It might have taken the slow and scenic route to get here, but Finji's strategic survival road-trip adventure Overland is nearly here. I've had my eye on this stylish little procedural hell simulator for a while.

Reminding me equally of Death Road To Canada and Into The Breach, your goal in Overland is to outrun the apocalypse and search for somewhere safe, driving from town to town, scavenging for supplies where you can and occasionally having to fight your way through the strange creatures that are erupting from the ground and seemingly warping the world around them. See how it works in the release date trailer below.

It's the final shot of the trailer that really grabs me. Equal parts heavy sci-fi and Stephen King, a lone survivor and their dog stop in a foggy and entirely alien environment. A car, oriented vertically, floats in the air, coral-like structures growing from it. A massive creative is visible off to one side, and huge porous rock formations are visible in the background. I'm excited to see just how much of this seemingly xenoformed landscape we get to explore.

Also for the less terribly geeky: Yes, you can pet the dog, and then give it a knife and send it into battle, because Metal Gear Solid 5 made that a thing.

hey uhhh @CanYouPetTheDog hi how's it going pic.twitter.com/BJm1415wOGMarch 11, 2019

I've been excited about Overland ever since the first prototype developer posts on Twitter. The combination of sharp, clean art, detailed little diorama battlefields and high-stakes turn-based tactics ticks a lot of boxes for me. Into The Breach proved that less can very much be more when it comes to tactics in games, and the goal being escape and survival instead of clearing out all the enemies gives it an interestingly different vibe, too.

Overland launches on September 19 on Steam, Itch and GOG. You can see more on its official page here.