Game Review: Delivery Driver Massacre (Xbox Series X)

Short horror games with retro visual aesthetics and basic ‘cat and mouse’ gameplay are so overly familiar that to stand out from the pack, one must be special. Managing to both capture a true sense of horror and visual style, while making gameplay fun and interesting.

It’s rarer than you think.

Delivery Driver Massacre nails one aspect of this, namely the low-poly visuals and 80s slasher inspired horror aspects but delivers gameplay so fundamentally flawed that a lot of the positives are undone.

Players take on the role of a delivery driver who made the unfortunate mistake of delivering to the wrong address. Now held hostage in a grim and dingy basement of a house by a psychotic person, you must find a way out. Solving puzzles, picking up items, and avoiding your captor who will, should they spot you, think nothing of burying their knife in your chest.

Or manically slash at you, as you can take four hits before it’s game over. It’s so refreshing to not have a stalking enemy that insta-kills. Which is often one of the major gameplay components that puts me off games like this. Games where you have sneak around, find keys, and then hide from a roaming enemy. They are some of my least favourite games, but the retro look and feel of this one appealed.

Following a super-synthy introduction that sees you, the unlucky delivery driver bundled into the back of a van, it’s time to escape the basement you’re locked in. There’s some basic exploration and puzzle solving to be done, as well as some scare attempts, before you’re crawling through a vent into the main house. It’s here that the game really gets underway as you have to explore the different rooms and find a way out while avoiding the killer wandering the halls.

Thankfully, the house isn’t that big (and has logic to it), the killer isn’t relentless (you’re faster), and the puzzles aren’t particularly taxing. Meaning exploration isn’t a chore, every item you pick up has a use, and escape is simpler than you think (although survival is a different thing altogether). A first playthrough with some associated deaths will probably take an hour or two. A second playthrough, half that, which is about as many as most will want to experience, seeing as it has two distinct endings only.

It’s not just the lack of endings or extra content that makes the replay value of the game limited though. Gameplay, while simple, has problems and most of them come down to core mechanics. Firstly, picking up an item can be extremely finicky. If you’re not in the right spot, you won’t be able to pick an item up, which is a big problem when you’re trying to pick up something at speed as the killer chases you. In addition, the games visuals can make seeing some items difficult, the ‘cat and mouse’ gameplay often results in long periods of hiding or running, and the sound design makes it hard to hear the killer approaching.

There’s also this really annoying instance when the only trap in the game can insta-kill you.

All things that detract from an experience that already had to work hard to be anything of note. Yet, I do have some warmth for the game overall. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a more simple version of this style of game and that appeals. Maybe it’s the fact the house, the blood, the guts, and all associated grottiness, appeals to my horror heart. Or maybe it’s the PS1-era style visuals and added filters (which can be turned off), which add a layer of authenticity, that I enjoy. Regardless, I did enjoy Delivery Driver Massacre, even if I can explain why I don’t necessarily think it’s a good game.