Sunset Overdrive is a quirky, comedic, open world third person shooter and action videogame exclusively for the Xbox One. The game is set in 2027 in the fictional metropolis of Sunset City. The player controls a fully customizable employee of FizzCo and has to fight off the OD (Overcharge Drinkers), who are humans who have mutated after drinking FizzCo’s latest soda beverage.
This is a dystopian future game somewhat in the vein of Saints Row 3 and 4, where kooky costumes, odd characters, and unusual weapons are the norm. Besides an arsenal of weapons, including a gun that shoots dynamite strapped to teddybears, the player character can wall run, use zip-lines, and grind rails to swiftly navigate Sunset City. Of course, the game isn’t as simple as just fighting hordes of mutants and robots (though there is a co-op horde mode as well). There are AI characters to befriend and help, all sorts of missions to do, and various bosses to tackle.
The player character can be customized by gender, skin tone, hair, shape, and fashion style. In the game, the main character is only known as “Player,” but it’s revealed in the Fizzie: Inside the Story quest that their name “is visible in multiplayer, but always just out of my field of view.” This refers to the actual player’s Xbox Gamertag. Throughout Sunset Overdrive, there are numerous Easter Eggs, tongue-in-cheek moments of self-awareness, and 4th Wall breakage. Personal favorites include the homage to Beetlejuice, nods to Game of Thrones (Hardcore = Hodor) and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and the Arrested Development banana stand.
Regardless of look, the Player has a brash, smart ass demeanor and a fondness for breaking the Fourth Wall, most notably through directly addressing the audience. Most of the time, the Player is more concerned with their own wellbeing than with that of those around them…except when necessary for character development.
This is a game for players who enjoy irreverence and cheek. Here, Stacey Rebecca does a bang-up job of recreating the Player as shown to us in the Sunset Overdrive trailers. This cosplay is wonderfully spot-on, and includes the TNTeddy gun as well (the aforementioned teddybear/dynamite gun). The only differences between Stacey Rebecca and the Player as first presented to us, is her hair color and gender. But this isn’t really a crossplay, since the whole purpose of the Player is to be completely customizable. Stacey Rebecca looks great. And she’s definitely got the right attitude. From the pants to the shoes to the denim vest and hairstyle, Stacey Rebecca has totally made the Player her own. And that’s a big part of the fun of Sunset Overdrive.
Photography by Lucas Ambrosio Photography
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