The concept of personality tests is one that a lot of us partake in from time to time. Seeing what your favorite color says about which Zelda character you are, or how you react to a friend forgetting your birthday, designates what superpower you have is ridiculous fun. The concept of your choices affecting the story in a game is not a new concept, in the wake of visual novels and choose-your-own-adventure games. Freeride gives the player an open playground to explore, interact, and experiment with their surroundings, all while promising a stat recap at the end. But how does Freeride hold up in this regard?
You play as Proto, a ghost who ends up at a train station. You’re texting a friend, but no other info tells who you are, why you’re here, or what you’re meant to be doing. Suddenly, you meet another spirit by the name of Lepida, who at first confuses you for someone else. But once she corrects herself, she offers you the chance to go on an adventure. You don’t have much of a choice in the matter since you don’t have anywhere else to go. So onward you go on this train, and from here, things take a strange, drastic turn as mysterious static seams start sprouting up during your journey.
Freeride is meant to be played multiple times, with a true end existing once you’ve collected the sigils needed. You can keep track of which endings you’ve completed on your phone. The game jumps right in with its plot, and in a way, it is true to the experience that Proto himself would have given that he was suddenly dragged into the mess. If you’re a player who prefers their storytelling more linear and to the point, rather than needing to play through scenarios multiple times to get the full picture, the story will definitely be a pain point.
As you complete each chapter, you’ll get an update on how the personality quiz aspect of the game is going. It’s a cute addition, especially for those who like seeing their data laid out in front of them after exploring around (or just heading straight for the goal). But on the flip side, some of the controls for the game are very clunky, leading to you perhaps missing a certain action or doing something you hadn’t planned on doing, thus getting a different reading than anticipated.
During each chapter, there are different endings that you can unlock. You are meant to run around and interact with items and people. But after a while, you will end up on a particular route based on your actions. In fact, you could just find yourself stumbling into a route while exploring around. You are able to replay chapters to complete the routes you need, which will bring you closer to completing the true ending. Different routes will explore different characters’ backstories, giving you more information on them and why they’re reacting the way that they are. And the way that the story is set up, you’re meant to follow these individual threads to piece together the whole story.
Freeride is an RPG where you can explore around the different train stops and interact with people, pick up items, and stumble into combat. You’ll usually have a goal that one of the characters will tell you to do, but you’re able to explore outside of the request. As you explore around, you’ll see all kinds of items scattered around that you can pick up, anything from food items to other monsters. You can choose to stash the items for later, throw items around, gift them to other characters, or consume them if they’re food. And sometimes, you’ll be given the option to go into battle.
The exploration feels similar to an action platformer, with you being able to jump around, talk to different people, and interact with items. As you get familiar with your surroundings, sometimes you’ll pick up quests from side characters. These aren’t required to finish the route, although they can be interesting to do if you need a bit of a distraction from the main story. Along with quests, some mini games pop up, such as a rhythm game. The movement can feel a bit awkward at times, especially when paired with the fact that you can’t control the camera.
Combat is by far the weakest component of Freeride. There aren’t a lot of battles, but the few that pop up will have you face boss-like characters, with a large health bar appearing at the bottom of the screen. When you pick up items, you have the option of throwing the item at the opponent. However, the actual aiming functionality is extremely clunky. A lot of times, it doesn’t feel as though the item goes in the direction that you’re aiming for. On top of the controls feeling clunky, the actual buttons being used to interact and throw items also feel convoluted. Being close or far away doesn’t seem to matter. Each item appears to deal specific types of damage, with items that can be considered as a weapon being your best bet. And while battles will eventually come to an end if you’re not able to fully defeat the boss, battles just end up feeling like they go on longer than needed.
Outside of these boss battles, you can also take damage from the slug demons that you come across in most areas. You can deal damage to them by using items to attack them, or you can just toss them off-screen, as they can be interacted with like an item.
Freeride is a 3D game, with a static-like filter overlaying the screen that gives it a more PS1 feeling, as well as a dream-like aspect. Each of the characters’ designs is drastically different from each other, playing into the found-family aspect of the game. The models lean into a more chibi style, giving the game a cute appearance. Along with the 3D models, there are speech bubbles that appear, showing 2D headshots of the characters talking.
The music also leans into the dream-like aspect, with a lot of the tracks sounding muted, but also grandiose. It blends the more emotional piano songs with synth-heavy grooves well, and the music elevates the scenes much more.
Freeride is a cute game that is unfortunately held back by its gameplay loop. The story does take a while to build up, but once the climax hits, it takes an unexpected turn that keeps the player hooked to figure out what exactly was going on. The art and music pair nicely, really setting the feeling that the player is in the afterlife, in almost a dream state. And while controlling the character and moving around isn’t bad, the functionality with interacting with items and combat is frustrating. While you can coast through the game without fully mastering the combat, it does leave a sour taste behind.
Freeride gets a 6/10.
