Drift Stage coming to Kickstarter next week, but you can play a demo now

Drift Stage

How can it be that we haven't mentioned Drift Stage before now? I mean, look at it. It's an 80sy/90sy racing game that mixes gorgeous, low poly car models and environments with beautifully chunky pixel art. The result is something that would have felt right at home on the Sega Dreamcast. Because this is the space year 2015, however, it's coming to Kickstarter next week, though developers Super Systems have released a very early pre-alpha demo to keep us occupied in the meantime.

Comprising a time trial race around a single, nighttime city track, this might initially seem like a bit of a slim demo, but that's before you hit Start (on the 360 pad, at least) and see the heavenly words 'Photo Mode' jutting out at you. A few dedicated people are going to spend a lot of time getting some great shots with this feature, which lets you pause the game at any point and fly around with a free camera to take the perfect snapshot (the screenshot key is F9, by the way).

The full game, judging by the menu, will feature a fulsome range of career and multiplayer modes, with Steam Workshop support integrated from the main menu. (It's already been Greenlit, in case you were wondering.)

I'll leave you with a video of the time trial mode in action. Man, I miss OutRun.

Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Racing
Victory screen of Big Rigs showing infamous "You're Winner" message under a three-handle gold trophy
One of the worst games ever made is coming to Steam, but we won't know how cruel this joke is until we see the price tag
Screenshot from Wreckfest 2
Wreckfest 2 has hit early access for your car-obliterating combat racing enjoyment
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is getting a new mountain next month and a whole bunch more throughout the year, including a game editor
A 1950s pickup truck smashes through a building while being cornered by a police car in Deliver At All Costs
Chaotic courier sim Deliver At All Costs will crash through your letterbox this May, and its latest trailer is even weirder than I expected
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds, showing various racing competitors hurtling through the air
Sonic Racing CrossWorlds looks like a return to the over-the-top arcade fun of All-Star Racing Transformed, and we'll get to play it this month
A masked sniper pointing his rifle in Nightmare Kart
Superb Bloodborne-inspired racing game Nightmare Kart is getting free DLC featuring sniper rifles and supercharged penny farthings
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again