Freeride Preview: All Aboard the Fate Train

I’m the type of person that’s a sucker for personality tests. Even if the topic is something stupid like “What type of bread are you?” If someone wants to ask me questions so that I can find out I’m a delicious, buttery croissant, I’ll answer those questions. And if I can play a game while also taking a personality test, I’m all in.

Freeride from developer Flightyfelon Games is a story rich RPG where the way that you interact with the game will be watched carefully and tallied up into a Personality Outcome. You play as Proto, who is unexpectedly swept away on a Fate Train being conducted by Princess Lepida. Lepida thinks you could use an adventure and you quickly go with her to the Spirit World. Once there you’ll discover that things are a little strange and disorderly and that perhaps these spirits have some issues they might need to work through. 

The Act One demo of the game introduces you to just a few of the main mechanics of the game including telekinesis which is gifted to you by Lepida. You can grab objects with your mind and move them around freely. At one point during the demo, you’ll have to use these skills to catch a bunch of crabs and put them in a basket for frying. The controls aren’t difficult to master and the crabs don’t really move around, so it’s not much in terms of challenge, but it’s fun to try and grab them quickly in the time limit nonetheless. 

The majority of the demo will have you speaking with the characters and deciding which paths to take. Seemingly, the choices that you make will affect the personality outcome you receive at the end of each chapter. There weren’t too many different choices to make in the demo, but if you don’t like the result you get from your test at the end, you can go back to the beginning of the chapter and make new choices. 

Freeride has a certain charm that I found so unique. The characters are funny and cute, their designs reminiscent of games like Super Mario 64 and the world is colorful and bright. You can move along rainbow roads to defy gravity and traverse in any direction. And there really is a lot to see. Despite being a short demo (though you can play it multiple times and do different things), you’ll get to see a good number of places each brimming with spirits to speak with. Many of the areas have their own music as well and it’s a fantastic soundtrack.

Freeride is set to release on May 1st, 2025 for PC and later in 2025 for Nintendo Switch. Players interested can jump into the demo on Steam.