Heading Out

It's you, your car and the road. As you drive across the USA, people take notice. But nobody knows where you'll end up - not even you.

Heading Out is a visual novel, stylized and rogue-like game developed and published by Serious Sim.
Released on May 07th 2024 is available only on Windows in 9 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Polish, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Spanish - Latin America.

It has received 534 reviews of which 421 were positive and 113 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.5 out of 10. 😊

The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Heading Out into these genres:

Visual Novel Stylized Rogue-like Rogue-lite Choices Matter Narrative Choose Your Own Adventure Comic Book Interactive Fiction Nonlinear Resource Management Dynamic Narration Driving Movie Racing Indie Adventure Singleplayer Arcade Strategy

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Heading Out through various videos and screenshots.

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Requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i3-10320 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 1060 or Radeon RX 560
Storage: 30 GB available space

Reviews

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Oct. 2024

I really enjoy this game, amazing soundtrack, looks really pretty, and I think the driving is pretty good (can sometimes Jank out), and the main story plot-line and most of the Side stories really tie this world together. I only really have one problem with the game, and its the Rainbow Radio station girl, feels completely out of place for a game that takes place in the 70's (mid Vietnam era). I am extremely left leaning and gay, but stating "I'm gay" and "DAMN MEN" every time she is talking gets a bit annoying. Again that's my only problem besides some driving jank. Also your a pussy if you won't play just because of "Woke", you can skip the radio stations if it gets your panties so much into a twist. Get this game if you can!

Aug. 2024

TLDR: good game, very immersive, but bad writing, especially for political topics. I found the game to be fun in its resource management/driving aspect: the driving is the speed races from need for speed ProStreet but a bit slower and more slippery. That change, however, actually makes the prostreet model better because you can actually predict and strategize. It requires some time to master but it's pretty good when you get it imo. Avoid using the Daytona-looking "European" car. It's trash. Resource management provides some challenges on balanced difficulty and gives a sense of being chased but abusing the police chase mechanism is OP. The game did well immersing the player into the movie-esque 1970s American road trip setting with the graphics, having an American map that you can travel in, and mechanisms like the songs and state borders. However, the writing has much more potential that is just untapped. The idea of letting the player choose the MC's backstory means that the MC becomes intentionally vague and mysterious. Yet the writers also decided to make MC's backstory essential to the story, which makes the protagonist not relatable as a character and the character growth arc to be confusing. The small stories on the road are good, but I feel like they can be more: they all feel pretty plain, don't have twists and surprises, and often just depict the world instead of building on it. The politics part is weird as well: the writers haven't done their historical research as real events like the Nixson scandal, queer rights, racial equality, Vietnam war protests, Cuban missile crisis, the ENTIRE FUCKING COLD WAR and so much more have so much storytelling potential yet are rarely mentioned or ignored. (like bro, just listen to We Didn't Start the Fire and like you get ten good stories just from the '70s news headlines) The writers put two over-the-top and stereotypical "evil conservative" and "good progressive" and called it a day, which also made the radio hosts incredibly annoying. (especially when Riley repeats the same lines SO FUCKING MUCH AAAAAAAAH) (Joy and JC are less annoying since they have a much more personal story, which the narrators are better at writing) The writers are only capable of "depicting" and not "building": not really having a message instead just following the current media narratives. Apparently, they are not American so it makes more sense. I am not against politics in gaming, nor even the political views that the writers holds(just look at my avatar lol) but I am against bad writing and lazy faux-discussions of political topics. And, unfortunately, that statement applies to this game.

July 2024

Heading Out isn’t just another game you pick up and play for a few hours before moving on to the next big thing. This game is an experience. It’s like a love letter to those of us who have ever dreamed of dropping everything, getting behind the wheel, and just driving until the road runs out. From the moment you start, you’re pulled into this beautifully crafted world that feels both nostalgic and fresh. The way the game weaves in elements of classic road movies is nothing short of genius. It taps into that universal yearning for adventure, for escape, and for finding yourself out there in the wild unknown. What I really appreciated about Heading Out was its depth. It’s not just a driving game where you steer a car from one point to another. It’s a journey of self-discovery. Your driver’s fears, dreams, and ambitions aren’t just background noise they are the very essence of the game. So, if you’re looking for a game that offers more than just a quick thrill this is it.

May 2024

Indeed "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey." And what a journey it was even if a bit short it was really fun with good music tons of events that kept the game interesting with funny quirks on the radio or from the random events that made me smirk or laugh, I wanna address what other people say that the game is misleading in what its is about. While yes is true the description would not do the game justice in reality the game is a split of a resource management / visual novel / driving game and I think is better like this then what people expected it to be just a driving game mostly... but hey that just my personal taste there is enough driving to not make it boring. There are however some small nitpicking stuff about the game that I did not like. Firstly is kind of short and once you done with the last act the game locks you out of the save file... so you cant do the other event quest n such needing to start allover unlocking the stuffs again... hopefully a post lunch update with New Game+ or an endless mode where you don't have the fear mechanic ? and generally speaking hopefully there will be some more content in the future for it because the game core and foundation is really nice, has a nice loop to it would be amazing if it would be expanded upon it with more stuff... A Second thing would be a bit of clean up on the graphical side. Like the comic art style is amazing but it should/could look more sharp, there are some blurry details inside the car dashboard and in general... the grass popping in as you drive gets annoying and anti aliasing being it on maximum settings looks sometime like is not there at all... In conclusion even if short and with a few flaws here and there overall the game is a really nice experience maybe a bit stingy at full price but if they will add post lunch content it is definitely worth it... or if you think a mix of resource management / visual novel / driving game where you run from you fear would be your jam its still a worthy purchase. ( I finished the game on the 'challenging' difficulty and it was just good mix of challenge without getting annoying and also turn the setting 'hide consequences' to ON, makes the experience soo soo much better and immersive, that setting should be default to on.. )

May 2024

Driver meets visual novel meets choose your own adventure meets roguelike progression and item management. This game has been a joy so far in the time I've spent with it, it gets personal, it gets deep, and it gets dark. But its also full of humor. Driving itself is fun and gets more and more challenging the more you progress in the game, and the chases and races remind me alot of the old Driver games. This is definitely a gem and a sleeper hit of the year, highly recommend it.

Data sources

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Last Updates

Steam data	22 January 2025 16:42
SteamSpy data	22 January 2025 01:52
Steam price	22 January 2025 20:32
Steam reviews	22 January 2025 00:02

19.99€

7.5

421

113

Online players

Developer

Serious Sim

Publisher

Serious Sim

Release 07 May 2024

Platforms