Switchcars is a vehicular roguelike arcade set in a broken spacetime. Escape alien beasts over procedural environments, using more than 1,000 vehicles. You'll crash or run out of fuel, but that's okay - you'll switch to another vehicle. All you need to do is reach the year 2055. In theory!
Very Positive
465 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | — | — | Y |
+Aesthetics are neat
+Audio works nicely
-The gameplay loop isn't engaging to me
-Tutorial does a poor job. e.g. it never mentions the obvious; you aren't expected to collide or you lose health or that the vehicles have health or fuel to begin with
= Neutral review, but since I wouldn't recommend this to myself, I won't do it to you either.
While a good concept, the lack of controller compatibility and frequent bugs and crashes kills the enjoyment. After 10 years of development and 5 of those on Steam, the developer should have fixed these issues.
This game is surprisingly amazing. Very unique concept, tons of vehicle options, bunch of extra buffs you can assign to them. It's very dynamic and action-packed. Definitely worth trying few times at least.
There are a few downsides though:
- no achievements
- a bit weird default controls
- the development for this game seems to have ended quite quickly, so looks like achievements or other content, such as different enemies, will never be added
I don't speak spanish but the guy whose review says "tiene potencial pero los controles son horrendos" is spot-on. Cute graphics and idea tho
Switchcars is truly an indie games that is an hidden gem.
A roguelike game where you travel 100 years (from 1950 to 2050) in order to escape atime travelling aliens slugs, with the help of every vehicle imaginable. With a synopsis like this, you would miss A LOT of hidden features:
There are truly A LOT of vehicles (horses, blimps, aircraft carriers, ekranoplanes just to name some);
Power ups that can be stacked (a flying nuclear powered airless tires tugboat)
You can actually fight back the aliens
You have a "free" mode
You can mod your own vehicles
The scenaries changes thru time (like roads with modern asphalt)
It really is a fun, fast paced little gem, and I love it. Only thing I could say is that, regarding replayabilty, after winning the first run and completing the hardcore mode, you din't have much else. There aren't secrets, neither scoreboards.
But if you are serching for a time killing game, even for computers that aren't top of the line, this is a must.
In 3 words: fun, fast, creative.
Залипательно
In concept, a really frantic, fun idea. Just don't buy it at the full cost because while having great ideas, it has pretty short legs. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of fun. But the claim of "1300 unique vehicles" is....extremely generous. Since every car drives the same, just slightly different speeds and durabilities. And that applies to every boat, diesel train, boat, etc.. Just as long as you don't mind things ambushing you from off-screen that you had no real way to predict them.
In terms of minor things, the game lists full support for the Xbox gamepad, but only ever displays PC control prompts. The game worked more or less flawlessly...other than the tutorial. Which broke twice. Since running off the screen makes the default cars despawn and the game doesn't replace them. Once left me stuck in that grassy stage. The other time teleported me to the second tutorial level and soft locked the game. So like...that's something you can deal with.
Just, uh...try to never tab out while running the game. I tabbed out to Discord and noticed my case fans quickly ramp to 100% speed. Considering the game putting a trivial load on my Ryzen 5900X, this was alarming. I tab back into the game to close it and the fans.....calm right down. I tab back out to look at HWInfo64 and despite having basically no load on the CPU, my CPU is pinned at 81.6°C across all cores...which is the steady state temps of my 5900X under the NH-D15 while it has ALL cores at 100% utilization running heavy professional workloads. So, uh... Just one question. The ♥♥♥♥?
Despite being a very hard game and its last major update having come out 4 years ago, it's actually really really fun and highly replayable.
Run
Switchcars is an incredibly fast-paced rogue-lite that, while simple on the surface, is full of incredible depth and detail. Easy to pick up but brutally hard to master, Switchcars is the kind of game that digs its hooks in and doesn’t let go. It is a time-traveling, car-jacking roguelike where you’re constantly pursued by giant alien worms armed with nothing but a grappling hook. If you didn’t get it from that last sentence, this game is off the rails.
It starts simple. You have a grappling hook that you can use to grab onto objects and gain speed. You can also steal cars to travel faster. Your goal is to run to the right, travelling to different time periods where you can obtain different vehicles, and escape the giant aliens that are trying to stop you.
What starts as a straightforward escape mission quickly evolves into a chaotic speedrun of time-traveling vehicle mayhem. Each run begins with your escape through time, scavenging vehicles and upgrades to outpace the alien menace. The further you go, the more chaotic it becomes with each time period reshuffling the obstacles in your way.
There are several different kinds of vehicle, each with their own mechanics and ways of driving – bikes are easily destroyed, cars guzzle up fuel, planes can fly and have to avoid storms, boats can ride in water, and even animals like zebras and elephants. The range is ridiculous in the best way. The sheer variety in vehicles and vehicle types is more than impressive.
Most vehicles you will find initially will use fuel, but some of the more futuristic vehicles are electric and need power to run. There are also trains that need rails to drive along. The efficiency of vehicles is affected by what lane they are driving along. The screen is divided into ten lanes, with the top three “lanes” being the sky full of clouds. Only airborne vehicles can enter these lanes.
The other lanes can range from tarmac, to mud roads, train tracks, canals, swamps, forests – the terrain just keeps changing. The types of lanes available are influenced by the time period you are in and the particular environment. You could even end up in space, where you will float along, relying on your grappling hook or managing to grab a spaceship to continue moving.
Each stage has one or more environments you’ll have to travel through, and if you move quickly these can change rapidly. There is a timer on each stage, and when it runs out you will be pursued by one or more of the giant slug aliens that are trying to stop you. They will destroy vehicles you ride, and try to kill you, forcing you to use everything you’ve learned so far to survive.
You can mitigate the threat with upgrades that can be collected along the way. These can be special items that heal or protect, like the helmet, or they can be upgrades to your car – solar panels to power electric vehicles, skis to allow vehicles to travel along snow, or weapons that can be used to destroy things in your path.
If it sounds complicated, it is. But playing the game doesn’t feel that way. You have very simple controls and fast paced action that you will learn to react to quickly. Every run is different, ranging from dying right away because you forget to release your grapple and fly straight into a rock, to flying through the air while aliens leap at you, to jumping from track to track to avoid oncoming trains. Some or all of these things and more could happen to you in each run.
As an indie game it uses pixel art style graphics. They have great detail, and you can recognise vehicle types just through their silhouettes, something that really helps with the fast-paced gameplay, as do the richly detailed lanes that blend in with each other well enough that they seem like cleverly designed levels.
While this game can be a lot of fun for people who like a challenge, the repetition might feel like a grind for others, especially after several deaths. It takes a while to master this game. I’ve yet to make it past stage 8 myself, usually because I’m overwhelmed by multiple aliens as any vehicles I try to grab speed by.
But for players who like challenges and chaotic gameplay, this is a game for you. Whether you’re zipping through clouds in a flying car or narrowly escaping a swamp in a stolen tractor, Switchcars delivers heart-pounding chaos in every run. It’s wild, weird, and worth strapping in for.
https://youtu.be/8mF87L-dq-E
Clearly there is something at the core of this game that is masked by control and camera issues preventing new players from easily getting in to the groove.
Very nice game. For a product that hasn't been the center of attention, it is very well made, and all together just fun to play. Kind of has an old feel to it, probably intentionally, but without the limitations. This game is fun to play! Challenging in a good way! Five thumbs up!
fast paced mental and fun, its all the feutures for a great game
chill game
For some reason I dont understand... its just super great stupid silly fun!
an endless runner where you swap vehicles to match the terrain all while trying to avoid being eaten and slammed into nothingness by a giant space worm
This is game is a masterpiece. I have been watching its development for a long time and it did not disappoint when I finally got to play it. There are so many genius game design decisions that went into making it so much fun and thrilling.
It is both a love letter of some of the most exhilarating C64 and Amiga games of my childhood, but also a modern and fresh take on how to push their vision beyond.
I love the progressive difficulty of the game, and how the meta difficulty of the game adapts to your skill level with the year system. It is nice to be able to start the game at the edge of your comfort level and let the game push it further and further at your own pace.
At start, I was struggling with a single alien's attack, and at some point I was able to survive and kite bunch of them at the same time. There are so many decisions to be made at any given time, both to plan ahead for possible world changes that you are hinted at, but also to survive any given map and to proceed the fastest to the next one. Also, there is the constant consideration of whether to keep a vehicle or ditch it for another; whether to invest all your upgrades for a super vehicle that may be out of commission when its fuel runs out or when it gets destroyed, or to spread them among all three slots of vehicles that you have. These different hard decision sets help individualize your play style and come up with a big picture strategy on how you play the game.
I also love the variety of locations and vehicles. These do not only add a nice visual diversity to the game, but also found a great basis for presenting unique challenges and possible solutions to them.
Overall, this game is now in my top 10 games among the 35 years of gaming that I had with tens of thousands of titles.
I can't stop playing this game because it's too fun, would definitely recommend
You will never get this kind of crazy chase in GTA. Not even close.
piola
You like the Video up here? Well, that is basically the game and I mean all of it. It has nothing more to offer. Fun for like 5 Minutes but it feels clunky though.. If you catch it for like 1$ it might be ok but 9$ is way too much for it.
hell yeah
O mój boże, nie spodziewałem się aż TAKIEJ JAKOŚCI w grze indie za 30 złotych.
GOTY
a lots of vehicle I can try :]
Nice arcade, deeper than it looks initially, sometimes even a bit too much to keep in mind for me.. but it's fun anyways xDD
Good fun as a diversion or a bit of a sweatfest, as it gets challenging in later stages too.
Great for kids as well.
Fun little time waster
Ta bueno
One of the best games ever made! Tons of fun, tons of cars, challenging, exciting. Can't recommend it enough.
Small guy, lots of rides, killer eldritch worms.
5/5 Replayability for a distance runner; power-up's as car mods is a sick and inspired idea.
Much love for a developer that made a dream happen.
Has potential. Its fun, but only for a little while. There isnt really nothing different between vehicles, at least, not at first sight.
good game idk
good
Best 1.17 I've spent on a game
insane with simple to learn hard to master controls
i dread the 3 aliens after me
its nice
I like this game,
but there are a few annoyance in it:
1) Near the end I am constantly getting my vehicle blown up, thrown into the next scene, and then my guy is getting flung into mines or high-speed trains. It keeps happening like the game is programmed to do that.
2) Going to the alien world activates more baddies. This can happen way to early in the game.
3) I've lost controller support on a couple occasions or if you alt tab out for whatever reason and come back into the game then I lose controller support. Sometimes pausing jacks up all your vehicle upgrades, too.
4) Seems to be a lack of vehicles when you get into later levels so I've often had no way to escape.
5) 4x aliens is just too much for a Normal Mode.
Welp, here's to a few more hours for that perfect run in which I hopefully don't have bad luck right at the end. Again!
Aight, I quit. After 8hrs, I have the worst of luck right at the end of the run, and it's like damage increases exponentially. Things that cause a health blip at the start become automatic death sentences by stage 6 so it's kind of annoying that there's no set damage. It's all just guess work.
I finally went back to my original plan of going slow with 3 tanks and/or an armored off-road train or battleship. I killed the alien right when they appeared. I'd done this before but the game kept getting wonky and throwing me next to another vehicle which I'd then accidentally switch to.
MY first time beating it was the thing of legends: I'm 4-5 scene changes from the end. I jump thru a portal, smash hard into a high-speed boat. My souped up humvee blows up. A millisecond into this, I go to switch to my souped up armored tank, an alien was flinging thru the air and tapped me next to a jetski which promptly gets blown the f'up. I switch to my other damaged tank, but two aliens pound down my tank....into the lake...I'm vehicle-less thanks to bad luck, and I'd had little bad luck this whole run. So I'm thinking I'm dead as I watch three aliens now pounding on me. BUT! I had sunk under the water lol where I'm safe???!??! which I did not know.
I sit there for 5 mins waiting for a vehicle to spawn. Nothing. I say f it, let's just get this run over with and die. I come out of the water. A vehicle spawns close by. Grapple & Go, baby!
4 ALiens! And a drag of smashed cars. I am screwed, but then as I grapple for yet another vehicle, POOF, I'm floating in Space and the game is ending.
My 2nd beat run was a little less epic and just a stroll to the end. Aight, now. I'm out.
I have to say, I've been playing this game for a lot of hours and this is seriously one of the best roguelike action games on steam, or on any system. The way the game looks and plays is colorful and very fun. There are so many vehicles to drive and so many environments to explore, that it's satisfying while trying to outrun that slug alien on your way to the finish, and the most important thing is that it's different every time you play the game. It would be perfect for some new modes on future updates should this game have any, like a race mode or cooperative mode. Grab this game as soon as you can, you can't go wrong with roguelike action this in-depth!
Awesome game. Simple yet challenging.
AN absolute masterpiece!
it cool
Really great game that you'll find yourself playing longer than you expected. There's been countless times I've booted the game up just to play it for a few minutes because I was waiting for something else and then ended up playing it for 2 hours or more. Game is sorta like Jetpack Joyride where you constantly head for the right, however you can get into any vehicle you see and use it to go faster (or sometimes slower). Also, this game has literally thousands of vehicles, so there's tons of variety. Even if you don't make it to the finish, you'll still have a blast. And if you were wondering, there is an endless mode.
Fun concept. Simple fun casual game to go back to now and then.
Its a game
Never in million years, would I think that this would be my favorite roguelike.
good
It's aight.
Bof bof...
overall this game is a great time
its fast and has a ♥♥♥♥ ton of cars boats and planes to drive. and that i mean 1300 yeah 1300
diffrent cars planes and boats. if thats not a labor of love idk what is.
The real example of hidden gem
pixels
switchcars is a solid 8/10 game. the amount of things you can drive is immense,the idea is great and going and driving through different eras is enjoyable. The fact that is no longer updated [ and even then we may get smaller updates in the far future ] is basically nullified due to the extreme modding compatibility. modding is very easy to do, as you can change a cars stats in game at any time [ if you have unlocked it ]. however, no game is perfect and there are some big issues. firstly, the aliens, while fun in small doses, can get extremely annoying if theres too many or biome isnt in your favor. secondly, alien world and some [ but not all ] cave sections are INFURIATING. the alien world literally has a chance to spawn an alien even if the timer isnt down all the way. and if you have the entire alien species after you, it will still spawn. this game can at some times be extremely annoying and hard, but its still rewarding to win. overall, the game is super fun but theres a couple things that really annoy me.
Mein Maserati fährt...Oh ein Motorrad!
I followed this game for a long time and I've enjoyed it a ton! After prolonged early access that was missing open communication was terrible. What's strange is the game isn't that much different now. Still, I found it entertaining then and I continue to find enjoyment to this day. Switchcars is a short arcade game that can be slightly repetitive. However, it takes some skill to finish.
Full review,
https://youtu.be/XD9jJJNsDlw
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26701155-The-Pepp-Selection] Click to see my curator for more reviews![/url]
good game the game is good is good
Not bad but 9€ is way to much for this game. It feels like a flash game from 2010. Controls are weird and controller does not work at all. If it is on sale you can try it.
i switched a lot of cars
on a not joking note, good game. the pixel graphics look amazing and are perfect. challenging, but fun.
Fun game. Keeps me coming back to it. There are even objectives I didn't know were possible. Still didn't reach the end game and the difficulty has a nice balance.
Also love the fact you can mod terrain and vehicles but haven't found a way to mod power ups yet.
Very good time waster, easy to pick up and put down...
...Lot's of unlocks to keep you coming back for more.
(Also a very cool developer!)
Awesome stuff!
Pretty fun for short play sessions, the controls are easy enough and there's nice variety of vehicules. The very large number of static and moving obstacles on the road that you can crash into, the limited fuel, and the different types of terrain will force you to switch to other vehicles a lot (for example a city car will get really slow in the mud), making the gameplay somewhat chaotic (in a good way).
I'm not sure why this is in my library but...
It's pretty fun !
Tons of different vehicles that you need to switch from depending on the situation... unless you've got the right upgrade, then you can stick a helicopter rotor to a boat !
Gra jest ciekawa, ale nie dla każdego. Mechanika niespotykana wiec nie każdy ja polubi.
This game is unique, but the gameplay just isn't fun for me. I'd check out some YouTube videos before buying this, maybe you'll like it more than I did.
fun
I present: Best Game I Suck At AWARD! Super fast, super hard, super crazy = super fun? LOL
Fun!
Really fun fast paced game played for hours
Great rogue like arcade game love it
Juegazo la mar de entretenido , multitud de vehículos. Un juego de esos que si te matan te hechas 2 partidas más seguro
Probably the best survival racing roguelite on Steam. :)
Audio is cackling, and stops whenever you go to a different menu point (and is mostly non-existent anyways)
Controls mostly don't work, neither on MnK nor Controller
In other words, currently not in a playable state. I remember it working fine shortly after leaving early access, so no idea what happened there.
Easy to learn, hard to master
It's a pretty sweet little game. Pretty simple concept with tons of Content.
Too overwhelming. Even in the tutorial the game tries to teach you way too many things at the same time. You're barely getting to grips with the last mechanic and the game already throws five more your way. On screen messages every 15 seconds or so warning you to press a button or beware of some thing or get a new vehicle or use a different vehicle for this environment then the environment changes suddenly because you got teleported but then you're out of gas and you change vehicle but this vehicle is broken and oh my god use your grapple quick because an alien is coming for your ass.
Probably never had this much cognitive overload in all my 2 decades of gaming. Not for me. Refunded.
Switchcars is a certified banger! The game is very well made - sporting a large inventory of usable vehicles, great sound design, and an addicting game loop. The procedural generation in levels/vehicles and the high-intensity soundtrack keeps each new run feeling fresh and exciting.
Gameplay-wise, what you see in the trailers is what you get. Basically, you traverse left-to-right in hopes of reaching 'safe zone checkpoints' before the clock hits '00:00.' If the timer runs out before you reach a safe zone, you'll have to continue on but will now have to frantically avoid big floppy 'space slug' creatures who hound you mercilessly. Along the way, you can pick up 'power-ups' that improve your travel ability and you can also find 'mini-portals' that instantly teleport you across large sections of your path. Although deceptively simple in premise, the real challenge lies in deciding which types of vehicles to have in your roster, knowing when to switch between them, and securing/utilizing the random power-ups you stumble across along the way.
Switchcars is a great value and is a perfect game for folks who like quicker 'get-in/get-out' gaming sessions.
Its just ok.
Nice game. It's challenging and you need quick reactions.
The idea is really unique and and fun.
You can switch cars while the underground is constantly changing. You need do be aware of which type of cars you have. The fuel, the damage and your health. All while you have to make it to the end of the track in time.
Probably one of the most underrated games to ever exist. I think this game could really use more attention because I love this game and it really hurt me when I realized this game isn't as popular as it deserves to be. This game is a masterpiece.
So I left this game running for 10 hours while I was at work because it doesn't save progress on a run and I was near the end. I essentially have 4 hours playtime. I didn't beat level 9 either.
This game takes a bit of practice to control what is going on; it's incredibly fast-paced, but you have to sort of monitor how quickly you're moving so you don't end up going unprepared. Frankly it's a little too fast-paced to allow intuitive preparation. Or maybe I still suck at the game.
As a rogue-like diehard this is not my typical that I love but it does so many fun and unique things! 1502 unique vehicles I believe and that isn't even the best part: the rogue-like fan in me wants to customize these thousands of vehicles and this game does this in an incredibly fun way! Can I put offroad tires on a boat? YES. Does that give me obvious advantages? Extremely YES. Can I drive that boat on rocky terrain? Hell YES! Can I equip that offroad boat with a cannon? YES YES YES! One of my best runs had such a boat/buggy as my main.
Overall, my opinions on this game are hugely and insanely positive. It could use a ton of polish (especially around explaining powerups) but frankly this is an incredibly fun game.
非常耐玩
Hidden gem of a time killer game.
Fast paced, exciting and never the same twice. Great game!
It is fun, filled with energy, and high action. Grand Theft Roguelike, =)
its fun!
I love this game.
Nice idea, well done.
Very fast paced, frantic fun. If you like roguelite stuff, go for it.
Switchcars is amazing. It's fun, has an interesting concept, and with the new update, you can let your imagination run wild and create any car you want. I recommend taking a look at the tutorial for creating cars though, because when you got that down, you'll never want to stop making cars.
Playing the run mode is adrenaline inducing and addictive. You have to travel right as far and as fast as you can before the aliens catch up and try to kill you. It makes you use strategies and tactics, from fleeing with an airplane to blowing them up into a million pieces with a tank. The game also has 1000+ vehicles to collect (and that's before mods) and multiple game modes, such as the run, hardcore, free ride, and the newly introduced rally mode, which requires you to travel as far as you can from the start with a time limit. Don't worry, you have 3 tries to get as far as you can. :)
Beating Switchcars leaves you with a huge surprise at the end (I'm not spoiling it of course) and it gives you a special free vehicle given to you personally by the Altfuture crew which is a thank you gift for playing their game. If you beat hardcore, something EVEN CRAZIER will happen, and you'll get a disclosed prize that will leave you in utter shock.
Switchcars is diverse with content. You can start with the year 1950, where all the cars are slow, old and beat down, but it's much easier to escape the aliens and beat the game. Your protagonist has to travel to 2055 to witness the finest thing ever (still not spoiling it) and to get there, you have to travel through time with all sorts of vehicles, like small city cars, mid-sized sedans, motorcycles, large trucks, planes, trains, speed boats, ships, helicopters, sports cars, supercars, hypercars, even flying plasmacrafts and laser-shooting battlecrafts powered by ion drive built to soar through the thick and unforgiving space. You can even travel to dwarf planets and the alien planet, but be careful, the aliens know when they are being disturbed by an unknown residence.
In conclusion, Switchcars is absolutely amazing, as it's rich with content, fun, inspiring, and action-packed. There is also a special promotion, making this game 10% off until May 7th, so what are you waiting for? Jump into the action!
Полная хрень с пиксельной графикой!
this game has ben in early acces for so long i grew up... a lot
>Had no update for 4 years
>Major update out of no where
>pog
Cool game
Abandonado, tiene potencial pero los controles son horrendos
Reminds me of the arcade classic Spy Hunter. Dodge traffic, strap guns and other power-ups on your cool car/boat/airplane/motorcycle, and get as far as you can before dying. Great in short play sessions. Recommended.
Está prácticamente abandonado por los devs, que simplemente se esconden detrás de excusas y siguen diciendo "2 meses más" desde junio del año pasado. Una pena, porque prometía.
1'5/10
It was fun for a couple of hours, but even at $6 on sale, there isn't much game here. The per dollar game hour isn't that great. It is a great idea, good execution, there just isn't enough here to justify spending more than a few bucks on it.
Не важно какая у тебя машина, главно что ты едешь.
i like it
This is a hard game but the soundtrack goes right on with how intense the chase is, making you feel the adrenaline in the process
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