I am not an expert in either driving games nor the Isekai genre. I more so know the tropes of the genre through cultural osmosis within anime spheres, rather than having great familiarity with specific works. Yet I still found myself enjoying my brief preview of Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?!, which manages to combine both into one package, even if I hoped for more from the premise.
Hit and Run in Another World
Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?! is clearly made with great love for both isekai anime and arcade driving. The first informs the story, while the latter provides the gameplay loop. The combination works very well. The game starts with a play on the isekai trope of a truck hitting the protagonist, only to send them to the other world of the story. We are first introduced to salarywoman and isekai enthusiast Carissa Ward, both of whom are soon to be sent on her isekai adventure. The player inhabits the truck driver who committed vehicular manslaughter, who is soon coerced by Carissa into committing a whole load of vehicular homicides.
It’s front-loaded, with a voiced cutscene to start affairs (though the audio mixing is questionable) and set the game up, followed mostly by encouragement to get on with playing. The game uses a visual novel-style presentation to exposit and tell jokes, mostly parodying isekai and poking fun at the out-of-his-depth truck driver. It got a few laughs out of me, so it must be doing something right.
Simple Core Gameplay
Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?! feels like a driving game that forces me to do something other than hold forward as hard as possible for the duration, which I appreciated. The controls are fairly standard for arcade driving, with boosts and side-swiping included. It felt very sensitive, with light touches on either trigger sending the truck zooming in the desired direction. Hitting objects is easy, they’re scattered everywhere and often quite large. On the other hand, hitting people is more difficult; they’re little and move around.
It’s brought together by the added element of stress from having a timer at the top of the screen. You can’t take your time lining up the perfect movement, lest that time slip away forever. Another core element of the simple gameplay loop focuses on gathering stars. The player must hit people to send monsters to the other world, hit objects to gain power, and use that power to destroy monsters, which earns stars. There are always three objectives to complete, which vary in difficulty and are taken from a small pool. After completion, you get more challenges to complete. These completed challenges either reward stars or extended time with which to gather more stars.
The map of Wendale is expansive and is filled with plenty of activities to partake in. Some of the potential objectives, such as hitting beach chairs or driving through a billboard, reward knowledge of the surroundings. A free roam option will be available in the final game too, a savvy decision given how rushed I was during the outings. I wanted to see what was going on with the big man that showed up in the middle of gameplay, but I sadly didn’t have the time. The minimap also wasn’t an effective aid, as it was difficult to check when my focus was entirely on the timer. Plus, the city setting is slightly drab and filled with a little too much gray for my liking, although different districts and features like parks and beaches go some way to alleviating repetition.
Missed Opportunities
The game excited me with its premise, as I was intrigued by the potential that the dual world story provides. The layout of the screen, with Carissa’s combat at the bottom, suggests that both the driving and the fighting will have to be taken into account. This isn’t really the case. You can take care of Carissa’s side of the action by just blowing the horn whenever your energy is full. This is a case where the simplicity works against the game. A Skeleton King is promised as the end goal, which I hope to see shake up the formula somewhat.
The concept of armored objects is introduced early on, expanded with the police cars, which share the same sort of armor. Those with armor cannot simply be crashed into like most of the environment, instead requiring the use of a boost. This makes sense as the boost is difficult to line up, giving a reward for looking ahead on your path. However, if you don’t want that burden, the side swipe also breaks armor. It does cut down on the potential pain of having to back up to readjust, but it can make armor feel almost trivial.
Overall, Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?! has clearly figured out its identity. In short bursts, it is a remarkably fun time, and even if it wasn’t quite what I had in mind going in, I still managed to enjoy it. The demo for Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?! is available now on Steam as part of Steam Next Fest, while the full game can be wishlisted before it releases on July 29 on Steam and Xbox Series X|S.
