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Just Add Oil Game’sRoad to Guangdongis a fascinating little route trip simulator experimentation . It ’s bold in a mint of ways thatother simulator gamesare not and its circa-’90s China setting gives it a unique aesthetic . These strengths are reinforced by wonderful , quirky characters who enrich an already zany , interesting world . Unfortunately , Road to Guangdong ’s game mechanics are something of a mixed bag and its story is often right smart too rushed to be as emotionally impactful as it could be . Overall , Road to Guangdongis still better than the sum of its part only because of how bold it can often be , even if it ’s not anything draw close a masterpiece .
Road to Guangdongtells the story of Sunny going on a route trip with her grandmother to seek the approval of relatives so she can take over the family eatery . Along the direction , Sunny will encounter and solve other side report within her family , tramp from adoption - related problems to represent matcher . What tethers these mini stories together is the theme of family , and what it means to be supportive of them . It ’s a powerful concept for a picture game to explore , specially when the secret plan makes it so centralized to its game car-mechanic .
During these encounters , instrumentalist will want to question and gather information about said family members for solve their return or move on to the next stage of the biz . These are n’t complicated mechanics in the least bit . In fact , this is whereRoad to Guangdongis at its most breezy . It ’s the interactions between Sunny and her family that commit the game any sort of narrative weight unit and the fact that it ’s set up almostlike a detective simulatorjust add together to that potency . These are very rich characters with unique personalities .
route to Guangdong ’s biggest challenge is in actually getting from one place to the next . The only mean value of transit that Sunny and her grandmother have available to them is a auto affectionately named Sandy . It ’s a rusted and ancient car that always needs sustenance work and runs out of gas faster than a Hummer in the city . This is where the game kind of loses steam , as looking at its beautiful landscape painting can only entrance for so long . It ’s also a balance deed essay to defend the fomite ’s needs without running out of money and sometimes it feels like the secret plan is intentionally design for role player to flush it .
While the interaction between characters sense rude and fluid , the narrative is bizarrely fast - paced . account reason just as the drama and emotion is pop out to rage up and there ’s never enough clock time to really look at or mull over what just happened . It ’s a dramatic experience with the pace of ablockbuster action movie , which is an queer pairing that never really coalesce . There ’s a large story bury inRoad to Guangdongabout family and grief and it ’s just too bad that players are n’t given enough prison term to really know it .
As a whole , Road to Guangdongis an interesting experiment in the very niche route trip simulator category that ’s ultimately worth a tone because of its bold figure of storytelling and interesting , captivating characters . The fact that its flaws are so persistently seeable throughout most of it means that it wo n’t be a game for everyone , but for someone see for a unique , imperfect experience , this might be just the plot they ’re looking for . Still , in another world where unlike developmental choices were made , Road to Guangdongcould have been the indie masterpiece it ’s so often reach to be .
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Road to Guangdongreleases August 28 on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch . It will be free on September 4th on PC . Screen Rant was provided an Xbox One copy for the purposes of this review .
