Heading Out: Review – Full throttle

Developed by Serious Sim, Heading Out invites us to put ourselves in the shoes of a character with a dark past and a secret that changes with each player. With our hands on the wheel, we will take a trip through the different corners of the United States as if it were a road movie.

Heading Out It is available for PC, PS4 and PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Xbox Series X|S.

The ABC of the antihero

Heading Out puts us in the role of a person with a dark past, an irreproducible secret and a latent fear in every step, but… that past, that secret, that fear, is not the same for all players. The title, at the beginning, gives us the possibility of shaping these questions almost as we wish. We will be the ones who will decide the basis of what our character hides so much, fears so much, and flees so much from.

To get to know its background more thoroughly, there is a key element: the radio. Yes, what millennials consider dead and centennials confuse with streaming programs. It will be the radio that we have in the background on our trips (and races) that will allow us to know more about ourselves.

However, the radio + racing combination can complicate things somewhat. Considering that the game can only be played in English.

YesIt becomes really difficult to pay attention to the subtitles when you are in the middle of a life or death race.

It's really one or the other, but achieving both is too complicated (especially if you're really bad at racing games like me).

On the other hand, we also have a voice that helps us understand our path, where we are going, who is behind the wheel. This voice in question ends up falling into multiple clichés, not only in terms of its tonality but also in the things it narrates.

The title also allows us to actively participate in the decisions about our character. They can raise or lower our reputation, regulate (or not) fatigue, etc.

The narrative of Heading Out It's not bad at all: it's engaging, entertaining and interesting, but it falls into too many commonplaces, so it doesn't really contribute anything new to the wide gallery of antiheroes whose each of their actions is justified by “something greater.” .

In the background? A road movie

Despite putting a lot of weight on its story, the title does not leave its playability behind. In fact, it is a more than interesting point, with multiple edges to explore.

On the one hand, we have history and the possibility of influencing it based on our decisions; point I already mentioned previously. But, being a game that takes place mainly behind the wheel, the game gives us the possibility of taking control of it. As I also said previously, we will have races throughout our adventure. Whether to escape fear, the police or for some other reason, from time to time we will undergo a specific race.

It should be noted that these races in question are not exactly difficult, and they are said by a person who is really bad at games that require driving a vehicle. I was really able to get through them without any major inconveniences other than the occasional crash. In fact, if you roll over the car or something similar, you can “resurrect” yourself and continue in the race as if nothing had happened.

I don't want to fail to highlight the great visual work in terms of racing. Heading Out It stands out mainly for its black and white palette, but in certain races, mainly in those where we flee against fear, red appears present in a categorical way. This tone really manages to convey the drama that our character is going through.

At the end of each race, the title allows us to see the United States through a map. We will always have a specific destination to reach. How to do it will depend on us, since the game allows us to select the route that best suits our desires. Some will contain more events, stories, races, etc., while others will allow us to go more unnoticed. The choice, once again, will be purely and exclusively ours.

In this map, we can also see the amount of money we have (an essential element to be able to continue driving), in addition to issues such as our fear (and how close or far it is from us), our level of reputation, fatigue and the state of our vehicle.

A black and white comic

In addition to its large palette dominated by black and white, Heading Out stands out for having a style similar to that of comics.

This can be seen mainly in the moments when we immerse ourselves in a story and must make a specific decision.

In terms of the artistic section, the music also works very well. The races are run to the rhythm of specific songs, so the soundtrack is not reduced to simply accompanying the background, but rather takes on an almost leading role.