Double Fine’s first game in its new post-Xbox era is Thank You Bus Driver.
Described as a comedy simulation game, the game – listed only as “coming soon” on Steam – sees you take on the role of a “reckless” bus driver in which you’re encouraged to “drive fast, slap faster, and toss any rulebreakers out of your bus to reach true victory: being appreciated”.
You can see the chaos for yourself below:
Thank You Bus Driver Announcement Trailer.Watch on YouTube
“Take on the role of a town’s rules-driven (and reckless) bus driver in Thank You Bus Driver!” the Steam description teases.
“Getting to your next stop is all that matters. That might mean pulling up your map mid-turn or it might mean a shortcut through the corn field. Avoiding pedestrians, incoming traffic, or the fence directly in front of you is optional.”
Thank You Bus Driver is available to pre-order now on Steam and GOG.
Double Fine has, of course, recently come out the other side of Xbox’s restructuring. Xbox’s wider reorganisation, announced by CEO Asha Sharma in July, affected around 3,200 roles across the division and saw several studios, including Double Fine, spun back out into independence while keeping hold of their IP and back catalogues. Compulsion Games, the We Happy Few and South of Midnight studio, also cut loose from Xbox in the same restructuring and has similarly confirmed it retains ownership of its IP.
Double Fine itself laid off roughly a quarter of its 90-person team as part of the transition, saying at the time that the cuts were needed to reach “a size that we can sustain”.