Upon starting a new game, the player is greeted with an abstracted Map visualizing the United States West Coast. Major cities like Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles, California are accurately labeled and in their correct locations, as are major roadways such as Interstate 90. All of the smaller towns and cities along the way are, however, fictional and randomly placed, as are the highways connecting them to one another and to the interstate. These smaller towns and roads are not labeled, though their respective dots and roads are drawn on the map.
After a moment, one such dot in Oregon blinks from gray to light blue with a small animation. It is where Garibaldi, Oregon would be on the map. The name "Arcadia Bay" fades in above the dot. Large text in the top-center of the screen fades in saying "0 Miles To Los Angeles". A red-pink line then begins to draw itself from Arcadia Bay, following the nearest minor road connecting to Interstate 90 and then drawing its way down the interstate, before it finally terminates on the gray dot labeled "Los Angeles," with the dot turning the same red-pink. As the line draws, the "0 Miles" ticks up, until finally settling on "1,030 miles".
A long few seconds later, and a blue-white line, paler than the Arcadia Bay dot, begins to draw a secondary path from Arcadia Bay, following the same road, riding Interstate 90 for a short time, before diverting to a small fictional town off to one side of Interstate-90. As the line traces, the "1,030 Miles To Los Angeles" counter ticks down a random value between 60 and 90 miles. As the line reaches the fictional town, that town's dot becomes the same pale shade of blue, and a fictional name appears above it.
A second or so passes, before the map begins to zoom in on the fictional town dot. At the same time, the map begins to fade out to a scene of an idling semi-truck pulled over on the side of the highway in a rural Oregon backwater, with a "Welcome to X" sign visible in the background, with "X" being the name of the fiction city.
The Story Event "Arcadia Bay Trucker" begins playing. A voice-over of the trucker speaker begins with subtitles, as he says "Well, this is as far south as I can take you." The camera cuts to the inside of the truck cab, with the truck driver sitting beside Rachel Amber. He looks over at Rachel and asks, "Where did you say you were headed again?" Along the bottom-center of the screen, text options for possible responses are drawn, with small directional arrow indicators in the center they are oriented around. See the specific Event entry for details of how that conversation can go, and the Dialogue page for details on the dialogue system.
Eventually, regardless of specific dialogue choices made in the event, the driver will say "I really need to get going." The player's options at this point are both color-coded with symbols next to them: the right-most option is colored light-blue with a door-with-arrow icon next to it, labeled "Thanks again for the ride", while the left-most option is colored red-pink with a lip-bite emoji next to it, labeled "Can't you take me a bit further?"
If the player chooses the right-most option, Rachel opens the passenger door and climbs out, before turning to face the truck driver, closing the door behind her, and waving farewell. He returns the wave, before the truck engine roars to life and the vehicle crawls away. Rachel watches the truck leave for a moment, before she turns to face the "Welcome to X" sign. Act 1 - The City Of Angels begins.
If the player chooses the left-most option, the truck driver says he can't, to which Rachel puts on a sly grin before she leans forward and begins gently squeezing his groin, eliciting a surprised squeal from him. She looks up at him and asks if he's sure there's nothing she can't do to convince him to take her just a few miles further. The flustered truck driver asks how old Rachel said she was, to which she casually says she's nineteen. The camera cuts to reveal that the trucker's penis is now exposed through his jeans, and that Rachel is casually stroking him as she looks up at him, maintaining unbroken eye contact as she casually asks if he's ever gotten head while driving. When he says no, she gives a small shrug, quips "there's a first time for everything," and nonchalantly leans over and begins sucking his dick.
The truck driver curses in surprise, before kicking the truck engine into life and driving away. The Hitchhike Blowjob minigame begins to play with the trucker. Once that minigame ends, the Map fades in, a roughly south-bound path is traced through across roads from the starting fictional town to another fictional town, and a random distance between 60 and 90 miles is knocked off the ticker. The new fictional town's name fades in as before, the map zooms in and fades out to a black screen, the sound of the truck door closing and the engine roaring to life and driving away. The screen then fades in to Rachel standing on the side of the road, facing another "Welcome to X" sign, with this new fictional town's name on it. Act 1 - The City of Angels begins.
The camera focuses on the "Welcome to X" sign, as a cutscene begins to play. As the cutscene plays, the text "Act 1 - The City of Angels" fades in at the top-center of the screen. The text "April 17, 2023" fades in underneath it. They both fade out together at the same time.
The cutscene itself begins with Rachel monologuing to herself: "Free from Arcadia Bay. Finally." She pulls out her phone and looks at with a pained expression. "Sorry, Chloe." An over-the-shoulder shot of Rachel's phone wallpaper being a photo of Rachel and Chloe together. "You just took too long." Rachel pockets the phone and turns around to look down the road. "Next stop: the city of angels!" She throws her arms wide in exuberant proclamation.
A waist-up shot of Rachel as her stomach loudly growls. At this point, in the top-left of the screen, the Hunger bar fades in, with only 3 segments filled. Rachel recoils and grabs her tummy, as she grimaces and comments that maybe grabbing a burger should come before the city of angels.
She pulls out her wallet and flips it open, followed by a close-up of her wallet with a whopping five one-dollar-bills in it. Below the hunger bar, the Cash counter fades in. Rachel sighs as she comments that she knew she forgot something, and it looks like she'll need to work odd jobs on her trip to LA.
Rachel puts the wallet away, and looks at her wristwatch. In the top-right of the screen, both the Time tracker and the Sleep bar fade in. Rachel comments how there are still a few hours in the day - she can keep traveling, get something to eat, or see if anyone needs something done before calling it a night. If the player did not partake in the minigame, or they succeeded at the minigame, then the current time segment is Afternoon. If the player failed the minigame, then the time segment is Evening.
At this point, the cutscene ends, and the camera moves behind Rachel's shoulder as the player gains control of Rachel. They can move around a relatively small space, with a few interactable objects she can look at. There are few specific spots that are always highlighted and labeled: a nondescript spot on the road (just a glowing sphere floating in the air) is labeled "Travel"; a postboard with some nondescript papers on it is labeled "Work"; a highway services sign with text saying "FOOD" and some nondescript logos on it is labeled "Eat"; and the "Welcome to X" sign itself is labeled "Sleep".
This is when the central Gameplay Loop kicks in. Barring a few specific Story Events that happen along the way, the rest of the gameplay between now and reaching Los Angeles is procedurally generated.
The player makes their way south, eventually reaching Los Angeles. Depending on how the player manages their time, this should realistically take between 4 and 6 in-game days, or between 16 and 28 individual time segments (and as such, between 16 and 28 Events).