Easy Delivery Co. review — Low-poly 9-5

Oftentimes, I hear people talk about how we are in an era of nostalgia, chasing what we had and reminiscing on ‘better times’ when the Internet wasn’t as monstrous. A prevalent example that receives a lot of backlash is the influx of Disney live-action remakes that always seem to miss the mark on recreating what made the original special. The same can be said – but with a lot less gusto – for video games, as plenty of 90s-early 2000s games get remastered with up-to-date triple AAA graphics, even if it’s often argued that they didn’t really need it. However, taking itself out of this constant loop of nostalgia-fueled discussion, there’s a spot in the indie landscape that utilizes nostalgia innovatively, that of the PS1/2 graphics-inspired video games.

It’s been a good 20 years since the era of the PS1/2, and its fans range from being in their 20s up to their 40s and all reminisce on the golden years of the console, where backgrounds were often pre-rendered and character and object models were pixelated and low-poly. Despite this equating to a lack of graphical potential and VERY clunky controls, now it’s been certified as cozy and stylish.

Easy Delivery Co. is one of these titles that uses this bygone era to evoke a strong atmosphere and tone in an otherwise simplistic premise. You’re a feline delivery driver whose task is to deliver packages to small settlements amidst the peaks of snowy mountains. However, it’s the focus on this ‘gimmick’ that elevates the game rather than miring it in nostalgia bias.

The game never bogs you down with dialogue or story, but rather lets everything else talk for itself. You begin the game with a welcome package from Easy Delivery Co., a rather unreliable mirror of Amazon that makes no contact with you and simply throws you into a bunch of online systems so you can just crack on with your job. Thematic to this game, the less said, the more is conveyed. You’ll use your smartphone to pick up deliveries from certain shops littered around different towns, your Easy Marts and Easy Eats, and transport them to homes or other businesses. Each delivery will pay a different amount, mainly factoring in distance. When you begin the game, you have access to one of a few maps, but as you progress, you’ll be able to make big bucks by picking up inter-city jobs.

As easy as that, you can jump into your van and begin your journey. What makes Easy Delivery Co. nestle into that sweet spot is the simplicity of driving from point A to B. The roads are covered in fog, limiting the distance of your vision, and there’s not a whole lot to see besides mountains and the odd train passing by. This is paired with a radio that you can switch on and off to play lo-fi or more upbeat tracks that come together to help your mind drift when you’re travelling. You’ll encounter some obstacles, like mounds of snow or sharp turns, but driving in Easy Delivery Co. always feels seamless and smooth. It even has some jank chucked in to make you feel like you’re playing a PS1 game, as one small bump to your truck sends it tumbling through the air.

If you’re looking for a challenge, then this game doesn’t really present much, which can be a good or bad thing. You place deliveries at the back of your truck, and they differ in width and height, so you would think you would have to be sensible in how you drive so a stack of pizza boxes doesn’t fly off the side of the mountain. However, Easy Delivery Co. states that there are no penalties if you lose part of your delivery, only if you lose the entire cargo, which is very difficult to do. This meant that how I drove without and with a delivery didn’t change, and what I carried in the back didn’t really matter. I think this game could have benefited from some optional challenges that present conditions for deliveries – like a time limit - for those wanting them, as I can see why more active players would find this game to be repetitive.

That said, Easy Delivery Co. does present a certain challenge in terms of making sure your kitty driver is in top shape. You have an energy bar that needs to be replenished with energy drinks or warm coffee, and due to the weather, you can’t just hop out of your van and start trekking down the road otherwise you’ll collapse and quite literally, enter the backrooms. There isn’t a whole lot more than that, but the necessity to manage your energy does crop up now and then when it comes to certain missions.

Most of Easy Delivery Co. is just the vibes, but you can also indulge in a basic story and talk to some recurring NPCs. The game has a short runtime of about 5 hours or so, but its story and characters felt more like an addition than a core part of the game. You’ll meet Pup, who gives you tasks to complete that often make your journeys easier, like obtaining snow wheels to trek through treacherous terrain, and move towards a goal that’s mostly about taking down the corporation. The owners of shops and bars you pick up deliveries from are very abstract and mysterious as they present the ongoing mystery of what happened to their last delivery driver, and how you suspiciously look a lot like him.  Dialogue is pretty sparse, but I always made the effort to see what they had to say. You’d get a random romantic crush going on between two NPCs and some other stuff, but don’t expect life-long friendships.