PlayStation Just Added A Fun Take On The Open World Vehicular Caper
What if GTA was a Saturday morning cartoon?
Grand Theft Auto VI may have been delayed, but it doesn’t mean the open-world crime genre is resting. From rumored re-releases of classics, a new game from ex-Rockstar developers, and even a bizarro-world throwback like Fallen Tree Games’ The Precinct, players who love a freeing joyride through an urban sprawl have plenty of options in the next GTA’s absence.
But few of these 2025 releases are as zany as Studio Far Out Games’ Deliver At All Costs. While it’s not dripping in high production values, it excels in throwing a constant stream of weird and fun ideas that help freshen up a crowded and oversaturated genre.
Deliver At All Costs is an isometric open-world game set during the 1950s in an American island town called St. Monique. The music, the mild mannerisms of its cast, and the general mood of its open world are all tinged with post-WW2 American optimism and nuclear paranoia. You play as Winston Green, a crafty scientist and inventor whose shady past has him taking up a courier job at the titular Deliver At All Costs company.
Winston’s job as a courier makes up the core of the game. He’s tasked with delivering various items for customers across town in exchange for cash. And it’s all done from the top-down perspective that reminds me most of the underrated 2009 DS game, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, with a hint of Crazy Taxi’s arcadey chaos.
While the mission is fairly straightforward, how each parcel, and by association each objective, changes between deliveries is what kept me coming back for more. One mission has players moving a contraption that pumps out helium-filled balloons, giving Winston’s delivery truck moon physics as it races across town. Another will have you hauling loose fruit in the bed of your truck, desperately hoping not to lose too much of your load. There’s even a mission where Winston is chasing down visitors from outer space hoping to snap photos of the phenomenon. Making money adds cool abilities to your vehicle such as winches and mechanical arms to help your efficiency along the way.
What makes the chaos even more fun is just how destructible the world is. Virtually every wall, building, and fence can be driven through, making for a city with infinite shortcuts. It’s Red Faction: Guerilla levels of destruction, a gimmick I wish more games would implement. Combined with the sheer variety of ways parcels change the game’s play style, Deliver At All Costs feels like a single-player party game in a really refreshing way.
You play as a down-on-his-luck inventor looking to fund his scientific ambitions with his delivery job.
The amount of variety here does bring me to one of my gripes with the game. Not all of the ideas here are home runs. Some of the missions in the bunch are less fun than others. Hauling a seismic wave detector up an active volcano avoiding falling debris and boulders, for example, isn’t as fun as the scenario suggests on paper. The isometric view makes it hard to see what’s about to rain on the player from above.
What works in its favor though is the fact that Deliver At All Costs is never punishing. Checkpoints are always reasonable, if not overly forgiving, and missions are relatively bite-sized. And that allows the player lots of room to play as recklessly as they’d want. It’s a chill experience that seems entirely focused on getting out of the way of the player having fun.
Even how the game presents its open world reflects this laid-back approach to the typically high-stakes open-world genre. You’re deathless, and so are the hapless citizens unfortunate enough to share the streets of St. Monique with you. Pedestrians hit by cars can shove you into oblivion, but no lives or blood are ever lost in the ruckus. Even Winston’s nonchalant reactions of “shucks” and “aw geez” to the mayhem of collapsing houses and people fleeing in terror made me laugh out loud on several occasions.
The variety of missions is the heart of this zany open-world romp.
If it wasn’t for the select few times swear words are dropped during cutscenes, I’d say this is the most kid-friendly open-world game to come along in a while. These are all design choices that I imagine could feel divisive, but I rather enjoyed having the freedom to do whatever I liked without feeling like there was a wrong way to play. It’s also nice to play a game so dedicated to replacing explosions with madcap slapstick.
Deliver At All Costs is a fun little open-world game that throws a lot at the wall. Thankfully, the chaotic energy it has makes for a charming adventure that harkens back to the simpler early days of the open-world genre that focused entirely on chaotic fun. It’s a long way from the grand finish that big-budget games like Grand Theft Auto are now. But it’s a worthy, snack-sized pitstop that nostalgic players will likely enjoy.
