Attempting to Make Sense of Ride to Hell, Five Years Later

Five years from its initial release, Ride to Hell is still widely considered to be one of the worst games ever made. So obviously I had a blast with it. It's as perplexing as it is hilarious; getting you to think about the context of its production in the same way the best b-movies do. In this video, I try to break down what the hell Ride to Hell even is, and why I ended up having such a surprisingly good time with it.
---
Patreon: / writingongames
Podcast (iTunes) - itunes.apple.c...
---
Intro Text Provided by Lashman - / robotbrush
---
Trailer footage from Deep Silver
Pre-alpha and interview footage from IGN
We're Not Ride to Hell | Road Redemption - www.roadredempt...
Ride to Hell 'definitely not' something everybody will like, says Deep Silver (Polygon) - www.polygon.co...
---
Thank you so, so much for your continued support!
Production work by Nico Bleackley

[@eyeweiss]

Hi, I worked on the _initial_ version of Ride to Hell. "Somewhere along the way" as you put it in the video, was the moment the complete vision creators team was disbanded, and the production team from Deepsilver took over. They changed everything. It pains me to occasionally come by the story and designs for the original game and think that this game will never exist, but your wonderful recap of the monstrous Frankenstein's version that emerged eventually makes me think that at least some entertainment value was left. Even if unintentional :)

[@Rocklar911]

eyeweiss Man seeing the original open world biker game it was meant to be got me so excited, I was heart broken when it became that shitty game it turned out to be, it's my dream to see a good open world game focused on a motorcycle club

[@user-is5tv2mc3p]

Topsilend61 well rockstar could make that game. I mean they already have a developed biker game in their series and lost and the damn was a good example they they could definitely make a dedicated biker game if they wanted

[@potnoodles4life171]

Have you seen the angry joe review? Bet it sucks that you could have released an awesome game but then developers just decided your taking to long so they kicked you to the curb and replaced all your hard work and time with absolute garbage.

[@StephySon]

eyeweiss sorry you went through that crap, it sounds rough being a game dev. Your hard work is still appreciated though

[@Arlesmon]

I lowkey wish to buy the rights of the game and see if doing an indie route would maybe make some vision of what the game wanted to do. But it will need some really good vision and execution for it to make it true. Because the game is such a guilty pleasure for me.

[@paulcasanova1909]

I want a developer from this game to make a video about stuff they did in the game, like "We made his clothes a part of the mesh, so we couldnt make them nude."

[@Darkerxz]

I remember buying Skate 3 to a friend (he was a real fan of Skate 2) for his birthday back in the day. I pranked him by putting the Skate 3 disk inside this game's box, wrapping it with gift wrapping paper and giving it to him. His face when he peeled off the paper, and him trying so hard to sound like he appreciated it was priceless. I put up my best "I don't know what I got you but the box looks cool" face while he was in a total state of disbelief. Seeing him smile in relief when he saw the Skate 3 disk was one of my best memories of him. Sadly, he passed away last june. We miss you, Martin. You're on a much better place now.

[@Nemesis_T-Type]

F for Martin

[@ShadowLegend300]

Goddamn it you, why you had to go and kill off Martin at the end, the story was so cute

[@Darkerxz]

Fuck you, man, my friend really passed away.

[@ShadowLegend300]

I know, Im sorry, I was just saying I got invested in the story and then it took a bad turn, bad joke, sorry

[@Karmy.]

damn did that got dark... R.I.P. Martin

[@Tehsnakerer]

I made a video some years back reviewing Ride to Hell that was fairly negative but also shared this sort of fascination, and it was strange that as time went on since that video I softened on Ride to Hell because of this earnest quality it had, and this video pretty much puts that into words. The people behind this game had an honest vision and belief in it, the fact that every short coming isn't born of lack of care or lack of belief but from genuinely misteps. it's that same fascination that drives people to films like The Room and Birdemic, because an honest failure is so interesting and so hard to genuinely dislike. That and I've played games since that are just so much less entertaining, probably better made (as objectively as you can gauge that) but just not as downright interesting to play.

[@WaddleDee105]

Your review of RtH actually was what encouraged me to play it myself. I saw the first few minutes of your review and then rented the game out of sheer curiosity. It's such an absolute disaster that I couldn't help but laugh along, rather than at, it. So thank you Tehsnakerer. You gave me 1000 more achievement points.

[@simplyethan]

I like you.

[@GamingKick]

The Room version of video games

[@kristianburger6329]

Yes! This game is from now on The Room of video games. 😂

[@carbonreptile5437]

that insults tommy wiseau

[@bvenkat9924]

Wait till you play Limbo of the lost xD

[@sjcraw]

It's the "The Room" of video games.

[@lugbzurg8987]

We even got Dark Souls in here, because of course we did.

[@gmodmaster22]

I hear so many people shit on this game for being bad, but rarely someone saying that *because* it's so bad, it's actually brilliant. Glad to know others still share my view on media like this!

[@AlbiNiigataOuen]

wewlad

[@Walamonga1313]

A Literal Train It's like The Room. It's hilariously bad.

[@fang_uk]

“I’M GONNA SEE BANDS.” ...Still makes me laugh. 😂

[@youngknight5589]

Games like this always make me wonder what was going on during development

[@TheGamerguy6]

they had 2 teams competing with each other to make ride to hell the fastest and the winner didn't have to make ride to hell

[@irtazaazam2573]

Young Knight fully clothed orgies where they dry hump each other.

[@carbonreptile5437]

i think they took a shit on a keyboard and grinded a few 3d models together

[@bmc757]

This and Deadly Premonition were the first games that truly had a "B-movie" feel to me, and that's why, despite their flaws, I can't help but appreciate them.

[@mackvanlobster]

Only that Deadly Premonition is genuinely a work of art. Perhaps I'm blinded by love, but Swery's work resonates so deeply with the timid writer in me, the 'reasonable' voice in every creator's head that tells them to reel it in when things get too crazy. In my eyes, Deadly Premonition is just a masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, Ride To Hell is a hilariously good time. But it also makes me want to eat my own fingers.

[@WritingOnGames]

Yeah, I've been planning on making a separate video about Deadly Premonition at some point in the future. It's flawed with heart, whereas RtH is perplexingly awful on a level where you desperately look for that heart.

[@Eightsixseven23224]

I think ride to hell seems like it had way less passion pit behind it as deadly premanition.

[@murciadoxial8056]

if ride to hellu was an open world as it was supposed to be it would have been another deadly premonition, hell of rides is so bad is good level, but is not in the same level as deadly premonition, deadly premotion is on a league of its own

[@vivena9]

@@mackvanlobster Work of art in how bad it is. A Twin Peaks ripoff+anime esque storytelling with utterly broken gameplay. It's like an alien who watched Twin Peaks making it into a video game.

[@charliebrown7589]

It's weird watching a video about RtH and knowing one of my College Lecturers worked on it, watching this makes me wonder what he felt while working on it and how he feels about it now.

[@HxH2011DRA]

charlie brown WE NEED TO KNOW!

[@smithsmithy7149]

Hamsh you should do the video game equivalent to RLM's Best of the Worst. I'd watch it!

[@pajamapantsjack5874]

Five years wow time looses me

[@Highwaysonyfan87]

I know this comment is completely off topic as I’m unsure what the best way to contact you is, but I’ve been watching your content for several months and I do believe you’re one of the best video game essayists out there right now. It’s a joy every time I see an upload like when I saw this. You’re good at what you do, so would you in any spare time you have be able to message me privately on something and read an article or two I’ve written recently to give me your opinion on whether you think I have a chance in this whole industry of writing on games.

[@MysteriousJojo]

I have every achievement in the 360 version AND the DLC. The One Percenter difficulty is actual hell on earth. I wanted to die by the truck driving scene and it somehow got even worse from there. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO 100% RIDE TO HELL RETRIBUTION. YOU WILL ACTUALLY CRY.

[@kapishjoshi4576]

100% on Ride to Hell? You are the closest thing we have to Jesus

[@TheKotti]

You would enjoy Arabian Nights.

[@demonbasher4426]

I always like to make up a story as to what’s happening whenever I play a game who’s story makes absolutely no sense, so I’ll share my fan theory. My theory for as to why the clothed sex happens and everyone wanting to kill you happening is because you and the women you have sex with as well as your “family” are actually some sort of shapeshifting alien people. It sounds crazy but it fixes some of the issues the game has with it’s environments and story. A lab accident happened and the aliens and such they were experimenting on escaped into some strange region of Nevada. The reason the clothed sex happens is because you’re a shapeshifter having sex with another shapeshifter and you don’t need to take off your clothes to do that. The people who try to kill you and kill your brother on sight are part of the CIA or some other 3 letter organization trying to cleanup the area. The event that happened at the lab caused a lot of damage to the surrounding area and even knocked the plane you see in the junkyard out of the sky. They fenced off the roads because of the weird life forms living in the canyons and rocks of the Mojave desert. The construction workers are there to cleanup damage and to prevent people from going into areas where the aliens and such have take residence. Same reason for why turret guns are in the middle of the desert for no reason. I’m sure there are some holes in my theory but it makes more sense than the regular plot. TL;DR: Ride to hell is basically what would happen if the events of HL1 happened and everything went back to normal in a few months. Also, cool video.

[@Jilluminum]

This is really cool and I love it!

[@andromeda1065]

Looks like someone has been fooling around with tinfoil hat too much.

[@demonbasher4426]

Andromeda I got bored 2 years ago, and figured I’d do a little creative writing. I hope it was entertaining.

[@andromeda1065]

@@demonbasher4426 Like I said... *fool*.

[@joeanderson2055]

Two videos within 3 days, consider us spoiled Hamish :)

[@Y2Kingma]

I'm 20 years old. Reading the title of this video made me feel OLD. Great video Hamish!

[@DesignFrameCaseStudies]

I'm surprised you didn't call it The Room of video games, although I don't know if its quite on that level. You're right though, it really does get you thinking about the production behind it. I'm gonna have to give it a shot one day.

[@GameBrainOfficial]

Another awesome video Hamish! This really makes me want to track down a dev from the Ride to Hell team. Did you try and do something similar?

[@WritingOnGames]

Thanks man! And yip, I did but like I say it's immensely difficult when this is the game you're talking about. Not willing to give up just yet though...

[@GameBrainOfficial]

Keep at it man, it would be a fascinating bit of insight. I think talking about peculiar failures like these are so perfect for developer interviews. That prototype footage you showed was so bizarre to see haha. Hope you're well, keep up the awesome work :)

[@PerrydactylShow]

So I remember watching the Best Friends' lp of this game and being completely memorized and confused at the same time. Watching your video hits me once again with the same wonder. Really thinking of picking this up and giving it a whirl. Good ish my dude.

[@svetlanasygiainen5339]

Ride to hell, worst game ever?! I beg to differ! It's my most favorite game ever! I mean, I've never played it... but the amount of laughter I got from people attempting to play it have probably extended my life by a few years.

[@backup4348]

I wish someone would datamine this game.

[@IceKarma]

Good use of the word schlock mate!

[@infranaut]

Hi Hamish! A couple things 1) You still responding to like, almost every comment? I don't blame ya if you're not, but I remember way back in early days you'd always try to. It made you stick out in my mind as a real stand-up fella. 2) 2017 was an amazing year for videogames, one of the best in a long time, and D:OS 2 is the best game released in it. You may not "get it" for a bit, but around 60 hours in, you'll go "oh wait, holy shit, I love this fucking game". For me it was when the game asked me if I wanted to have gay skeleton sex. 3) I've just started a channel of my own. I know you probably don't have the time, but it'd mean a lot if you had any advice for me.the kinda content I'm doing. In the middle of a video of signage and interpretation in relation to, er, Mario's design. 4) I paid real money for this game and I don't regret it despite saying I regret it constantly Keep on making fantastic content!

[@Armaan8014]

Do you think DOS2 is equally enjoyable played solo? I tried playing coop with a friend but it's tough to free up time and line dates up and all

[@infranaut]

They are totally different experiences. Solo you will likely appreciate the story, writing and voice acting a lot more (I cannot undersell what a great job they did with all three). Co-op is always ganna be a more light-hearted and fun experience. There is so much content in the game, so many different build possibilities/party set-ups, so many quests you won't see, so many mods and additional content. The idea of playing through one is kinda crazy to me. I'm on the last area of the game, and have started three new games just to try out different stuff in that time. Definitely play it alone, maybe on a higher difficulty, and do as many companion quests as you can (seeing as in multiplayer you don't get as many)

[@othmansalih5656]

I have a question unrelated to the video. I'm from Saudi Arabia and I'm obsessed with Scottish accent, so the question is: what part of Scotland do you come from? I only recognize Glasgow accents and you don't sound glaswegian. I know I'm a bit nosey, but I had to ask :)

[@AlbiNiigataOuen]

He sounds Irish to me

[@othmansalih5656]

I'm pretty sure he's Scottish. his accent and his name are very Scottish :)

[@nicholasberry8456]

Like you know anything Muslim

[@wilfordbrimleyful]

The sad thing is that an RPG with this concept of a biker gang could have worked; an open world biker gang game where you embark on stories with skillsets and combat mechanics similar to GTA that made you go with stats and levelling. Say for instance if you levelled up your speech skill you could talk your way out of a traffic ticket, or if you you have a good strength skill you could overpower a rival gang's bodyguards and kill their leader in a quest. It could have worked but they fucked it up with this shit.

[@ShadowTheDeathhog]

Love your channel and analyses. If you're at all a fan of the KotOR series I would love to see a comparative analysis on the first and second games tones, themes, and overall story and which you personally think is better done.

[@Incredible_Mister_J]

Interesting thought: redo it and make it right this time. Would someone be mad to try again?

[@ErgonomicChair]

I choked on rice at that christmas tree scene. The comedic timing on that was perfect lol

[@seth2402]

Another video so soon? Good shit

[@Redem10]

I wish the video was longer

[@Erika-gn1tv]

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back.

[@PuuberZ]

The Giantbomb quicklook of this is legendary.

[@trashpanda5869]

1:43 Are those electricity effects or a glitch. I honestly can't tell anymore.

[@Solidude]

The Pre Alpha looks nice, I wish that concept is what we have now

[@Arlesmon]

Thanks for making this video and to talk about the little things that we know about this wonderful clusterfuck of a game. This is one of my biggest guilty pleasures of a game. Because it takes some talent to make something this massively bad even if the original intentions were another thing, which will never see sadly.

[@mopodereinzige7431]

I totally forgot that they wanted to make a RtH trilogy! Even if i'm a bit sad for euthenyx who were really ambitious with the title, but this is one of the few "so bad it's good" videogames we have and hey that is better than nothing.

[@Justin-Theobald]

When I finished the game Iwas exhausted. Not in the good way that had achieved something,but because through the entire game I felt games controls working against me making me work harder than I should.

[@6465naruto]

FLY OFF TO THE RIGHT AND EXPLODE!

[@tech6985]

Was that 5 years ago? I my mind it was like 2 years or maybe 3 years. Man i'm either getting old or my life is so uneventful

[@stevencase796]

Just makes me think of the Game Grumps playing Sonic Boom. "The game ships tomorrow." "BUT I'M NOT DONE WIT DA GRAPHICS!"

[@goufr3540]

Sonic Boom was done in about a week and started as a drawing on a napkin.

[@reiryan9438]

5 years! Wow it has been a long time since I stopped played video games.

[@Nightweaver1]

I will say that the Super Best Friends full LP of this dumpster fire will always be one of the most entertaining things I've ever watched. And I guess I have the Ride to Hell team to thank for that, ironically.

[@therush420]

We need a Ride to Hell/GTA Lost and Damned crossover like yesterday.

[@thesageofktn3296]

What are you talking about ? Ride To Hell is one of the best games ever made. It's up there with The Last of Us. The story was expertly written, the gameplay was awesome and the graphics is a technical marvel.

[@POTTERANDMATRIXFAN]

Tell me which alternate reality you're from.

[@Nbdestryer]

>The Last of Us 2 comes out >mfw Ride to Hell no longer has the worst sex scene in gaming

[@rasplez9889]

Keep in mind that this was before steam went "fuck it" and started ignoring softcore porn and hentai, along with many breaches of user agreements such as false advertising, or selling something as a game that turns out to be just a black screen; all for the low-low price of £40. They removed this game because people just didn't like it. Which is funny, because a AAA game gathering that much heat even back then would still stay up, like, say, battlefield V or battlefront 2. Now they're just lazy and it pretty much runs itself with barely any signs of moderation besides auto-bans that respond to user reports.

[@ALINAGORI]

i Missed you!

[@georgekostaras]

The more I think about it, the more I realize that this game is some kind of Junji Iito style abmoination. This is the example of someone looking at a video game and then pushing it more and more into the unfamiliar until it falls into some kind of uncanny valley of video games. and uncanny valley in this case has a landfill built in the bottom of it.

[@zanychelly]

Worse than Superman 64?

[@ajeje1996]

Still nowhere as bad as Life of Black Tiger. This game is hilariously bad, Black Tiger is just bad.

[@L16htW4rr10r]

12D3 And funnily bad

[@aadhi440]

great video

[@zackschilling4376]

The Sunny porno brought me here...no joke.

[@CrazyNinja60]

i rather forget this

[@RaiRaiRai999]

You've more or less summed up why I love playing WH40K: Fire Warrior so much.

[@Anjula321]

is this The Room of gaming?

[@MyMintBerryCrunch]

A masterpiece of awful, I've never laughed at a game so much

[@algernonselderflower7236]

The Spike Jonze?

[@LAVATORR]

Yeah, the fact that this was made by a team and published by people with actual faith in it completely changes how I look at Ride To Hell.

[@mathieupr6391]

Didn't know about this game, but weirdly enough, that gameplay footage almost looked fun. Broken and ugly, but fun.

[@youngknight5589]

Mathieu Pr I remember it from angry joe game grumps projared it's like "the room" for video games it's so bad it's enjoyable to make fun at.

[@aderemiporsche]

You, sir, get a thumbsup for simply attempting to philosophise this monstrosity.

[@kerushun]

God bless you

[@0utc4st1985]

Fly off to the right and EXPLODE!

[@tamar7065]

I've never even heard of this. I'm legitimately tempted to go find it now.

[@ManOfStamp38]

Tamar H. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2KrhX6NjZZopdE here's a good place to start. Enjoy.

[@SkullHeart93]

unearthed trail of ibn batuta might be as bad if not worse tho

[@HxH2011DRA]

I had no idea this existed and I'm dying of laughter playing it XD(a friend has it)

[@Bluecho4]

What does it say about Ride To Hell that the game was removed from Steam, yet that game distribution platform is still swamped by a million wretched, slapdash asset flips?

[@gamerlost526]

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. So I guess this has been applied in the development on this game, any chance a modder could improve this?

[@GaahrmTheGraet]

Hamish, how the hell did you get a PC copy of Ride to Hell in 2018?

[@WritingOnGames]

By buying it in 2013!

[@GaahrmTheGraet]

Writing on Games for full price? And you had it sitting in your backlog for five years? Wow

[@charlieni645]

I feel proud that I own this game on Steam and spent 6 hours with it.

[@legacyteam5581]

Inside Gaming.

[@TechniqueSan]

I can very much relate to loving awful, terrible games. I think i might be the only person to get all achievements on the 3 versions of Ride to Hell. Also, i had a blast with Sonic 06.

[@angusmarlow5136]

Man i thought i was alone in thinking that this game was somehow fun. its like watching a garbage fire roll down a hill into a petrol station. somehow its happening and you just can't stop yourself from looking at it.

[@shurue8628]

I'd compare Ride to Hell to The Room, but at least Tommy Wiseau (as bad an actor as he is) has charisma. Ride to Hell has all the charisma of a dead fish that was left out in the sun for an hour. The metanarrative of the game is hilarious to be sure, but the moment the mundane yet stupid plot rears its head, the fun tone is shattered and we are instead treated to an experience equivalent to having bare skin being dragged across a floor of sandpaper.

[@kamphet1987]

I wonder if people buying this ironically or out of interest has managed to turn a profit for it.

[@Vindicator12Music]

Thank you for pronouncing Automata correctly.

[@michaelkitchin9665]

It's funny how Eutechnyx went from creating competent racers to putting all their effort, money and manpower into this. There's ambition behind this, if nothing else. I presume they still function. It'd be sad to see a developer like that vanish from the North-East.

[@eyeweiss]

I agree, they are a talented and motivated team. The inherent problem lies with ownership and vision keeping. You can't have a publisher envision a game and then expect a team in a different country to magically get it. Also, you can't make a good game with no money, something DS struggled to understand.

[@zanco.7577]

very refreshing perspective. thanks, man.

[@tangerinebean1155]

His accent just makes this 100x better

[@jamesharrison658]

so is ride to hell is the gaming equivalent of the room now?

[@MillRunner]

What probably happened is this game was in production as an open world game by the original developers, then Deep Silver cancelled it, either because they were running out of money or it was turning out poorly. So Deep Silver scrounged together the assets they had and slapped them together to make a garbage game for cheap that they could flip for a profit.

[@eyeweiss]

you're close. If you google the career of the person mentioned in the video in the role of "creative director" it might give you a clue on what happened.

[@boxofrox619]

If they make a movie of this, I chose Tommy Wiseau to direct and act it.

[@WaddleDee105]

So-bad-they're-good-games are kind of my big guilty pleasure. Not gonna lie, I actually got all the achievements for this game and it was an absolute riot.

[@johnm.2785]

It's been 5 years? 👀

[@sarahb1862]

This game isn't a mistake.. people MADE this... a true unintentional nod to the atrocious Roger Corman films of long past. We must treasure it.

[@sev6768]

Kinda makes me sad, because i love biker culture and i wish there were more good games out there based around classic bikers. The only ones i can think of are Gta 4 TLAD and this game.

[@dstarr3]

God, this was going to be a trilogy?!

[@Salamander676]

I’m glad I stole this game and didn’t pay for it when it came out. Worst piece of shit game I’ve ever played.

[@blondbraid7986]

The depressing thing is that this crap game still looks like frigging GTA compared to the asset flips that would flood Steam short afterwards.

[@thelrproject257]

omg what is your accent? is it scottish? is it american?

[@Battlecry45]

so.... this or Hunt down the Freeman?

[@user-nw1je1ur6t]

This is the one that came before Days Gone, personally, i like it better

[@AGunNamedExtinction]

Inspired by the infamous giant bomb Quick look, perhaps?

[@Armaan8014]

Think so :)

[@Jokerfan45]

I like the idea of Ride to Hell, but it should have been done differently.

[@Casey_S]

It's like the game version of its so bad it's good

[@reblfist8849]

I got a Christian advertisement about hell and heaven before this video

[@grrr1351]

They really did ride to metacritic forgotten corner.

[@thewewguy8t88]

so here is my honest opinion on ride to hell i am glad it exists because it gives us something truly god awful much like et and big riggs and super man 64 it ranks up there as the worst games ever made but they have a place in history because well i think bad awful games do have their place in the world as strange as that may sound

[@MegapiemanPHD]

Deep Silver likes to publish crap they think they can make a quick buck on. The Dead island franchise, Sacred 3, Homefront the Revolution, Mighty No. 9 and this.