Snowrunner

[bigvern]

Thought I would give this an honourable mention. The next in the series that started with Spintires then Mudrunner, it is a beautiful brilliant game (IMHO).

The basic premise is cargo haulage through unforgiving and usually muddy terrain on a selection of different maps. The game starts you off in Michigan with some very basic vehicles - a 4x4 pickup truck and a couple of run down lorries. As you progress through the maps, more missions, vehicles and areas unlock. The core of the challenge is getting your vehicle and its load through the conditions - even during the tutorial missions you may find yourself using the winch to drag the truck out of some particularly deep mud!

Graphics are gorgeous, remind me of Far Cry and it runs well on modest hardware - I'm currently using a GTX1050 due to my GTX1650 being away on extended RMA limbo and can still run at 4K resolution. The vehicles I've found so far all have good beefy sounds and the physics are also very good.

Any downers? Well the interface can be a bit clunky, particularly when it comes to the action menus, attaching or detaching trailers, using the winch without the auto function or even changing vehicles. Although there is a multiplayer co-op mode, in single player you are on the map alone. There are no AI vehicles and no people - the towns and industrial areas are completely deserted which conveys a sort of Walking Dead/Fallout post apocalyptic feel, just no zombies.

Overall I rate 9/10 based on my experience so far.

[JasonM]

Thanks for the info Vern, will have a look at that.
Do you still enjoy playing it? Is there enough to do?

[bigvern]

Still playing it Jason, oh yes! Still on the first Michigan map, it may only be 2.5 x 2.5km or thereabouts but there is much to do, exploring to open up more of the map as well as the three different sets of missions.

I can certainly recommend it.

[JasonM]

Ok thanks Vern, will defo get it soon.

[bigvern]

One tip, as soon as you can afford it, sell off most of the early vehicles to buy the International Paystar 5070 and fit with all terrain tyres. Makes getting around early game so much easier and quicker, using the winch much less.