Easy Delivery Co.: A Cozy, Lynchian Dream
▼ Summary
– The game Easy Delivery Co. is a relaxing driving game where you play as a black cat making deliveries in a snowy mountain community.
– A central mystery unfolds as players encounter strange events, like a dark maze when succumbing to the cold, and meet a dog named MK who guides them.
– Gameplay involves driving a kei truck, managing cargo that affects handling, and using items like energy drinks to combat the cold, with forgiving penalties for mistakes.
– The game has some rough edges, such as minor bugs and a clumsy narrative, but remains playable and enjoyable despite these issues.
– Easy Delivery Co. offers versatility, allowing players to focus on the main story, ignore it for repetitive deliveries, or play it as a secondary activity while multitasking.
Finding a video game that genuinely carves out its own niche feels increasingly rare, but Easy Delivery Co. manages to do just that, blending cozy relaxation with a subtle, unnerving atmosphere. My own journey into this world began when a friend urgently insisted I try a game where you play as a cat driving a tiny kei truck, a premise so charmingly odd it was impossible to resist.
While that description might not immediately bring to mind the surreal filmography of David Lynch, the influence of works like Twin Peaks is unmistakable once you start playing. Developer Sam Cameron has crafted an experience the Steam store page bills as “a relaxing driving game, with definitely no secrets,” a description that perfectly captures its dual nature.
You begin as a nameless black cat, rendered in a charming low-poly aesthetic reminiscent of early Animal Crossing. Your job is simple: work as a delivery driver for a secluded mountain community perpetually locked in a blizzard. By day and night, you shuttle goods between snowed-in shops, and like any real-world courier, you can’t afford to rest. You survive by gulping down energy drinks and coffee, fighting back the biting cold that seeps into your adorable little truck the moment you step outside.
That pervasive chill is your first clue that something is amiss. If you linger too long outside, maybe while grabbing a drink from a vending machine or securing your truck’s tailgate, the blizzard overwhelms you. For a moment, you’re transported to a dark, seemingly endless maze before waking up to continue your rounds. As you explore further and discover new towns, another oddity emerges: all the shopkeepers are the same person. Then you meet MK, the only character you encounter outdoors and the sole dog in the area, who guides you away from the repetitive delivery loop and toward uncovering the mountain’s deeper mysteries.
The core gameplay loop is straightforward. You drive, pick up cargo, and use your earnings to upgrade your ability to do more of the same. This low-poly fusion of a serene delivery sim and something eerier, like Silent Hill, is a fascinating concept. While the central story can feel a bit clumsy as it pivots from meandering tasks to a narrative climax, a common trait in indie games with compelling hooks, the overall atmosphere remains captivating.
The game does have some rough edges. I encountered a few minor bugs, most notably one where dropped cargo, a frequent occurrence on the icy roads, sometimes became impossible to pick up, even when clearly visible. Thankfully, these issues aren’t game-breaking. That particular bug is easily fixed by simply canceling the job and selecting a new one, as Easy Delivery Co. is refreshingly forgiving, imposing few penalties for failed deliveries or rough driving.
Driving, the activity you’ll spend the most time on, strikes a delicate balance. It’s relaxing without being mindless. Navigating a tangled web of snowy mountain roads while managing a variety of items that affect your truck’s handling requires constant, gentle attention. You learn to respect the conditions and your load, a lesson often learned after careening off a cliff and tumbling down a mountainside, a fate I suffered more often by stubbornly using the perfectly serviceable keyboard controls instead of a controller. These mistakes rarely felt frustrating; more than once, a disastrous roll downhill accidentally revealed a helpful shortcut, especially when my cargo miraculously survived the journey.
If there’s one significant critique, it’s the balance between guided progression and player freedom. Many game mechanics are explained in tutorials but can also be figured out through experimentation. I enjoyed discovering how to brew coffee or realizing a lighter could extend my time in the cold. However, while being shepherded by MK through the main quest, I found myself wishing for more central mysteries to solve independently, more secrets to uncover beyond the occasional collectible. This likely stems from a desire to spend more time immersed in the game’s eerier elements, or perhaps it’s just my inner cat person showing through.
This points to the game’s wonderful versatility. You can blast through the main story with minimal deliveries in just a few hours. Alternatively, you can completely ignore the narrative and MK, content to remain in a frozen cycle of deliveries, soaking in the nostalgic, low-poly world and listening to the radio’s catchy jingles.
My personal favorite way to play was to shrink the game into a corner of my screen. It remained fully visible and playable while I watched YouTube or television, a setup that probably contributed to my frequent off-road excursions. I might be biased, as the game feels like it was developed specifically from a Venn diagram of my interests, especially those involving adorably proportioned vehicles. One of my personal gaming holy grails has always been a title enjoyable enough to play during tired, lazy hours, yet simple enough to run alongside other entertainment. In Easy Delivery Co., I’ve finally found exactly that.
(Source: The Verge)