Today is the Xbox One version of Hitchhiker, a narrative mystery game about the world’s strangest road trip. in the HitchhikerYou play as a traveler without remembering who you are or where you are going. Your job is to piece together the memories of your own backstory and solve environmental puzzles by following clues from drivers you meet along the way. The production of Hitchhiker itself was a long and winding journey, full of twists and turns and many learned things.
It was at the beginning of 2016 when Patrick Rau (Managing Director and Co-Creative Director of Mad About Pandas) came up with the idea of Hitchhiker. “Everyone has played a driving game,” he emphasized. “Nobody made a passenger game.” The idea was simple, with clear restrictions that I liked: as a hitchhiker you can’t drive, you can’t run – you can’t do a lot of anything. When you’re working on a new idea, there is often nothing more liberating than constraints: taking a bunch of options off the table at the start will make it easier for you to find inspiration because you’re no longer staring at a blank canvas with unlimited possibilities.
Our first conversations about the game were all about mood: a certain autumn mood that we had imagined, a surreal highway full of hidden correspondence. They open the glove box in a person’s car. Inside is a photo that you saw in the last car. The driver is casual about this fact, but doesn’t seem to find it strange. How did it get here? When I think back to that process, it seems to go from back to front in terms of how you would normally make a game: we started with an atmosphere and then created dialogue clips to support that atmosphere. Next, characters were introduced who could say these lines. Only when the feeling of Hitchhiker After we were thoroughly grounded, we began filling in plot specifications and puzzle interactions so that they could take organic shape from the set mood.
Patrick and I both spent time in the San Francisco Bay Area (in fact, our friendship and creative partnership is based on this shared experience). Northern California is a great place for road trips, and I remember vividly some of the conversations I had while in the passenger seat on the highways of this part of the country. There is a special kind of on-mind state that occurs here when your senses are filled with the highway flying by, your body is at rest, and your mind is completely free to engage in the process of talking to another person. It is this feeling of deep immersion in conversation that we wanted to recreate as the core gaming experience Hitchhiker.
The development of Hitchhiker What followed was a development similar to a long drive in a car, where you can hardly imagine reaching your distant destination when you pull out of the driveway. Before you know it, however, speed down the freeway and have a good time. A first art trailer caught the attention of Kill Screen, who wrote a short article that got Humble Bundle interested in the project. The Hitchhiker First Ride prototype was released as the Humble Original in 2018 and resulted in support for the entire production. Today we’re excited to release the full Five Ride Game to the world and would like to thank everyone who signed up for the ride so far.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide – A Puzzle Game
Against the evil
$ 19.99
Hitchhiker is a lost highways mystery game where your goal is to solve the mystery of your own backstory. As a hitchhiker with no memory or destination, you’ll experience a series of journeys through a strange and beautiful landscape, following the mysterious disappearance of someone close to you. Their drivers range from stoic farmers to off duty waitresses, and each one has a story to tell. Clues pop up, alliances are formed, and nothing is what it seems. As your journey continues, you must decipher the events of your past while facing the dangers that lie ahead. Hitchhiker is a road trip odyssey about exploring the unknown to find yourself. • Hitchhike with five total strangers in five hitchhiking trips through strange and beautiful landscapes that will challenge your understanding of reality … and perhaps your philosophy of life. • Solve environmental puzzles and keep an eye out for clues to uncover your mysterious past. • The decisions you make when speaking to the drivers reveal your own dark secrets.
