Nearly There presents

Trust Me, It's a Shortcut!

Buy a wreck. Pick a map. Trust your friends.

1–4 player online co-op · PC & Mac

Coming soon onSteam

Get the alpha first ↓

The trip

Four friends.Blank maps.Empty roads.Old cars.

Ten days round the Kalahari with up to three friends (or alone: then the tow truck takes cash), a budget that won’t buy anything good, walkie-talkies that crackle past four kilometres, and one of you who keeps saying: trust me, it’s a shortcut.

Day 1

Day 1 · 12:00

The plan

Maun, and our bangers are bought. First the fuel station: a full tank and full jerrycans, then a look under the bonnet, then the market for whatever we’ll need out there. Then a race to the rangers’ ford, the delta in the evening light, and dinner at the Delta Lodge.
Trip plan
Dry grass and a water tower near Maun at sunset
Maun, 12:00. Dinner at the lodge at 19:30.
sunset 18:20

How the trip works

Ten days. Four friends. Questionable cars.

  1. The lot

    Buy a car

    3,500 USD at the Maun bazaar. Eight bangers, one of each. The boot is empty.

  2. The plan

    One thing at a time

    Fuel, a race, a view, a lunch. Nobody moves on until everyone's done. How you get there is up to you.

  3. The view

    Stop and look

    Engine off. The lagoon, the baobabs, the pelicans at sunset. Some views only count at the right hour.
    Worth it

  4. The night

    Make it by dark

    The game saves every night. Tomorrow your car is just as you left it. Dents and all.

The Kalahari · ten days

Old map. No GPS. Hopefully a sense of direction.

The game's paper map: Maun in the middle, the delta to the north, the Boteti to the south

Your map starts blank. You draw it by driving.

The trip plan

  1. 1

    Maun → Delta Lodge

    Fill the jerrycans, race to the rangers' ford, dinner at the lodge by half past seven. Whoever is late buys the round.

  2. 2

    Into the Bush

    Push a car, lunch under the big baobab, a race across the salt pan, a camp on Kubu Island. Bring firewood.

  3. 3

    The Salt Pan

    Flamingos while the light is soft. Then drift, spin and drag race on the flat. Camp by the hippo pool.

  4. 4

    Deception Valley

    A morning safari, a ramp on the river bank, a tug of war, the Boteti's ford. Tonight, the dunes.

  5. 5

    The Gate on the A3

    Tarmac at last, a garage with a kit shop, a bath for your tyres at the veterinary gate, a race to the bridge.

  6. 6

    The Pontoon

    A hand-pulled pontoon, one car at a time, and somebody has to crank. Or the ford beside it, if you trust the pole.

  7. 7

    Village Post

    We seem to be the post today. Mind the goats. Fill the cans in Chanoga: there's no pump tomorrow.

  8. 8

    No Map

    This page of the map is torn out. A compass, a bearing on the back of a receipt, one gate in a fence. Trust me, it's a shortcut.

  9. 9

    Elephants and Headlights

    The buffalo fence, the lakes at Shorobe if the elephants allow it, and one slow drive after dinner with the lamps on.

  10. 10

    Back to Maun

    One last race, Dumi's verdict on what's left of your car, one last photo of you all. The plane leaves at seven.

The plane leaves at seven

Badges

Nobody asked you to.

Nobody’s watching. The game is.

  • Out of Maun without a fine
  • First sand
  • Across the rangers' ford
  • Through the sand belt non-stop
  • The crust unbroken
  • Top speed on the pan
  • Trust me, it's a shortcut
  • The whole cut line without digging in

Viewpoints

Engine off. Look at that.

Each one has its best hour. See it then and it gets a gold ring on your map.

  • The lagoon at the edge of the delta
  • Chapman's Baobab
  • Pelicans on Lake Ngami
  • Baines' Baobabs
  • Deception Valley
  • Red dunes in the morning
  • Mist on the Boteti
  • The wreck on the old track
  • The empty land
  • The lakes at sunset

The Maun bazaar

Only the best used cars.

3,500 USD in your pocket. Eight cars on the lot, one of each, each with its own mileage and price. A friend buys it, it's sold. The boot is empty: whatever you want out there, you buy.

  • saloon

    500 USD

    Citrown Two Donkeys, in the gameCheapest01234567x1000 rpm112top km/hFWD

    Citrown Two Donkeys

    FWD · petrol · 20 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “29 hp: barely climbs a hill, leans like a boat in corners”

  • coupe

    600 USD

    Oppel Kaput, in the game01234567x1000 rpm145top km/hRWD

    Oppel Kaput

    RWD · petrol · 45 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “Low and small: scrapes on ruts and drags its belly in deep sand”

  • pickup

    700 USD

    Dadsun 1200 Bakkie, in the game01234567x1000 rpm136top km/hRWD

    Dadsun 1200 Bakkie

    RWD · petrol · 40 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “Empty bed: the light tail spins and steps out on sand (load the back and it grips)”

  • saloon

    1,000 USD

    Pew-Joe 404 Not Found, in the game01234567x1000 rpm146top km/hRWD

    Pew-Joe 404 Not Found

    RWD · petrol · 50 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “Column gearshift, soft wallow on tarmac”

  • van

    1,100 USD

    Folksvagrant Kumbaya, in the game0123456x1000 rpm108top km/hRWD

    Folksvagrant Kumbaya

    RWD · petrol · 56 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “The air-cooled engine overheats in the heat; crosswind and slow”

  • coupe

    1,300 USD

    Lunchia Beater Coupé, in the game012345678x1000 rpm172top km/hFWD

    Lunchia Beater Coupé

    FWD · petrol · 49 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “Rusty: panels drop off at the first knock, the electrics give up”

  • saloon

    1,400 USD

    Mercy-Dez 240 Dee, in the game012345x1000 rpm138top km/hRWD

    Mercy-Dez 240 Dee

    RWD · diesel · 65 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “Painfully slow and heavy: the first to bog down in deep sand”

  • saloon

    1,500 USD

    Jaguh Ex-Jay-Sick, in the game0123456x1000 rpm182top km/hRWD

    Jaguh Ex-Jay-Sick

    RWD · petrol · 90 l tank

    The seller’s note

    “Drinks like a fish, dodgy electrics, overheats, sits low”

What the car leaves buys fuel and repairs. What those leave buys kit on day 5.

All cars are parodies. Any resemblance to a real car is because we wanted it.

The road is the easy part

Things will go wrong.

  • The red lightIt was on when we bought it.
  • CHTEMP
    Boiling overThat's not smoke. Mostly.
  • Torn tyreSpare's in the boot. Probably.
  • Dented and hanging body panels after a crash
    DentsThe tree didn't move.
  • A car stuck in the river with water up to its doors
    Too deepFound the deep bit of the river.
  • EFFUEL
    Running on fumesShould have filled the jerrycans.

Duct tape, a tow rope and a call for help. Friends who come back for you, or a tow truck that takes cash. Garages with a repair bay, police with a speed trap, a tanker strike that dries up the pumps, and a bush fire across the track.

Results

One award each. Not all of them are compliments.

That’s a wrap

Kalahari · day 1 · Maun → Delta Lodge

The day’s results
#PlayerTimeAward
1Anna38:28★ Duct Tape Hero14 repairs
2You41:05✗ Sand Sinker11 min stuck
3Tom44:50✗ Least Car Left42 % of a car
4Mia47:12✗ Submarinewater in the intake
Day 2 is open now

Dispatches

News from the road.

  • Meet the bangers #1: the Lunchia Beater Coupé. Italian, quick, cheap at the Maun bazaar, and more rust than paint. One take, no cuts: round it, into the seat, into a corner, and away. Would you buy it?

    On X →

  • I tried a drone view in our game and liked it so much I had to add it. Same car, same donut, four corners of the Kalahari. Do you like the view?

    On X →

  • We're making a game. Trust Me, It's a Shortcut! is a co-op road trip for 1–4 friends: buy a wreck in Maun, then ten days round the Kalahari on blank maps and empty roads. Early days, plenty of dents. Coming to Steam on PC & Mac.

    On X →

Postcards

Wish you were here.

Pack the duct tape.

Coming soon onSteam

Alpha

Want the keys early?

The alpha is coming. Hang around on Discord, or leave your email and we'll tell you the day it's out.

Join the Discord

News from the build, the alpha the moment it’s out, and a place to tell us what broke. Come and say hi.

Join the Discord →

One email. That’s it.

We’ll write once: the day the alpha is out. No newsletter, no updates, nobody else gets your address. After that email we delete it.

No confirmation email, nothing else. Details in the privacy policy.

Only the release

Roadmap

The route ahead.

What's coming and roughly when, quarter by quarter. The dates are where we're aiming: a shortcut is a shortcut.

Right nowPolishing the ten Kalahari days for the alpha and getting the Steam page ready.

  1. Q4 2026Oct – Dec

    Milestone1 Dec

    Coming soon on Steam

    Wishlist the game from 1 December. Windows first; the Mac version follows in spring.

    ✓ 4 done
    DoneMilestone

    The first prototype

    The idea: a co-op road trip where everyone drives their own cheap banger. The first cars drove together over the network.

    DoneIn the game

    A real place to drive

    The first stretch of the Kalahari round Maun, built from real maps and terrain, with roads, sand tracks and rivers.

    DoneIn the game

    Cars that break

    A catalogue of old bangers with their own engine sounds, damage you can see, and repairs on foot by the side of the road.

    DoneMilestone

    First playtests with friends

    The game moved to Unreal Engine with its own car physics, and the first friends drove the Kalahari together.

  2. Q1 2027Jan – Mar

    New map1 Jan

    Kalahari

    Botswana

    The first map: ten days round Maun, the salt pans and the Boteti river in eight cheap bangers.

    Milestone1 Jan

    The alpha opens

    Through the game's Steam page, on Windows: free for the players who sign up, in waves (Steam Playtest). Sign up above or in the Discord, and bring 1–3 friends.

  3. Q2 2027Apr – Jun

    New map1 Apr

    Borneo

    Sabah, Malaysia

    Logging roads through rainforest and palm blocks round Telupid, and a storm every afternoon that turns this morning's road into something else.

    Milestone

    The Mac version

    The game on Mac (Apple silicon): the same Steam game, and Mac and Windows friends drive together.

  4. Q3 2027Jul – Sep

    New map1 Jul

    Patagonia

    El Chaltén, Argentina

    Gravel up the valley under the Fitz Roy, wind, a ford where the bridge is out, and guanacos on the steppe.

  5. Q4 2027Oct – Dec

    New map1 Oct

    Map 4: your pick

    Sahara, Japan or Route 66?

    The alpha players vote where we drive next.

    MilestoneOct

    Demo and Steam Next Fest

    A free demo with the first days of the Kalahari.