SnowRunner (2020)

So they took Mudrunner and did a bit of nice things:

• Replaced boring green worn Soviet trucks and gloomy grey villages with vibrant maps and modern trucks. Good!
• Added more content and mission diversity. Good!
• Physics are a bit simplified but the core gameplay is still there. Ok!

But then they had to make it worse. Mudrunner is 17-24 hours. Snowrunner is 84-153 on HLTB. They bloated it dramatically and turned it into Ubisoft open world RPG kind of thing.

• Maps are no longer isolated puzzles — they're a metroidvania. Accessing part of one map needs a collectible or truck from another map, which needs a delivery to clear a roadblock. A Witcher 3 sidequest chain. Boo!
• After the initial tutorial, you unlock stuff at snail's pace, whereas Mudrunner handed you new trucks with unique strengths often. Whyyyy?
• A lot of modifications are locked behind XP or in-game currency, which you grind like in some RPG. No, please respect my time devs!
• Because of said slow progression pace in this game, you cannot enjoy strongest trucks without grinding many many hours.
• The amount of DLC trucks, hidden behind real money paywall is sad.

Overall, I'm glad I tried it on Game Pass and didn't buy. It was fun for the first 5-10 hours but then grinds to a halt.

I played this for several hours during a free trial on xbox. It was not my kind of game, and I would never ever purchase it, but it was a surprisingly relaxing and engaging experience that I could see myself completing if I had it for free. I started off with some kind of time trial bonus mission because that was the only thing that would load with the game still downloading. Not ideal to learn how to play before doing the main story tutorial, but I managed to figure out how to drive. It took me over a dozen tries to get past the beginning without sliding off the rock and falling over the cliff. I have no idea if I missed a safer way down. When I finally made it across I explored most of the map, but was nowhere close to beating the timer.

Then I started the campaign. It got stuck on the loading screen. Try again, and wow driving on actual roads was so much easier. I followed the tutorial to Alaska, and I did not want to be there. I was not quite sure what I was doing, so I left my pickup there and found out I could warp to my other 2 trucks in Michigan. I used them to complete a few contracts, but they could not handle the mud. The medium truck with the box bed could take the raised suspension but not all wheel drive. It could also tow a trailer to carry double the load. The heavy truck could take all wheel drive and was better to drive, but it had nothing on the back. I planned to put a saddle on it to make it a tractor trailer. I was not comfortable going into uncharted territory with either of those trucks so I had to figure out how to get my pickup back. I put all terrain wheels on it with good mud handling, and a snorkel. I also put fog lights on the top which I think gave better illumination during night. Playing during night was a pain in the ass. I did some scouting, mountain climbing and made it through a swamp. That winch was an incredibly important mechanic. Towed a drowned pickup out, which took a ridiculous amount of time. I was set to explore Michigan and complete what contracts I could, then the trial ended.

It is certainly an interesting game with many of the open world game tropes; towers to reveal the map, things to find from exploring, and plenty of open world missions. I did not like the rpg progression system though; why can't I buy the best mud tires right off the bat if I can afford them yet I can move trucks back and forth to Alaska at no cost? Just annoying progress gating. Some of the missions were satisfying because they altered the game world for easier driving, like building bridges or removing obstructions. Seems like the best thing to have would be explosives and heavy road building equipment so you could alter the terrain yourself to be actually sensible to drive on.

No rating. I call it stuck in the mud/snow simulator