Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, Various Daylife… Usually, they just stick with the project name and people made fun of them over it for years. Turns out keeping the project title was a good choice as they can’t name games for the life of them.
I remember putting so much time into the GameCube version as a kid, but I don’t think I ever finished the game even once.
For the most part, I just enjoyed doing the police chases and dragging them out as long as possible. Think multiple hour long ones. Destroying police cars and creating as much property damage as humanly possible. Sadly, on the higher levels these became quickly frustrating as the police started deploying instant K.O. spike traps. Losing your run an hour in to one of these was the worst feeling.
The actual racing was fun, too, although I never liked drag races. Their control scheme was just awful. And I probably wasn’t any good at racing, given that I don’t remember ever finishing the game.
Still, I have a lot of nostalgia for the game and the soundtrack shaped my tastes in music to this day. I haven’t enjoyed another racing game since then, I should probably go back and finish it.
I think it’s worth to have a look at either the Gothic or Risen games, both made by the same people. They are quite old and janky, but they check a lot of your boxes.
There’s also a remake comming up for Gothic 1.
As someone who’s lived in Germany for years: that’s a first for him.
I was starting to get hyped, but no Switch (2)? It actually ran suprisingly good on there. Also, seeing how the Steam Deck is priced now, I probably won’t buy a Steam Maschine once it gets properly announced. Or any other PC.