better straight away. Although the controls are well tuned on the gamepad, it’s not a precise tool. However, I’m in a constant battle against inertia, torque and gravity with both control methods. But that’s intentional. My truck often feels like a rubber ball on wheels. If you expect to feel in control, you’ll be frustrated. If, on the other hand, you anticipate chaos, that’s exactly what you get.
Konami kindly provided me with a PC copy of Deliver At All Costs for testing purposes. The game has been available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series since 22 May.
In a nutshell
Delivery chaos with style, but a limited shelf life
Deliver At All Costs is a bold indie debut that’s not afraid to be loud, chaotic and wonderfully over-the-top. The mix of retro aesthetics, physics-based slapstick and a satirical story makes the game a real experience – at least for a while. When the tyres squeal, parcels explode and passers-by jump aside screaming, the game unleashes its absurdly funny energy in full force.
The three acts, spread across just as many cities, initially provide structure and visual variety. Each zone has its own pace, rules and hazards. Its story also takes me by surprise with conspiracy themes, retro sci-fi flair and lovingly animated cutscenes. But behind the flashy surface is a game principle that quickly becomes repetitive: something needs to be transported from A to B – as quickly and spectacularly as possible.
The world seems too empty to carry the game for any length of time. When I’m not delivering, there’s hardly any reason to explore the streets. The promised openness remains piecemeal when it comes to details. As for the controls, they’re deliberately chaotic. This is in keeping with the game’s concept, but not everyone will like it. For me, it was often a source of frustration.
Nevertheless, Studio Far Out Games demonstrates courage, a sense of style and a keen grasp of absurd humour. Deliver At All Costs isn’t a perfect game, but it’s certainly memorable. For short sessions full of noise, collision and comedy, it works perfectly. However, if you’re looking for depth, long-term motivation or real open-world freedom, you’ll find it’s limited. In total, the game has between seven and twelve hours of play.
Pro
- Creative mission design with absurd humour
- Charming graphic style and consistent soundtrack
- Surprisingly entertaining, funny story
Contra
- Game concept doesn’t stand the test of time
- Little real freedom away from the missions
- Loading screens disrupt the flow of the game
Header image: Kim Muntinga
My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.
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