Expeditions: A MudRunner Game (2024)

After a few missions, there's a lot to like. As I expected, this scratches that Death Stranding itch of constant microdecisions. It's got that fractal sense of having to think macro --like which truck to use, which engine and tires to swap, which equipment to bring-- as well as micro --like changing tire pressure, where to winch, which route to take. The terrain responds to the vehicle, so you can get stuck on your own tracks and you can try to destroy as little vegetation as you can. It feels good to play and it could be a good podcast game.

My main concern now is that missions have barely any cohesion and seem to be completely disconnected from each other, so the game lacks context. It would be nice if each mission followed logically from the next and organically built up the world and created some sense of progression. To feel that I'm actually achieving something by scanning some random ruin or delivering some random part. The minigames are also kind of off-putting, but they aren't so onerous (except that "explore the region nonsense").

Really looking forward to this releasing in just over a week but when looking for gameplay footage I stumbled upon their year 1 pass and editions trailer and realised just how much content is locked behind the premium editions.

I'm torn because the base game isn't exactly AAA price, a reasonable £34 at launch. The year 1 pass edition is £54, and the 'Supreme Edition' is £60.

The surpreme edition just includes 4 truck variants which is no big deal, however the difference between the standard game and year 1 pass edition is huge.

Locked behind the year 1 pass are new vehicles, 120 new missions, new maps, new specialists (drivers) to hire to your team, new gadgets to equip to your vehicles, and an entirely unique feature (cave exploration). It's so much content that it almost makes it pointless buying the standard edition. Is it unreasonable to feel slightly annoyed by this? I guess it gives people a cheaper option if they don't want... the full game? I want the devs and employees to be able to feed their families obviously, just seems like a lot of stuff to leave out of the base game.