Backseat Drivers builds its road trip around a deliberately lopsided partnership: one player drives a car they cannot see ahead, while the passenger has the view and must shout directions. Reaching the destination depends on those instructions being clear and the driver being able to follow them, so communication is the central challenge rather than a side feature. The premise makes every turn a shared responsibility, even when the car and the route are working against the pair.
The vehicle is an unreliable contraption whose components can be replaced with unlikely substitutes. The description gives a cassette tape standing in for a missing brake pedal, capturing the game’s scrappy approach to keeping the car moving. The journey ranges across mountains, subway tunnels, highways and secret government facilities, with crashes and other obstacles part of the trip. That mix of improvised repairs and shouted navigation gives the driving setup its comic, cooperative identity.
The game supports online co-op, and its Friend Pass lets someone who owns a copy play with one person who does not; sessions with three or four players require at least two paid copies.
