Honcho is a new video game that is ostensibly about resource management, but in fact maintaining a Honda T360 seems like a major part of the draw. The game takes place in 1980s Japan, and appropriate cars of the era appear as background traffic while you drive your kei truck around town. With cheerful graphics and a humorous tone, maybe this can be your next time killer.
The game’s backstory has something to do with an evil keiretsu (a powerful network of interconnected companies) taking away your grandfather’s business and standing. You must restore his name and fortune by building a vending machine empire. From delivering goods to buying real estate, it feels like a revenge plot that deals in the mundane.
First things first, though. You need wheels to establish your company, and it seem that you start out by purchasing a dilapidated Honda T360 at auction. The buying sheet even resembles those seen at dealer auctions in Japan. The truck doesn’t appear to be licensed by Honda, which is why there’s sort of an upside-down “A” on the hood instead of the Honda “H”.
As you progress you have to maintain, repair and upgrade your vintage kei truck. The first-person perspective and emphasis on repair is giving off My Summer Car vibes, which is a good thing. So far it appears that the only truck option is the quaint Honda T360.
However, it looks like you can customize your car pretty heavily. In a couple of screenshots one Honda wears vintage Toshiba shop colors and a canvas bed cover, while another is decked out with Subaru rally livery.
As for other cars in the game, we see what looks to be an 80s Toyota Corolla II and an F31 Nissan Leopard (Infiniti M30). It doesn’t appear as if these cars are drivable, but we apprreciate the attention to detail nonetheless.
Honcho is being developed by indie gamemaker MinskWorks. According to TheDrive the studio has published other titles, each with intensely specific settings. Landlord’s Super, for example, is a life simulation game that takes place in the British Midlands in the 80s. Jalopy is probably a bit closer to Honcho, in that it involves driving an old car, but in this case the setting is former Eastern Bloc nations such as Hungary, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and the car is an unlicensed Trabant.
Honcho is still under development and the release date has yet to be announced. There’s a Patreon page as well should you wish to donate. MinskWorks’ previous games got pretty good ratings and Honcho looks like an entertaining third in the trilogy. There aren’t any Skyline GT-Rs or Supras in it, but who said every car game has to be a racing sim?
I loved and hated My Summer Car, I’ll be sure to try this!
Mon Bazou was fun for a while too, but I never was interested in Jalopy, what about it?
They need a Mazda T1500.