2025 was such a loaded year for games that I can’t really blame anyone for missing its wealth of hidden gems. There was just too much to play, especially when it came to RPGs. Thankfully, the universe is giving you a second chance to try one of the genre’s best games last year: Keep Driving.
Developed by Post Void studio YCJY Games, Keep Driving is a 2D road trip RPG loaded with grounded survival systems and a dash of roguelike influence. It launched exclusively on Windows PC on Feb. 6 last year and quickly became one of 2025’s best-reviewed games. Despite the acclaim, it remained a fairly underground indie throughout the year. As of Sept. 28., it’s finally available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X, alongside a mod-support update on Windows PC. If you slept on it the first time around, now’s the time to remedy that (especially if you play on Switch).
Set in the early 2000s, you play as a rebellious teen who sets out on a cross-country road trip to a summer music festival. You don’t leave home with much aside from a beat-up car, a few supplies, and a little bit of cash. Your goal is to carve a route to the festival while also making enough money on the way to buy food, maintain your car, and survive the trip. Every pitstop and detour matters; one could argue that it beat The Blood of Dawnwalker to its timed RPG setup by over a year.
It’s remarkably tense for a slice-of-life game, perhaps because it mirrors the real world’s stakes so well. You are constantly left counting quarters as you bounce between gas stations in search of cheap food that can get you through another day. You’re at the mercy of the gig economy during your trip, taking on paying quests that might require you to derail your plans for a day. It feels like there’s not enough hours in a week to get it all done while also staying healthy. Sound familiar?
You can also draw a timely connection to another one of 2026’s most talked-about games, Mixtape. Keep Driving is similarly romantic about rock music with its own musical coming-of-age story. Some of its best moments are spent cruising down highways between towns and listening to the game’s soundtrack of licensed punk anthems from Swedish indie rock bands. It truly captures the sound of growing up for a certain kind of suburban kid who always dreamed of skipping town. (I may or may not be speaking from experience here.)
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If none of that speaks to you, Keep Driving is still worth checking out, purely to see how it plays with form. YCJY Games gets creative with genre here, imbuing a 2D driving game with tons of subtle RPG hooks that are easy to get obsessive about. Even more fascinating is how the game borrows from roguelikes to create something that feels entirely fresh. You have one shot to complete your trip successfully. If you fail, you can start again with a different character and a procedurally-generated new map. Every playthrough can feel entirely fresh, depending on what route you decide to take across the country.
While I loved playing Keep Driving on Windows PC last year, I’m glad it’s on consoles now — especially Nintendo Switch. It’s a perfect portable game, as you can pick it up and make quick progress in small chunks. The Switch is the ideal platform for that, so congratulations to anyone who didn’t have time to dive in last year. Sometimes procrastination pays off