over the hill Is Out Now on Steam: 1.5 Million Wishlists, a $19.99 Launch Price and a 93% Positive Start

Funselektor launched over the hill on Steam on October 14, the Vancouver studio’s first major release since the racing management game Golden Lap in

2024. The new game trades rally stages and stopwatches for open wilderness. You pick a 4x4 inspired by the off-roaders of the 1960s to 1980s, choose your own route through connected countryside, and drive at whatever pace the terrain allows.

The anticipation was measurable before launch. The studio’s release announcement put Steam wishlists at 1.5 million, a number very few independent games reach. Founder Dune Casu has described the game’s origin in his own years travelling North America in a camper van: the patience of finding a remote place to camp, slowing down, and then moving on without a fixed plan is the feeling the game is built to reproduce.

The store page states the design rule plainly: this is a driving game, not a racing game. There is no timer pushing you to a finish line. Objectives and checkpoints unlock new vehicles, upgrades and cosmetics, and portals carry you between areas, but the route between them is yours. The launch build covers two regions, Canada and Algeria, across forests, lakesides, mountains and desert.

Obstacles are solved with equipment rather than speed. Planks bridge gaps, winches recover a stuck vehicle and pull you up difficult ground, and merchants and remote cabins sell customisation and supplies. Dynamic weather and a full day-night cycle change what a familiar trail demands of you. Between drives, an in-game camera feeds a wildlife compendium: photograph the animals you meet, from eagles to moose and bears, and the book fills in.

Everything can be played solo, and the same world opens to online co-op with up to three friends. Co-op changes the problem-solving most: one vehicle winches while another scouts, and a convoy can improvise its way through terrain that would stop a single driver. Each player needs their own copy on Steam.

Four days after launch, the review picture is strong. As of October 18, over the hill holds 2,153 Steam reviews, 1,995 of them positive — about 93%, which Steam summarises as Very Positive. Press quotes carried on the store page point the same way: Rock Paper Shotgun calls it a worthy addition to the off-roading sim pantheon, and DualShockers scored it

80. The package is compact by modern standards: 62 achievements, full controller support, and a 4 GB install, with a minimum specification of a GTX 1070 or Radeon RX 5600 and 8 GB of RAM.

Alongside the base game, a Supporter Edition bundle at $37.99 adds exclusive vehicle cosmetics, a special campsite, and the official 40-track soundtrack; the soundtrack also sells separately for $9.99. Console versions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2, plus mobile, are set for 2027, so PC is the only way in for now — and the launch discount, which ends October 28, is the cheapest entry the game has offered.

A slow game with no racing, no combat and no fail state just converted 1.5 million wishlists into a Very Positive launch in the busiest release month of the year. That is evidence for a claim cozy and simulation developers have made for years: a large audience treats driving as a place to be, not a contest to win. It also strengthens the Funselektor and Strelka partnership, which previously produced Golden Lap together, and it gives the 2027 console versions a proven PC reception to stand on.

Buy it during the discount window if the pitch sounds like your kind of evening, especially with friends: co-op is where the winches, planks and improvised recoveries turn a scenic drive into a shared story. Go in with the right expectations. Progress is gentle, the pace is yours to set, and players who need a goal every ninety seconds will bounce off it. Solo drivers should treat the first region as the test: if an unhurried hour in the Canadian woods feels good, the rest of the map will too.