RV There Yet? Review: It's Capitalizing On Co-op Hype, But This Janky Mess is Still a Riot
It's not changing the world, but it might make you die laughing (or from a snakebite).
It feels like every other week, another physics-based co-op "friendslop" game hits Steam, promising wacky, unscripted chaos. RV There Yet? is absolutely one of those games. It’s not revolutionary. It’s not reinventing the wheel. It's capitalizing on a trend, plain and simple.
The premise is a 4-player co-op road trip from hell. You're trying to pilot a busted-ass RV through "Mabutts Valley" to get back to Route 65. The thing is... despite its total lack of originality, this janky, $7 disaster-piece is one of the most fun, chaotic messes I've played in months.
The Physics of Failure
The star of the show is your RV, which controls less like a vehicle and more like a drunken shopping cart. The game is all about physics, which is code for "everything is wobbly and unpredictable".
Your main tool is a physics-based winch on the front and back. This is supposed to get you over "road bumps". In my experience, it's mostly used to accidentally tie the RV to the ground and make it do a handstand, or for your friend to go flying into the stratosphere after grabbing the dart board. It's a glorious, broken system.
Drunk Driving and Other Vices
The game calls its mechanics "survival." You have to grill frozen burgers and stock EpiPens for... reasons. But the real survival mechanic is managing your vices.
The RV is stocked with "cold brewskis and filtered low tar cigarettes". I chugged about 12 beers in the first five minutes. Here's the kicker: you have to smoke a cigarette to run. You press 1, 2, and 3 just to light up and get a speed boost. It feels bizarre, but it perfectly captures the game's trashy man-trip vibe.
A Symphony of Glorious Bugs
This game is janky. The physics are a disaster, and things just break. I put a gas can on the grill and the whole RV exploded. I grabbed the welder from a garage, and the cord just stretched infinitely across the map, letting us repair anywhere. My friend got mauled by a bear, we crashed, lost a tire, and then I died from a snakebite trying to walk to a gas station.
In most games, this would be cause for a refund. Here, it's the entire point. It's a "god tier... broken, and buggy friendslop". The bugs are the comedy.
This Is Not a Solo Game
I need to be crystal clear: do not buy this game to play by yourself. I tried it solo for a bit, and it's a frustrating, borderline unplayable grind. Some obstacles feel impossible alone, and the game clearly expects a team of at least two ideally three people.
This is a 4-player party game, full stop. The people posting negative reviews about it being "boring" are the ones who tried to play it alone and completely missed the point. If you don't have friends, this isn't for you. If you do have friends, it's a perfect way to yell at them.
The Verdict
Look, RV There Yet? is not some revolutionary, game-of-the-year contender. It's a cheap, $7 co-op game designed to cash in on the Lethal Company and PEAK hype. It's got one map, a load of bugs, and a core loop that's not exactly deep.
But I just can't hate it. I haven't laughed this hard at a game in ages. It's a fantastic, low-stakes, chaotic sandbox for you and your friends to be idiots in. For the price of a pint, you get an evening of absolute mayhem. Sometimes, that's all you need.
Score: 8.3/10 - A janky, beer-soaked, co-op dumpster fire that's worth every penny.
We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn't impact our review in any way.