First Look PC #5

Inertial Drift: Sunset Prologue by PQube / Level 91 Entertainment (2020) - PC

How long has there been drifting in racing games? Was Daytona USA the first? However long it has been, one thing's for sure - pulling off a proper, respectable drift takes a lot of practise as it's pretty hard to do in most games. BUT WAIT! What if someone made a game specialising in drifting and made it simpler to actually perform the drifts? Well whoopdy dee and trolly bazoo, that sounds like a wonderful idea! Happily, a Northern Irish indie developer called Level 91 Entertainment has now done just that! Inertial Drift, without the 'Sunset Prologue' part, was launched in September of last year on Steam as well as for PS4 and Switch for around £15. However, if funds are tight and/or you aren't sure whether to take the chance on it, Level 91 have also been good enough to release this Sunset Prologue version which is basically just a fancy name for a free playable demo!

There are two courses and two cars to try out in a time trial mode here and the strong emphasis on drifting is evident straight away. Cars are controlled using both analogue sticks with the left one for normal steering and the right one used for drifting. If you want to perform a drift, press both sticks in the same direction - it really is that simple! Using just normal steering barely moves the car though, so it's necessary to drift even around the gentle curves. It's a novel approach and certainly makes the actual drifting part easier, but that doesn't mean navigating the courses will be easy as there are some very severe corners, tight chicanes, and evil s-bends, so doing well will still take a lot of practise! However tricky the courses may be though, I'm not sure there has ever been an arcade-style racing game that has offered such a precise degree of control over your car.

There are plenty of other things to keep you motivated for prolonged play too. The graphics, as you may have noticed, are cel shaded and not only do they look gorgeous but the sense of speed is often very impressive. The neon, synthwave-inspired courses and general look of the game are really nice too, and the funky soundtrack suits the gameplay well and helps create a unique atmosphere for a racing game. My only slight concern is that there doesn't seem to be any races against other cars besides ghosts. Competing only against the clock might make racing a little lonely but the action is so fast and frenetic that it may not matter, and the full game features 20 courses, 16 cars, and a variety of play-modes including story, time trial, and head-to-head too, so there's plenty of game for your money anyway. A unique and thrilling racer, give it a try now!

RKS Score: 4/5