Death Road to Canada is a modern, light-hearted take on the gritty party-management survival game Organ Trail, in which you travel from city to city, gather loot, manage your group, engage in combat, and partake in various events across the country. As the name suggests, the main goal is to travel from Florida to Canada within the preset amount of days set for you by the gamemode you choose, out of the 15 unlockable modes available.

A run is started by picking a random (or a preset) character and companion, then choosing your preferred mode of play. This mode will affect trip length, zombie spawns, and character encounters later in the game. Your chosen characters start with random stats (most of which are intentionally hidden) and two traits that further change starting gear, sometimes granting special dialogue options in various different scenarios.

A unique facet of this game allows you to create a roster of custom characters to come to your aid throughout the run. I really appreciate this feature. You can recreate real life friends, celebrities, or videogame / movie characters, making for a very entertaining and welcome surprise once you do end up finding them. In Familiar Mode, preset characters are the only characters you find, which is great if you like somewhat of a more curated game experience.

At the beginning of the run you’re assigned a random vehicle, a couple random weapons, and a starting location which you can loot for supplies to help begin your journey. While the random location and vehicle you get don’t make much of a difference, the random set of weapons can heavily influence how your game plays out, especially on harder difficulties. Therein lies the first major issue I have with this game - weapon durability.

Over 40% of all weapons in Death Road to Canada have a durability value that is solely based on random chance. The breaking percentage is usually anywhere between 2% to 5% and is applied every time the weapon is used. Put bluntly (no pun intended), your weapon has a chance to break every time you hit something with it, that's including walls and furniture. This may never happen throughout your journey, or happen on your very first raid.

Most breakable weapons are wooden, or look “improvised” in nature, but there really is never any tell which weapon will break and which one won’t, apart from visiting the Wiki. For example, baseball and cricket bats can break, so can katanas and machetes; but a hammer won’t, neither will an axe or a guitar. Not only does this not make sense, this kind of RNG leads to frustrating situations more so than to enjoyably tense ones.

You are thus compelled to carry gear you don’t really need "just in case". Characters only have 3 carry slots, which doesn’t leave much space for new loot - since you will also be carrying a sidearm or a flashlight depending on the situation. Unbreakable weapons are usually either trait / character specific, can only be obtained through special events, or are very expensive to purchase. That said, some characters start with an unbreakable weapon through a randomly generated trait (or through the sheer will of RNG), which then becomes very valuable.

Another thing I dislike about the melee system is the Extra Hit stat. Most weapons swing in an arc that is the same size regardless of how large the weapon is. What the player does not initially know is that the amount of zombies getting hit by that arc is directly influenced by a hidden weapon stat the game never discloses. This makes melee weapons feel inconsistent. Worse yet, hitting multiple targets is based on RNG, yet again having it make decisions that should've been left up to deliberate player choice (or skill).

Ranged combat is very simplistic. You cannot aim guns manually, once you equip the weapon the target is picked for you automatically by the AI. You also never need to reload, as characters will continue shooting for as long as there is ammo in their pockets. The speed at which the AI acquires targets and how effective the weapon is in terms of damage and recoil is not determined by the player or even the weapon itself, but rather by Shooting - a dump stat which is usually left behind in favor of better stats like Strength or Fitness.

Moreover, ranged weapons don't necessarily kill in one shot, while melee weapons usually do and don’t rely on ammo to do so. There are 3 types of ammo; finding the right ranged weapon with just enough ammo is already hard enough, and that’s not to speak of making a character good enough of a shooter to be able to use it. The only real choice made by the player here is whether to actually engage in ranged combat or not, and they really have no reason to.

There is no incentive to fight zombies, at all. Killing zombies yields nothing - there is no zombie loot and characters do not level up by killing them but rather through surviving Sieges. The random raid generation leaves a lot to be desired; many of the same building layouts are scattered around, with furniture sometimes blocking doorways and loot. Said loot is lackluster - often yielding negligible amounts of bullets, gas or medical supplies.

Currently, the most prominent and attractive feature of Death Road to Canada, to which combat and exploration unfortunately only serve as filler, is random journey events. In fact, they are the sole reason this review is a 'Thumbs Up' to begin with, as the core game loop felt very dull and boring to me personally.

Witnessing and partaking in events is done through text between your destinations. There are a LOT of random events, all of which are very quirky and entertaining. Some scenarios are utterly ridiculous, and the party often has very creative ways and means to deal with them. Apart from that you will oftentimes decide where to camp, how to ration your food, where to explore, what to craft or who to help in certain situations. These events challenge your decision-making capabilities and test your knowledge of the game's mechanics so far.

Written text is read out loud through bleeps and bloops, giving the game a very cartoonish and easygoing vibe. Textboxes highlight certain words or key phrases with a rainbow pattern, emphasizing parts that are especially whacky or random. Characters will communicate with eachother throughout the ride without player intervention, making for some highly entertaining exchanges. They have different dialogue options and responses based on stats, giving each character a unique but consistent personality.

Location scenarios are quite funny. Characters may come across spooky mansions filled with ghosts, UFO crash sites filled with aliens, overrun farms filled with barn animals which they can then recruit to fight for them. Military bunkers filled with deadly equipment, gnomes offering the party rewards for completing challenges, bodybuilders engaging in flexing competitions, toilet genies stuck in their toilet prisons, and many other weird interactions with the party that will leave you completely dumbfounded.

You slash, shoot and loot your way through malls, hospitals, graveyards, pet shops, police stations, car garages, and more. Locations present different choices for the player to make, with special options being provided by having more party members, ones with specific personality traits or ones that are sufficient enough at a particular set of skills.

The music playing in the background, as the characters dirty themselves with the guts and entrails of the undead, is very cheerful and uncharacteristic for a game of this nature, making the experience that much better. Not many will appreciate the childish humor or constant pop-culture referencing, the game can admittedly get cringeworthy at times. Yet, I feel it hits the mark with its cheerful presentation somehow, even while lacking in sound mechanical gameplay. If anything, I recommend it solely to experience the random events alone.

Death Road to Canada is a modern, light-hearted take on the gritty party-management survival game Organ Trail, in which you travel from city to city, gather loot, manage your group, engage in combat, and partake in various events across the country. As the name suggests, the main goal is to travel from Florida to Canada within the preset amount of days set for you by the gamemode you choose, out of the 15 unlockable modes available. A run is started by picking a random (or a preset) character and companion, then choosing your preferred mode of play. This mode will affect trip length, zombie spawns, and character encounters later in the game. Your chosen characters start with random stats (most of which are intentionally hidden) and two traits that further change starting gear, sometimes granting special dialogue options in various different scenarios. A unique facet of this game allows you to create a roster of custom characters to come to your aid throughout the run. I really appreciate this feature. You can recreate real life friends, celebrities, or videogame / movie characters, making for a very entertaining and welcome surprise once you do end up finding them. In Familiar Mode, preset characters are the only characters you find, which is great if you like somewhat of a more curated game experience. At the beginning of the run you’re assigned a random vehicle, a couple random weapons, and a starting location which you can loot for supplies to help begin your journey. While the random location and vehicle you get don’t make much of a difference, the random set of weapons can heavily influence how your game plays out, especially on harder difficulties. Therein lies the first major issue I have with this game - weapon durability. Over 40% of all weapons in Death Road to Canada have a durability value that is solely based on random chance. The breaking percentage is usually anywhere between 2% to 5% and is applied every time the weapon is used. Put bluntly (no pun intended), your weapon has a chance to break every time you hit something with it, that's including walls and furniture. This may never happen throughout your journey, or happen on your very first raid. Most breakable weapons are wooden, or look “improvised” in nature, but there really is never any tell which weapon will break and which one won’t, apart from visiting the Wiki. For example, baseball and cricket bats can break, so can katanas and machetes; but a hammer won’t, neither will an axe or a guitar. Not only does this not make sense, this kind of RNG leads to frustrating situations more so than to enjoyably tense ones. You are thus compelled to carry gear you don’t really need "just in case". Characters only have 3 carry slots, which doesn’t leave much space for new loot - since you will also be carrying a sidearm or a flashlight depending on the situation. Unbreakable weapons are usually either trait / character specific, can only be obtained through special events, or are very expensive to purchase. That said, some characters start with an unbreakable weapon through a randomly generated trait (or through the sheer will of RNG), which then becomes very valuable. Another thing I dislike about the melee system is the Extra Hit stat. Most weapons swing in an arc that is the same size regardless of how large the weapon is. What the player does not initially know is that the amount of zombies getting hit by that arc is directly influenced by a hidden weapon stat the game never discloses. This makes melee weapons feel inconsistent. Worse yet, hitting multiple targets is based on RNG, yet again having it make decisions that should've been left up to deliberate player choice (or skill). Ranged combat is very simplistic. You cannot aim guns manually, once you equip the weapon the target is picked for you automatically by the AI. You also never need to reload, as characters will continue shooting for as long as there is ammo in their pockets. The speed at which the AI acquires targets and how effective the weapon is in terms of damage and recoil is not determined by the player or even the weapon itself, but rather by Shooting - a dump stat which is usually left behind in favor of better stats like Strength or Fitness. Moreover, ranged weapons don't necessarily kill in one shot, while melee weapons usually do and don’t rely on ammo to do so. There are 3 types of ammo; finding the right ranged weapon with just enough ammo is already hard enough, and that’s not to speak of making a character good enough of a shooter to be able to use it. The only real choice made by the player here is whether to actually engage in ranged combat or not, and they really have no reason to. There is no incentive to fight zombies, at all. Killing zombies yields nothing - there is no zombie loot and characters do not level up by killing them but rather through surviving Sieges. The random raid generation leaves a lot to be desired; many of the same building layouts are scattered around, with furniture sometimes blocking doorways and loot. Said loot is lackluster - often yielding negligible amounts of bullets, gas or medical supplies. Currently, the most prominent and attractive feature of Death Road to Canada, to which combat and exploration unfortunately only serve as filler, is random journey events. In fact, they are the sole reason this review is a 'Thumbs Up' to begin with, as the core game loop felt very dull and boring to me personally. Witnessing and partaking in events is done through text between your destinations. There are a LOT of random events, all of which are very quirky and entertaining. Some scenarios are utterly ridiculous, and the party often has very creative ways and means to deal with them. Apart from that you will oftentimes decide where to camp, how to ration your food, where to explore, what to craft or who to help in certain situations. These events challenge your decision-making capabilities and test your knowledge of the game's mechanics so far. Written text is read out loud through bleeps and bloops, giving the game a very cartoonish and easygoing vibe. Textboxes highlight certain words or key phrases with a rainbow pattern, emphasizing parts that are especially whacky or random. Characters will communicate with eachother throughout the ride without player intervention, making for some highly entertaining exchanges. They have different dialogue options and responses based on stats, giving each character a unique but consistent personality. Location scenarios are quite funny. Characters may come across spooky mansions filled with ghosts, UFO crash sites filled with aliens, overrun farms filled with barn animals which they can then recruit to fight for them. Military bunkers filled with deadly equipment, gnomes offering the party rewards for completing challenges, bodybuilders engaging in flexing competitions, toilet genies stuck in their toilet prisons, and many other weird interactions with the party that will leave you completely dumbfounded. You slash, shoot and loot your way through malls, hospitals, graveyards, pet shops, police stations, car garages, and more. Locations present different choices for the player to make, with special options being provided by having more party members, ones with specific personality traits or ones that are sufficient enough at a particular set of skills. The music playing in the background, as the characters dirty themselves with the guts and entrails of the undead, is very cheerful and uncharacteristic for a game of this nature, making the experience that much better. Not many will appreciate the childish humor or constant pop-culture referencing, the game can admittedly get cringeworthy at times. Yet, I feel it hits the mark with its cheerful presentation somehow, even while lacking in sound mechanical gameplay. If anything, I recommend it solely to experience the random events alone.