Chariot (video game)

Lore & Background

Chariot chronicles a princess' quest to fulfill her recently deceased father's final wishes and bury him in peace. As might be expected of royalty, his last request is that he be laid to rest with as much wealth as possible. The entire game can be played solo or with a partner. The king's body is in a coffin and attached to it are four wheels. The player's character can push the chariot up and down small hills or attach a rope to pull it along. The rope can be extended or shortened to adequately maneuver the chariot throughout the environment. Everything behaves as it should, with real physics playing a big part in how things move.

Reader's Guide

Chariot differs from most traditional platform games as the objective is to lug around an object, the Chariot, to the end of each level. To do so, the players have to use physics-based mechanics such as pushing and pulling, adding a layer of puzzle to the game. The game was first released on 30 September 2014 and was launched on Xbox One the next day as part of the Xbox Live Games with Gold program. An enhanced port entitled Super Chariot was released for the Nintendo Switch on 10 May 2018 and included the Royal Gadget Pack DLC. On Metacritic, Chariot has an average score of 76 on PlayStation 4, Wii U and PC and 73 on Xbox One. It achieved an 8.5 from Destructoid, as 'a memorable game that's hard not to like and recommend to others.'

Did You Know?

• The game was launched on Xbox One as part of the Xbox Live Games with Gold program the day after its initial release.
• The objective is to push or pull a chariot using physics-based mechanics, adding a puzzle layer to the platforming.

Roots in the Arcade Era

The vehicle racing video game genre, within which Chariot sits, first took shape during the mid-to-late 1970s. This was a period when interactive entertainment was still finding its footing, and the idea of piloting a vehicle across a digital track represented a bold leap for the medium. The genre's early years established foundational conventions—speed, competition, and the thrill of the open road—that would persist for decades to come. Chariot, as part of this broader family of racing titles, inherits a lineage that stretches back to those pioneering experiments. The fact that the genre emerged in this specific window of the 1970s means that by the time later titles appeared, there was already an established vocabulary of mechanics and player expectations that subsequent developers could build upon, refine, or deliberately subvert in pursuit of something fresh.

A Place in the Decade-by-Decade Record

The cataloguing of notable vehicle racing games follows a strict chronological structure, dividing titles into distinct eras. The 1970s and 1980s are bundled together as a combined entry, while the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s each receive their own dedicated section. A final category is reserved for unreleased projects, acknowledging that the genre's story is never truly finished. This organizational approach reflects how the racing genre has evolved in recognizable waves, each decade bringing new technological capabilities and design philosophies to the table. Chariot occupies a position within this timeline, contributing to the ongoing narrative of how racing games have grown in scope, ambition, and audience reach. The decision to group the earliest two decades together suggests that the formative period of the genre was long enough to warrant a combined entry, while later decades were distinct enough to stand on their own.

Neighbors in the Racing Universe

Chariot does not exist in isolation; it belongs to a wider ecosystem of racing-themed interactive entertainment. The broader landscape includes dedicated subgenres and franchises tied to specific motorsport disciplines, such as Formula One video games and titles centered on V8 Supercars. There is also the distinct world of sim racing, which prioritizes mechanical fidelity and realistic physics over arcade-style accessibility. These adjacent categories help define what Chariot is by contrast and context. The existence of such specialized offshoots demonstrates that vehicle racing as a subject matter has proven rich enough to sustain multiple distinct design philosophies, from hyper-realistic simulation to stylized head-to-head competition. Chariot's place within this spectrum of approaches is part of what makes the genre's collective history so varied and enduring.

The Living Archive of Racing Games

The very act of compiling a list of notable vehicle racing video games speaks to the genre's cultural significance and its continuous evolution. The inclusion of an Unreleased section alongside completed works spanning from the 1970s through the 2020s indicates that the racing genre remains actively in development, with new projects perpetually in the pipeline. This living-document approach, where the list is never truly finished, mirrors the genre's refusal to stagnate or be relegated to nostalgia. Chariot, as one entry among many, is part of a tradition where each new title both references what came before and pushes the boundaries forward. The genre's persistence across five decades and beyond underscores its enduring appeal as a format for interactive entertainment, continually reinventing itself while honoring its roots.

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