Keep Driving News

Hey everyone!

We really want to thank all 100,000+ people that bought the game to this date and we are so proud that its done this well. It's been our riskiest game as it took us 5+ years to make and by far the most difficult to design and execute so this is overwhelmingly huge for us. It paid off! If you enjoyed the game but haven't written a review, please write one. It means so much to us and to steam visibility to have lots of reviews, especially positive reviews that reflect the game. :)

Along with all the sales we've also won the prestigious Indie Cade Grand Jury Award, nominated at Amaze (yet to see if we win), and a lot of great scores and reviews:

• PC Gamer - 90/100 "A management RPG that perfectly captures the feel of a long and memorable road trip."
  
• Polygon - recommended "This road-trip sim is a great storytelling system about a joyfully wasted youth"
  
• Rock Paper Shotgun - recommended "A free-wheeling RPG road trip that pushes all the right buttons. Manage spare tires and drink endless coffee while you trundle to the other side of a pixel pleasant country."
  
• Gamerant - 10/10 "Keep Driving's setting is nothing spectacular, but that's precisely the point."
  
• The New York Times - recommended "Although Keep Driving has a profoundly hopeful message, it also captures the raucous plasticity and vivacious drive of youth, reminding us that we all once wound up stranded without gas on the side of an empty road."
  

[h3]New Update - Controller support and Steam Deck verification[/h3]

Right now we are looking forward to a pretty stable future for the game with a few content updates, localization and later in the year consoles. This new update includes controller support (which will result in it being steam deck verified soon) - that being the big one - and a few smaller ones: double the amount of decals, and a couple new places to interact with.

In our next content update we'll take a look at upgrades and threats and see if we can give them a bit of a touch up! There's a little teaser

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Cheers!
Christopher & Josef
Y/CJ/Y

"A free-wheeling RPG road trip that pushes all the right buttons," was Brendy's verdict on Keep Driving this February. I am thankful for Brendy for many things in life, but seldom more so than today, for he has supplied me with an easy opening segue: there are even more of those buttons to push now, for Keep Driving has been updated with gamepad support.

Read more

[h2]Patch notes for build 1.1.0.0:[/h2]

[h3]New content:[/h3]
- Added Gamepad support (works great on Steam Deck!)*
- Added Casino-minigame for El Cobra
- Added Junkyards. (You need to start a new game for them to show up)
- You can now visit El Cobra without any prerequisites. (You need to start a new game for this location to show up, unless you already have access to it)
- Added the option to refuel jerrycans at gas-stations
- Added a bunch of new cosmetic items!
- More side-stops appear even on later playthroughs now.
- Added option for borderless full-screen
- Added campsite-side stops (You need to start a new game for them to show up)
- At campsites you can rest for free and fully restore energy

[h3]Bug fixes and tweaks:[/h3]
- Fixed bug where you could get the cold status when sleeping in the desert, even if you had a sleeping bag or slept in a hostel
- Fixed bug where items outside trunk would be invisible when the upgrade-tab was active
- Fixed bug where hitchhikers would be invisible after returning to a destination with tow-truck or by calling parents
- Fixed a bug where explore-locations in cities could be loaded as forest-explorations
- Fixed an issue where some illegal actions could be made while in the road event tutorial
- Fixed a very rare crash that could happen during quite specific circumstances (had to do with rust-buildup on car during rain)
- Increased energy cost of skill: "Cub Scout"
- the Suspension-upgrade now removes car-bumping
- Fixed bug where the Bride's pickup-banter would overwrite other Hitchhiker's banter
- Fixed some typos

* If you play on Steam deck, make sure to not lock your FPS for best possible performance.

We also want to thank all the 100 000+ people who bought the game! Thank you playing and writing messages to us and supporting the bands! It's our biggest game yet and we're so happy so many people are enjoying it. Here's a little trailer for the new content all recorded with gamepad:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Cheers,
Y/CJ/Y

Hey!
Keep Driving has been out now for close to 2 months and we're really happy with all the positive feedback and all the wonderful messages some of you've sent us.
I know a lot of people are wondering what the plans are, especially about localization and porting, so I thought I'd post a message to get you guys in the loop.

We have planned 4 updates during 2025, not including bug fixes and patches:

• April - content and controller support
  
• May - smaller content update
  
• Late summer/early fall - localization
  
• Late fall/early winter - consoles
  

One thing to keep in mind is that nothing is set in stone with the dates and we still don't know exactly what consoles we are doing. Switch is most likely going to be included. Things like the junkyard or camping ground might be moved to the may update.

As for the languages, the ones we know we'll have are: Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian. These are based on sales, consoles, and steam demographics.

Lastly, as some of you know, we are a two person team (with Vile Hartman hired for the sound design) that have coded and drawn everything in the game from scratch. However, this year will be a bit different because of personal circumstances. So we will be working with the great Gamemaker guru Juju Adams for localization and porting. This is also why we won't be releasing many content updates and taking it a bit slower with the updates.

Keep Driving,
xo
Josef & Christopher
Y/CJ/Y


PS. Take it easy everyone. Hopefully this year we will continue to see the game growing, solidifying itself in the tapestry of great indie games, with the message that life goes on, the big the small, the good the bad; life keeps on going. And how important it is to appreciate the fleeting beauty of the world, and the fleeting beauty people you stumble upon, and the fleeting beauty of now. Especially if you're young. It doesn't last forever.

1.0.1.2c (Hotfix)
- Fixed a visual bug where the sky would disappear and look very bugged
- Fixed bug where the roads you've travelled on didn't show on the map (red line)
- Made it harder to drive while high


1.0.1.2

- Fixed rainbow-road-event showing up where it shouldn't.
- Added item swapping (drag one to another of the same size to swap positions).
- Fixed crash that could happen when right-clicking certain items in your glovebox.
- Ravioli now says in the description that it contains meat.
- Fixed rare crash when pausing during certain dialogues.
- Fixed some typos
- Fixed "start-of-road"-passive effects sometimes triggering twice.
- Rain-Lover Trait now works correctly
- Getting rid of the "drunk"-status during a road event now removes the timer

SPOILER:
- Mechanic's level 3 passive no longer counts cosmetic/color upgrades
- Songwriter's "Center of Attention" won't trigger during the race.
- Punk quest now only shows that you reached the right city when you actually reach the correct city
- The Dog's level 1 skills will be available when the punk leaves you.