The fictional American world of Deliver At All Cost is a love letter to the 1950s, vivid, nostalgic and almost too beautiful to destroy. But that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. First-time Swedish developer Far Out Games has meticulously crafted a neon-drenched Americana, complete with pink motels, sun-soaked suburbs and classic diners, all ready to be obliterated by you and your unstoppable delivery truck.
Smashing through beautifully detailed structures, all while rocking out to vintage rock & roll, is the chaotic core of the game. “There’s something very likable about the music, culture and style of 1950s America,” says Lars Olsson, co-founder and CEO of Far Out Games. “We think it brings a certain atmosphere to the game that ties everything together in a nice way.”
Beyond the joy of destruction, Deliver At All Cost offers players a wide variety of missions. “All missions are very unique,” explains Olsson. “We have really worked hard on making each mission a different and fun experience that introduces a unique mechanic.” The missions are all woven into an atmospheric story that’s brought to life by a cast of over 80 voice actors, including Paul Cartwright who’s voicing protagonist Winston Green. “We are very proud of that,” says Olsson “With each mission stranger and more over the top than the previous one, players will be itching to see what happens next.”
Silly things
He admits that game- and level design was a real puzzle to solve in the semi-open world that allows players to carve their own paths by smashing through just about everything. “It was definitely a challenge,” Olsson admits, referring to balancing player freedom with cohesive level design. “But we wanted the missions to be unique and unpredictable. And that’s certainly the case!”
Far Out Games’ journey began as a seven-week student project in a local game development program in Gothenburg, Sweden. The four studio founders (Lars Olsson, Daniel Nielsen, Jimmy Hultén and Jonatan Johansson) laid the foundation there of what would eventually become Deliver At All Cost. “Some of the initial concept and atmosphere from that school project still resides within the game,” explains Olsson. “The school project was mostly about doing silly things in an over the top 1950’s world where the player could gather points by dealing property damage to the world. From there the game has evolved dynamically over time towards a deeper story line to follow, a series of very unique missions, destructibility on a whole new level and a huge semi-open world to explore and destroy.”
Attention to detail
The development team really put a lot of effort into making the destruction satisfying to pull off and fun to look at. Buildings crumble on impact, glass shatters and debris bounces off the car into the street. It’s that thoroughness that got publisher Konami interested in the project. “We met Konami when we pitched the game at GDC in San Francisco back in 2022,” explains Olsson. “We started discussions with their European and American branches and they liked the atmosphere and our attention to detail.” After almost a year of talks Far Out Games signed their debut title with Konami.
Achieving large-scale destructibility was no small feat for the 14-person team. “It took us three years, but now everything is destructible in Deliver At All Cost,” says Daniel Nielsen, co-founder of Far Out Games. “Achieving destruction on this scale in our first title has definitely been a tricky challenge. Jonatan Johansson, our technical director, has implemented a lot of clever optimizations to make it all possible.” After all the years of development, Nielsen is still impressed by their own game. “Even as developers, we often find ourselves saying, ‘Just one more minute of chaos.’ I believe this level of freedom will stick in players’ minds.”
Starting your own studio
Far Out Games officially launched as a studio in late 2021, spurred by the early buzz surrounding Deliver At All Cost. Composed of 14 developers, many of whom are former classmates, the team is now committed to release their debut game. “Perhaps the biggest lesson for me is that developing a game while starting a company is a very challenging combination,” Olsson reflects. “It takes a lot of time and energy.” Looking ahead, the team hopes to expand on the Deliver At All Cost-universe or dive into entirely new creative ideas. But now it is too early to announce anything. First they will set this destructive joyride loose on the world.
Release date for Deliver At All Cost is not yet announced. It comes out on Steam, Epic, PlayStation and Xbox