Jalopy

Pros

• Procedurally generated world
• Diverse terrain and weather challenges
• Upgrade and maintain a Laika 601 Deluxe

Cons

• Minimum system requirements
• Early access title

Jalopy challenges you to overcome a procedurally generated world filled with harsh terrain.

The Soviet Union has collapsed, but all is not perfect in the Eastern Bloc. The rise of capitalism has created a conundrum, and your survival may depend on the scraps you find out on the open road. This setup provides a wonderful backdrop for what is very much an automotive simulation. It’s not a driving sim per se but a simulation that challenges you to maintain a jalopy in unforgiving conditions.

Your jalopy is a Laika 601 Deluxe. Don’t bother looking it up. It isn’t a real car, but it is based on the Trabant 601 Deluxe, which was created in East Germany as a response to the VW Beetle and used throughout the Eastern Bloc before and after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Jalopy is in a sense a survival game, but rather than forage for food, you focus on automotive aspects. You have to keep your engine and tires maintained. You also have to contend with trunk space. Is the weight from the additional cargo worth the long-term profit? There are a lot of details here, and you can spend a great amount of time repairing and upgrading seemingly minor aspects of your beloved jalopy.

The game also features a procedurally generated world, and that’s an exciting design choice because each grand journey East will be unique. You can’t plan for what’s around the next bend because you simply don’t know. In fact, your early adventures will likely end in disaster, but you’ll learn, and each new journey will bring even greater successes.

Whatever randomness is thrown at you, the drive is never boring. There are many different types of terrain. These terrain types affect your car differently and also present diverse obstacles and rewards. There’s also the matter of climate to contend with. There’ll be hot days, cold nights, pounding storms that force you to a crawl and much more.

Jalopy is shaping up to be a fantastic indie title developed by Greg Pryjmachuk, someone who spent years on the F1 video game series. If what’s described above intrigues you, then we’ll sure you’ll love this game. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that this is an Early Access title. That means that it’s a work in progress that may never be finished. As of this writing, however, the game has received updates almost every month and sometimes multiples time a month.

One final potential con is that the game isn’t well-optimized yet. People with gaming rigs won’t even notice, but the game is more demanding than the graphics might suggest. It currently requires a Core i3 2GHz CPU, 4 GB of RAM and a dedicated video card with 1 GB of memory.

Pros

• Procedurally generated world
• Diverse terrain and weather challenges
• Upgrade and maintain a Laika 601 Deluxe

Cons

• Minimum system requirements
• Early access title