Easy Delivery Co. has just about everything I like: Animal Crossing-adjacent garbling creatures, winding snowy mountain roads to drive along while listening to ethereal drum and bass, low-poly vibes, and an eerie atmosphere that makes it the perfect cosy game to see in the colder months.
It also has a whole heap of packages—something that I very much like receiving, but don't have much experience in the actual, you know, delivery aspect of the whole thing. The little cat fella I'm playing sure seems to, though, as starting the game immediately plonks me inside a wee pick-up truck and I'm tasked with hauling my first package.
It starts simple enough—I'm handed a box to load into the back and then drive a few feet down the road. Soon enough, though, jobs have me driving up and down the mountain through fog and sleet, while I anxiously watch the goods I've just grabbed slide around the cargo bed with every sharp turn and tire skid.
Driving in Easy Delivery Co. is lonely, harsh, but weirdly comforting. There are no other vehicles, and as the night draws in my vision of the icy roads ahead dramatically decreases to levels that would make Silent Hill look like a bright sunshiny day. I go long stretches without seeing a single shop, gas station, or residence. Radio stations flicker between gibberish news, jungle, drum and bass, and lofi beats.
I can drive along the scenic route, or opt to go balls to the wall and drive off the beaten path. It doesn't matter which one I pick, as there's seemingly no time-related reward or penalty. I opt for the longer, safer, picturesque route. I slip and slide down the mountain's sharp bends while breakbeat floods my ears. It's rad.
There are things that break up my journey. Sometimes I have to step out of my truck to shovel away piles of snow that have formed in the middle of the road, threatening to send my pickup careening off the hillside highway. I can't stay out too long, though. The cold has hands, and will slowly claw its way across the screen until my poor cat deliveryman passes out, unless I haul ass back to the truck or a nearby shop.
I also come across a couple of shut off radio towers as I haul around deliveries. Reactivating them lets me access even more stations to pick the perfect tunes I can cruise along to. I couldn't tell if they had any other uses just yet, but I'm sure I'll find out in the full game.
Easy Delivery Co. throws in some light resource management to handle, too. There's an energy meter to keep track of, which I could replenish with ridiculously expensive cans of soda, and my truck needs refilling with even more ridiculously expensive fuel. It's just enough plates to spin that I didn't feel bored while playing, but not too many that it took away from the tranquillity I was seeking.
I'm pretty sure this game is hiding a sinister underbelly, though—despite developer Sam C insisting there's absolutely nothing mysterious going on here, wink-wink nudge-nudge—as each interaction with the town's characters only becomes stranger and stranger. Hints towards already knowing me despite being a fresh face, and vaguely foreboding dialogue has made me all the more keen to dig deeper in the full game.
With things like truck upgrades, more ways to keep energised and warm out in the elements, and even a chill little nook to unwind in between deliveries awaiting in the full release, I am already way too excited to get all cosied up with a blanket and controller and uncover exactly what the hell is going on in this mysterious town—and why I keep having to deliver plant pots an entire two doors down the street. Hey, six bucks is six bucks.
Easy Delivery Co. launches on September 18.
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