Deliver At All Costs Review (PS5) – Signed, Sealed, Demolished

Say what you will about delivery fees, unreliable couriers and leaving valuable packages in the rain, it could be worse. For example, I’ve never had to worry about a DPD driver driving through the foundations of my building. So spare a thought for the inhabitants of Deliver At All Costs, who run that very real risk every day.

A seemingly innocent look at post-war Americana, it soon becomes clear that the adventures of courier Winston Green are anything but. From innocent deliveries to bovine abduction, Deliver At All Costs is a wild ride from the get-go.

Is its wacky, physics-based destruction a Prime time, or is it like Evri other ambitious title that falls flat after the novelty wears off? Don that spiffy cap, polish those boots and let’s go get some destructive criticism.

At Your Service!

Our story begins in 1959: the war is over, the threat of nuclear war still looms, yet the space race is the next pinnacle in human achievement to work towards. Americana is in full swing, as it heads into the swinging sixties. Polka dot dresses, diners on corners, the all-American chipper can-do attitude is in full effect. Because they single-handedly won the war, remember?

Our protagonist, a young Winston Green, wakes up and heads to his first shift at We Deliver. Armed with a little flatbed truck and a keen work ethic, Winston is put straight to task by delivering various items to well, various people.

All seems quaint and simple enough, doesn’t it? On the surface, the happy life on St. Monique Island is one of peace and prosperity. Yet it doesn’t take long until internal power plays, erupting volcanoes and deception start to creep in. Oh yes, there’s that undercurrent of Cold War-esque subterfuge slipped in there too, to keep it interesting.

Without wishing to spoil, imagine… well, Pleasantville vibes (as in, shattering concepts of normality) with Destroy All Humans! levels of silliness and depictions of stereotypes. But in a fun way, obviously.

Coming Through… Everything!

Now, whilst the premise of delivering might seem simple enough, and it is, it’s also one of the most madcap games out there. This is largely in part to Deliver At All Cost having a lesser-spotted USP: absolute destruction! That’s right, practically every building an item is collapsible, and physics play a wacky part in deliveries.

The core tenet of the game is easy: as Winston, players will start an array of odd jobs from We Deliver. Yet the caveat here is the aforementioned physics, with no two deliveries being alike. It starts off silly enough, like transporting loose melons that can and will fall off. Soon it becomes giant Marlins, a malfunctioning balloon machine and more, all of which play havoc on the handling of the truck.

But in a way, it’s a good kind of havoc that adds to the overall silliness of the tone. There’s no Grand Theft Auto-style score system, other than just completing deliveries. Yet there are some mission-specific challenges and trophies/achievements for those that seek them. Things like “Lose less than 20 melons”, tasks along those lines.

Other Delivery Options

So far, it all seems pretty rote. For the most part, it is. A lot of missions are lots of A to B, or via C through contrivance. Whilst these are fun, it’d be easy to dismiss Deliver At All Costs as one-note. Fortunately for us, some missions do add some variety to the mix.

For one, players are tasked with delivering a handful of remote control cars. Thankfully, we get to drive these miniature motors to their destinations, but that’s not all. As you can see above, it’s not simple doorstep delivery. No, we have to navigate different degrees of obstacle courses to deliver them via chimney or window. With, I might add, tiny police cars in pursuit to ramp the challenge up too.

There are even some unrelated, non-delivery missions, too. These again add some spice to the mix, although they do still largely involve driving. Off the top of my head, there’s racing up an actively exploding volcano, being mortar strike’d by the army, and taking photos of a cow-abducting UFO. That last one’s not a spoiler, it’s shown in the trailer.

So yes, whilst it is 90% over-the-top delivery missions, there is some variety (story and otherwise-related) to keep it very entertaining. And I haven’t even mentioned how fun breaking things is.

Through Rain, Snow… And Your Foundations

In its presentation, it’d be fair to say that Deliver At All Costs looks simple. But simple doesn’t mean bland, it just means that it’s not pushing for cutting edge, photo realistic graphics. Yet it is bright, it’s colourful and it captures that pulp, cartoon-y B movie effect of America back then.

It’s also helped by a soundtrack full of ragtime, jazz and big band tunes to destroy buildings to. Coupled with tongue-in-cheek adverts about muscle enhancers and hair loss treatments, it’s very much that comical Destroy All Humans! vibe I mentioned earlier. So fair, so quaint…

Well, until you realise that whilst the almost-isometric camera angles can make things, there are shortcuts. We’re not talking Grand Theft Auto stunt jumps, mind you. No, we’re talking “That building is impeding my straight line driving” shortcuts.

That’s right, as mentioned earlier, practically everything in this game is destructible. Sure, certain things have different degrees of tensile strength to it. So a sturdy tree will hinder players a little more than a billboard will, but it will go. The whole effect is one of wanton destruction, but it’s not compulsory. It’s more a ludonarrative dissonance angle: Winston feels no apathy for driving through a house, but it’s also not something the game will punish us or him for. The player does it, and we go with it, is the only way I can quantify it. It’s bloody fun though.

Enthusiasm Lost In The Mail

Whilst the scenery is bright and destructive, the missions varied and… usually also destructive, there is one noticeable downside to Deliver At All Costs. It’s not the controls or the vehicle handling, which is very responsive. No, it’s the acting, and how some of the cutscenes are directed.

In regards to the voice acting, a lot of it seems wooden, or on the other end of the scale: scenery-chewing. There’s one character whose cheerful demeanour gives that “Only two days ’til retirement” vibe that we’re all waiting for something bad to happen to them. Which it does, inevitably.

Others seem like they haven’t read scripts and tone before, or were recording their conversations on different days. It doesn’t feel very consistent, and that’s in standard conversation; the cutscenes are worse.

There’s a moment at the end of the second act, that’s hard not to spoil, where something big is meant to captivate us. But either the budget started wearing thin, or the team thought we’d lose interest this far in, that it’s awful to watch. I’m talking “animated like an episode of Reboot” awful.

There’s also, and again, not to spoil, what feels like a whole chapter of exposition missing. Not in the Deus Ex “Missing Link” DLC sense that it’ll be filled in later, but more of a “we lost several pages of notes” sense. It goes from cheeky delivery romp to abstract revenge plot rather suddenly.

Which is a shame because the overarching story is intriguing enough, if a little formulaic. There’s some conspiracy shenanigans as befitting the time period going on, but the delivery (no pun intended) and tonal shift is very jarring.

Taking In The Sights

Off the back of the main story, there is some enjoyment to be had in St. Monique and its subsequent suburbs. There are side missions, ranging in scope but usually delivery-based. Some are fetch quests, others drop-offs, but still thematically similar.

There’s also a crafting system, which to be honest, I wasn’t expecting in this. With this mechanic goes fetching parts, or smashing crates for the cash within to buy said parts. So, if you like hunting maps for yellow-painted crates, or climbing yellow-painted pathways for chests, you’re in luck.

Once players have climbed water towers, scaled buildings or just ran over enough crates, Winston can start getting crafty. Well, or use the various stores dotted around to buy the relevant parts, from batteries to tape and blueprints.

These blueprints allow novelty car items to be made, like wheel spikes or a window-shattering horn. Some are helpful to story missions, like the device that slows time in a pinch. Yet others are just… there, for the sake of gimmickery. I didn’t really see the benefit in having my doors and bonnet fling open on command, but it was funny to slap pedestrians with.

Which is why it all feels a bit token, this treasure hunt malarkey. Like padding the game out, because after the story and a few side missions, there isn’t much else to do. There are hotspots to find and get some nice visual perspectives of, but that’s it. There are even secret cars to find, but they serve no other purpose than “Oh cool, a dune buggy” for about five minutes.

Sort It Out

It seems like I started the review singing the game’s praises, then lost enthusiasm about halfway through and saw the cracks. Rather fittingly, that’s what playing Deliver At All Costs feels like: joyful start, jumbled mess by the end.

Which is a shame, because I’d had this on my radar since its first announcement. That it reminded me of American Fugitive but from a positive angle, with destruction physics, had me hooked. It’s just a shame that, besides the story, there isn’t really much else to do here.

Again, which wouldn’t be an issue if the story maintained a steady pace. The jump in shift is about as jarring as Cole Phelps’ sudden affair and subsequent downfall in L.A. Noire, and written about as well. It’s very clear that Far Out Studios had big ambitions, but it felt like no one ran it by a narrative panel to see if it would make sense.

As a whole, Deliver At All Costs is a fun little drive around adventure with amusing moments. But like most postal services, it can’t keep up with every promise it intends to deliver.

Deliver At All Costs is available from 22nd May 2025, on PlayStation 5 (review platform), Xbox Series S|X and PC via Steam.

Developer: Far Out Games Studio
Publisher: Konami

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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