In this interactive mystery experience, you play a hitchhiker meeting new people as you travel across American highways. With no idea where you are going, or where you came from, you will slowly unravel the mystery that defines your past.
Hitchhiker – A Mystery Game, developed by Mad About Pandas and published by Versus Evil, is less of a traditional game and more of a story-based interactive experience. The game revolves around five “Rides”, each from a different character. During the conversations you have with the characters, things start to get surreal.
The narrative is driven by the conversations you have, and the well-written characters keep the story engaging. The dialogue features branching choices, giving players a sense of agency despite the game’s linear nature. This makes uncovering the game’s secrets feel personal and immersive.
As you progress through the game, you learn more about both the characters and the protagonist. It’s a story with many twists that work very well, pushing you to slowly come up with a theory that you don’t want to be true. The story sticks the landing in the final ride, delivering a conclusion that is both satisfying and inevitable.
The game’s presentation is simple yet effective, with cars and highways rich with subtle details that enhance its surreal atmosphere. Though you are trapped in various passenger seats for most of the game, there is always something to pick up on or investigate as the world passes you by, with many subtle clues as to what is coming.
The surreal nature of the game reminded me of Richard Linklater’s Waking Life, as they both have a feeling of wandering from scene to scene, having conversations that are linked together yet don’t fully make sense. They both invoke a dreamlike state, leaving the player (or viewer) wondering if they are experiencing a dream.
This dreamlike structure is reinforced by the game’s mechanics, though not always in a positive way. While the puzzles add some gameplay, many of them feel like they weren’t well thought out. Many puzzles rely more on trial and error than logical reasoning, and one even left me completely stumped, forcing me to look up a solution. Unfortunately, if you are looking for some logic- or puzzle-based gameplay, this probably isn’t the game for you.
What can be said for the puzzles, however, is that they are immersive. They have a strange nature, as you have to figure out how a random dial or item affects scarecrows, the weather, or the colour of a light. Rather than interrupting the narrative flow, they add to the surreal, dreamlike nature of the game.
If you’re drawn to surreal mysteries and thought-provoking conversations, this is a journey worth taking – one that lingers long after the final ride.
