RoadOut (Xbox Series X|S) Review - A Cyberpunk Scrapheap Symphony

RoadOut is one of those games that feels like it shouldn’t work on paper. It’s a top‑down action RPG welded to car combat, dungeon crawling, faction politics, and a post‑apocalyptic cyberpunk world that looks like a lost 16‑bit cartridge someone dug out of a bunker. And yet, somehow, it mostly comes together into a scrappy, ambitious, occasionally frustrating, but undeniably compelling wasteland trek.

On Xbox, RoadOut runs smoothly and looks sharp, its pixel art popping nicely on a big screen. But the real hook is the rhythm of its world: a constant loop of driving, looting, dungeon‑delving, and faction‑juggling that scratches the same itch as a big open‑world RPG, just without the bloat of a 200‑hour map game.

RoadOut’s story drops you into the irradiated sprawl of the Dead Zone, a fractured wasteland where three rival factions claw for scraps of power. You play as Claire, a mercenary with a past she’d rather not unpack, who takes on jobs to survive while slowly getting pulled into a much bigger conspiracy. What starts as simple courier runs and bounty work gradually reveals a world shaped by rogue AIs, failed utopias, and the lingering scars of a civilisation that tried to fuse cybernetics with salvation.

As Claire builds reputation with the factions, the story branches in small but meaningful ways. Each group has its own ideology, its own vision for what the wasteland should become, and none of them are cleanly “good” or “bad.” Your alliances determine which missions open up, who trusts you, and which parts of the world shift in tone. Beneath the faction politics runs the game’s central thread: a mystery involving cloning, cyber‑tattoos that rewrite the body, and a looming threat tied to the Dead Zone’s origins. It’s pulpy, stylish, and knowingly over the top, a blend of cyberpunk noir and post‑apocalyptic mythmaking that gives the world just enough narrative weight without slowing down the game’s pace.

RoadOut’s dungeons are its strongest pillar. They’re packed with:

• Switch puzzles

• Sokoban‑style block pushes

• Camera‑rotation secrets

• Light environmental trickery

They’re brisk, intuitive, satisfying and never too punishing, but always rewarding when a solution clicks. Boss fights mix puzzle mechanics with bullet‑hell chaos, and while some run long, they’re memorable.

Combat, however, is where RoadOut’s ambition sometimes outpaces its execution. Claire’s melee and ranged tools are fun to swap between, but the game struggles to decide whether it wants to be:

• a fast, reactive twin‑stick shooter or

• a slower, stamina‑managed action RPG

The result is a tension you feel constantly. Attacks have slight delays, stamina drains quickly, and enemies can stunlock you. It’s not broken, but it’s inconsistent as some encounters feel fair, others feel like you’re being punished for playing the “wrong” way.

The driving is the other half of RoadOut’s identity, and it’s a mixed bag.

On the positive side, the car combat feels great. Boosting, drifting, and smashing enemies has a crunchy, arcade‑toybox energy reminiscent of GTA: Chinatown Wars or Rock ’N Roll Racing. The Xbox controller’s analog sticks give the car a satisfying snap when drifting around corners.

But the physics can be too loose. The Dead Zone often feels like it’s been greased with butter, tight corridors become a chore, and the turning radius can feel unpredictable. It’s fun in open spaces, frustrating in narrow ones.

Still, the variety helps: racing tracks, destruction derbies, courier missions, and vehicular boss fights break up the dungeon grind nicely.

RoadOut’s RPG systems are lean but clever. You unlock upgrades by installing cybernetic tattoos tied to each faction, which also visually alter Claire’s sprite, a small but delightful touch.

Crafting medkits and ammo is essential, especially given the game’s difficulty spikes. And there are spikes. RoadOut isn’t shy about throwing you into rooms that feel like Hotline Miami on a bad day.

One major drawback: no autosaves. On Xbox, this means losing progress to a sudden death can be genuinely maddening.

Pros

• Satisfying Zelda‑like dungeon puzzles

• Reactive faction system adds meaningful choice

• Car combat is crunchy, fast, and fun

• Strong pixel art and enemy variety

• A compact open‑world loop that scratches the AAA itch without the bloat

Cons

• Combat feels torn between two playstyles

• Driving physics can be slippery and inconsistent

• No autosaves (a big issue during difficulty spikes)

• Some dungeon layouts and biomes repeat

• Occasional pacing bloat in longer missions

RoadOut is messy, ambitious, and occasionally infuriating but also charming, inventive, and surprisingly deep. It captures the spirit of old‑school open‑world RPGs while remixing them with cyberpunk flair and matchbox‑car mayhem. On Xbox, it’s a great fit for players who love indie experiments, retro aesthetics, and games that swing big even when they don’t always land cleanly. If you enjoy quirky genre mashups, dungeon puzzles, and post‑apocalyptic road‑warrior vibes, RoadOut is absolutely worth the ride.

XPN Rating: 3 out of 5 (SILVER)

RoadOut is available now!