Organ Trail - Nostalgia With A Twist

I remember playing Oregon Trail at school on those huge Apple Macintosh computers. The graphics were revolutionary for the time and well I never played long enough to make it to Oregon but I had fun trying. Fast forward some 20 years later and I discover a little gem of a game on Steam's Greenlight.

Just for your information, Steam has a section called Greenlight. Its a place where pretty much anyone can market their game to Steam's user base that can vote on said game to get it released on Steam. Did that explanation make any sense to you ? No? Well just google "Steam greenlight" and use that explanation instead.

Taking it's core gameplay mechanic from the classic Oregon Trail you have a group of people who drive in a car to reach the save haven from a world devastated by a zombie apocalypse. You have to keeps your crew healthy and car in shape else you can be left stranded in the middle of the country waiting to die.

In addition to the regular journey you'll encounter a number of mini-games to while away your time on the road. From hunting in the zombie infested woods for supplies to defending yourself from a biker gang trying to run your car off the road.

You'll also come up against boss battles every now and then but they are avoidable. One of the things you'll find challenging in this game is the shooting. I found setting up the shot for a zombie kill often challenging since it's more of a drawback slingshot system rather than just point and shoot. This makes sense seeing as an average person isn't an expert marksman and when the zombie apocalypse eventually comes very few of us will be prepared with gun training.

Overall I enjoyed this game. Sure it has the nostalgia aspect going for it but it's challenging to beat and you'll die, a lot. The developers even made a mini-game out the ending credits that kept me playing while they thanked every person who supported this game. The version I played still had a bit of awkwardness like not being able to save without being on the road and pausing the game. I've been told by the developer from on Steam Greenlight that issue would be fixed in the next update and with lots of achievements it adds to the replay value.

My hat goes off to the Men Who Wear Many Hats for making this awesome retro game.
Now available on Steam.