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I'll be honest: the first time I laid eyes on over the hill, I assumed it would be a relaxing Sunday drive through some pretty scenery with very little to worry about. The stylised, almost cartoonish visuals did not exactly scream "challenge accepted." I was wrong, and the game wasted no time in making sure I knew it.
over the hill is the latest project from Funselektor Labs, the studio behind art of rally, developed alongside Strelka Games. The free demo, which launched on Steam as part of Steam Next Fest and pulled in over 200,000 downloads in its opening weekend alone, lets you loose on Emerald Lake, the first area of the game's Canada region, inspired by the landscapes of British Columbia's Valhallas. You can tackle it solo or with up to three friends in co-op, and either way, the terrain will give you a proper workout.
Mud, Gravel, and Lies
The closest comparison I can draw from my own experience is Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, and if you know that game, you already have a reasonable idea of what over the hill is going for, minus the hyper-realistic looks, of course. What it shares with that genre is the core loop: read the terrain, pick your line, use your tools, and try not to end up on your roof.
The terrain, however, is not always a fair opponent. My biggest complaint from the demo, and one I suspect will carry over into the full release, is a certain inconsistency in how surfaces behave. Gravel, which in the real world is laid on muddy roads precisely because it provides grip, felt more like black ice under my wheels.
Elevation is similarly unpredictable: sometimes a hill is climbable without a second thought, and other times the same gradient on the same surface type will bring your vehicle to a complete standstill for reasons that are not entirely clear. These are not dealbreakers, but they should be pointed out, and I just hope the developers will see that those small inconsistencies are taken care of once the full version is out.
Where the game earns true respect is in its weather system. When it rains, everything changes. Traction deteriorates, momentum becomes your enemy, and routes that were trivial in dry conditions suddenly demand your full attention. Watching the lighting shift during a rainstorm, the way the headlights cut through the dark on a pitch-black night, is honestly some of the best atmospheric work I have seen in this kind of game.
The lighting throughout is exceptional, and the game runs beautifully to match. On my PC (Ryzen 9 5900X with an RTX 3080 Ti and 32GB of RAM), it held above 70 FPS at maximum settings without a single hiccup.
The Loop That Gets Its Hooks In
The open-world structure is simple but effective. You locate cabins scattered across the map, which function as fast-travel points and gradually reveal the surrounding area, filling in points of interest as you go. Those points of interest are varied enough to keep things interesting: abandoned crates with cosmetics, challenge routes that will test your patience and your suspension, vista points, and more.
Everything you do has its rewards: the in-game currency, which you spend at the vendor on engine upgrades, new tyres, suspension improvements, and other practical modifications. Cosmetics, meanwhile, are found out in the world, which keeps exploration feeling rewarding and pushes you for one more ride before you put down your controller.
Your toolkit is exactly what you would expect from such a game. Winches, car jacks, repair kits – all the essentials are here, and you can stock up on multiples depending on how much inventory space you are willing to dedicate to them. The three vehicles available in the demo carry a 1960s to 1980s aesthetic that suits the game's visual style nicely, and upgrading them meaningfully changes how you approach the terrain.
Final Thoughts
over the hill is a game that hides its difficulty behind a cheerful exterior, and this trick will lure many to its bittersweet trap. The terrain inconsistencies need attention before the full release, but the fundamentals are solid, the atmosphere is excellent, and the gameplay loop is there to keep you invested all the time. The full game is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Switch 2 in 2026, and the demo is still available on Steam for free. It is well worth your time, especially if you have friends to drag along for the ride.
