Sunset Overdrive

Insomniac has made a lot of games, including a number of PlayStation exclusives like the recent run of Spider-Man titles and the long-running Ratchet & Clank series. For what it’s worth though, I still think my favorite game of theirs is Xbox’s Sunset Overdrive, a punk and anarchy-driven open world shooter with a truly ridiculous sense of style and the most propulsive movement mechanics. Sunset Overdrive bears the hallmarks of an Insomniac joint—like a preposterous armory of weapons including a gun that fires vinyl discs—and is set in a world constructed like one big Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater level. You can dash through the air, grind on rails and power lines, skid on water, and bounce off of car hoods, and you spend the entire game doing so while repelling mutants transformed by a faulty soda product from the corporation that basically owns the city. Sunset Overdrive is like an anti-capitalist fever dream set in a bouncy house from the mind of a punk who spent a lot of time at Webster Hall growing up.

It’s been years since I last played, and I’m sure parts of it haven’t aged exceptionally well, but I think that if you stick through it and get a feel for its movement systems, you’ll find a charming little relic of the early Xbox One era. Sunset Overdrive will always be on Game Pass, but you should pick it up for $5, or alternatively nab the deluxe edition with all of its accompanying DLC for $7.49.