over the hill upgrades and customization: cosmetics, performance, mods

The cosmetic list is the clearest customization surface in the game. The Steam store description and the Funselektor site both name paint, lights, roof rack, spare tire, and bull bar as cosmetic slots on every vehicle. Each cosmetic is selectable from the garage or an in-cabin toggle menu.

|| Cosmetic slot | What it does | Status | || --- | --- | --- | || Paint | Reskins the body and trim; full color picker behavior has Not announced as of 2026-07-25 | Confirmed | || Lights | Adjusts headlight and auxiliary lamp patterns | Confirmed | || Roof rack | Adds or removes a roof-mounted rack for cosmetic load | Confirmed | || Spare tire | Mounts an exterior spare on the body | Confirmed | || Bull bar | Adds a front bull bar to the chassis | Confirmed |

A small set of variants per slot is expected at launch, but the count per slot and the unlock condition for tiered cosmetics have Not announced as of 2026-07-25. The cosmetic behavior was visible in the Steam Next Fest demo (June 12–22, 2026) per the PC Gamer Next Fest preview and stayed consistent across the YouTube teardowns of demo footage.

Public coverage splits the mechanical side of the upgrade tree into a separate performance layer from the cosmetic slots above. Current public sources surface the following performance categories; per-tier costs, exact unlock conditions, and the meteorite-to-upgrade exchange rate have Not announced as of 2026-07-25.

• Engine — power and torque tuning for steep inclines, towing, and deforming terrain.
• Tire — compound and size swaps for mud, rocks, steep inclines, and weather shifts.
• Suspension — raising or lowering ride height for terrain deformation and route planning.
• Protection — body and chassis armor that ties into vehicle damage and the winch utility on muddy or rocky ground.
• Water-crossing — equipment for rivers, crossings, and shoreline trails described in current public coverage.

What is confirmed: the game includes a performance upgrade tree that affects driving and that those upgrades tie into the meteorite-resource loop documented on the Funselektor site and the Steam Next Fest public demo news. The racinggames-gg launch coverage describes mud, rocks, steep inclines, rivers, crossings, uneven ground, terrain deformation, vehicle damage, gear shifting, and the winch utility as the terrain challenges those performance upgrades target.

What is not confirmed: the upgrade tree structure, per-upgrade costs, the meteorite-to-upgrade exchange rate, and any tier-restricted slots. Plan your expectations around "yes there is a performance upgrade tree" rather than "I can swap a water-crossing kit after spending a fixed meteorite amount."

over the hill does not officially support mods as of 2026-07-25, and there is no official livery mod path. The Steam store description and the official Reddit FAQ do not list a mod toolkit, a livery editor, or Steam Workshop integration. Community discussions in the Steam Discussions vehicle identification thread describe livery mods, custom paint jobs, and engine swaps as open wishlist items rather than a confirmed roadmap entry.

What this means in practice:

• No official Steam Workshop support at launch; the livery mod path is community-only, not first-party.
• No in-game mod loader, sandbox flag, mod menu, or livery editor in the demo or the announced launch build.
• Custom vehicle swaps, engine swaps, community-made liveries, and paint-job imports are community requests that the developer has Not announced as of 2026-07-25.

If a third-party mod tool surfaces for the demo build, treat it as community work and only use it if you understand the demo's anti-cheat and account-safety behavior. The release build policy has Not announced as of 2026-07-25.

Both the cosmetic layer and the performance upgrade layer are spent at the merchant hub. The Funselektor site describes the spending flow as "Stop at merchants and cabins to customize your vehicle with colours, accessories, and cosmetics that suit your driving style," and that same loop carries the performance upgrades for engine, tire, suspension, protection, and water-crossing.

What that means in practice:

• The merchant hub is the in-world spending location for both cosmetic items and performance upgrades.
• Merchant stops and cabin stops are the two named access points; you find upgrades and equipment throughout the world per the Funselektor description, then bring them to the merchant hub.
• The meteorite haul collected after each objective feeds the same merchant hub, so cosmetic and performance spending compete for the same resource pool described in the meteorite guide.

Specific merchant hub placement, per-stop merchant rosters, and per-upgrade prices have Not announced as of 2026-07-25.

Upgrades and meteorites feed the same progression loop. The official Reddit FAQ treats meteorites as a resource currency that gates vehicle unlocks, and the Forbes preview describes the upgrade progression as a slow-burn collecting loop rather than a competitive tier grind. The meteorite guide walks through the mechanic in detail.

What that means for upgrades:

• Cosmetic slots are visible on every vehicle and selected at the merchant hub.
• Performance upgrades (engine, tire, suspension, protection, water-crossing) are reached through meteorite-driven progression at the same merchant hub; the per-upgrade cost has Not announced as of 2026-07-25.
• Demo-era players saw cosmetic parts and a small performance-upgrade preview; both will be expanded at launch.

Cosmetic slots are universal, so every confirmed demo vehicle (Bronco Gen 1, Land Cruiser 40, Defender) accepts paint, lights, roof rack, spare tire, and bull bar. Performance upgrades (engine, tire, suspension, protection, water-crossing) may vary per vehicle, but the per-vehicle performance tree has Not announced as of 2026-07-25. For the per-vehicle baseline and real-world inspiration for each confirmed rig, see the vehicles hub.

• Steam store page — over the hill - official/store - checked 2026-07-25 - confirms paint, lights, roof rack, spare tire, and bull bar cosmetic slots.
• Funselektor official site — over the hill - official/store - checked 2026-07-25 - names merchants and cabins as the customization stops and the cosmetic list.
• racinggames-gg launch coverage - media/interview - checked 2026-07-25 - enumerates the off-road terrain challenges (mud, rocks, steep inclines, rivers, crossings, uneven ground) and the winch utility tied to performance upgrades.
• Official Reddit FAQ — r/overthehillgame - official/store - checked 2026-07-25 - confirms meteorite-driven progression and the lack of announced mod support.
• Steam Discussions — vehicle identification thread - community/video - checked 2026-07-25 - community wishlist for livery mods and engine swaps.
• Steam Next Fest — public demo news post - official/store - checked 2026-07-25 - places upgrades in the demo-era feature surface.
• PC Gamer — Next Fest preview - media/interview - checked 2026-07-25 - attributes cosmetic behavior in the demo.
• YouTube — over the hill vehicle teardown - community/video - checked 2026-07-25 - shows cosmetic slots in the demo build.

• Cosmetic slots (paint, lights, roof rack, spare tire, bull bar) are confirmed by both the Steam store page and the Funselektor site; per-slot variant counts and unlock conditions have Not announced as of 2026-07-25.
• Performance upgrade tree (engine, tire, suspension, protection, water-crossing) is surfaced in current public coverage; per-upgrade costs, unlock tiers, and tree layout have Not announced as of 2026-07-25.
• The merchant hub (merchants and cabin stops) is the spending location for both cosmetic items and performance upgrades per the Funselektor site; specific merchant hub placement and per-stop rosters have Not announced as of 2026-07-25.
• Mods and livery mods are not officially supported as of 2026-07-25; community modding tooling should be attributed as such, never first-party.
• Demo progress does not transfer to launch; do not present demo-era unlocks as persistent.