SnowRunner review: the renewal of the franchise

SnowRunner, formerly MudRunner 2, arrives today on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. It was provided to us only 5 short days ago, and I can tell you that in this article it will be impossible for me to be 100% objective as the game has been renewed. Let's take stock of these first 30 hours of play.

Havok, the centerpiece

The title is still based on the realism of physics, but marks a new step. The graphics engine has been changed, the game now uses the same mill as World War Z, the Swarm Engine, and remains developed by Saber Interactive. The physics of the game, one of the most realistic at the moment, is handled by Havok. This engine, now owned by Microsoft, and which made the heyday of 3DSMAX at one time, blows its twentieth candle this year. Management of soft and solid bodies, suspensions, breakages, deformations,… Havok manages absolutely everything SnowRunner needs, and the result is up to expectations.

We are here at a level still above MudRunner. The management of soil and grip becomes totally strategic, and it is no longer a question of playing the Rambo of the sandboxes to make your way through the vast maps, muddy and snowy.

Much more strategic gameplay

This is the renewal that is discussed in this article. Everything changed. The maps, at least 3 times larger than on MudRunner, are no longer the object of a single mission (load wood). It is now necessary to carry out quests (contracts) during which it will be necessary to deliver various and varied materials, and no longer only trunks. SnowRunner includes 3 environments, split into several maps. Each of these cards is connected to the other by a tunnel. The environment in Michigan is much the same as what we had on MudRunner, namely mud, mud, and mud.

Alaska, you can imagine, is a snowy environment where it is very difficult to navigate without adapted or equipped vehicles. Finally Siberia is a mix of the two. All these environments are no longer frozen in time: they are evolving as you complete the missions. For example, building a bridge during a mission will prevent you from going through mud in places. Likewise, pumping missions allow certain particularly humid areas to be drained.

Finally, the general gameplay becomes strategic, and it is necessary to think about the order of the missions in addition to the material to be used. The mission system is not necessarily the easiest to understand. On the one hand, there are contracts, and on the other hand, there are tasks. Let's say that the contracts represent the main frame of the game, while the tasks are the side and optional missions. But I urge you to do them for money and vehicle upgrades. The contracts will only be easier to carry out thereafter.

Gear and the concession revolution

Let's say it right away, it's the end of the reign of military vehicles and other 8WD monsters. MudRunner's American Wilds DLC had announced the flush. Here we use the same bestiary. You're starting out with a Chevrolet that is barely fit to drive in a puddle. It is accompanied by 2 trucks which also skate and get bogged down as soon as they are loaded with a pallet.

And the difficulty (and the first nervous attacks) is there. So much so that after 10 hours of playing, I quite simply failed… to uninstall it! Yes, you read that right ! In most games, the difficulty is increasing. Not here ! The starting environment is hostile, and the vehicles totally unsuitable. So the progression is easier at the end than at the beginning. After a few hours, you will be better armed because by surveying the maps, you will find improvements for the vehicles. Fortunately, the use of the winch has been revised and its use, simpler and more efficient, will get you out of the embarrassment on more than one occasion.

Patience is SnowRunner's watchword. We progress slowly, very slowly ... We find ourselves too often returning a vehicle to garages to help out. Nothing more annoying to crash a vehicle in 1m of mud after having driven more than 30 minutes… and to be obliged to return it to square one. I remember the words of Matthew Karch, director of Saber Interactive, in an interview a few years ago: “There are nagging games like Doom…. and there is the MudRunner series ”. This sentence is more topical than ever, 3 years later.

For equipment, since we opened the subject, everything now goes through a dealer system. You can improve your vehicles there, change its appearance, its wheels, engine, suspensions… The dealership is also a point of transaction where it is possible to buy but also to resell vehicles found and unlocked. There is also a trailer shop. Indeed to carry out the missions, you are on the entrepreneur side and must do with your own equipment. Either you buy or you find them in the wild.

When repairing, it is impossible to bring back the trailers. You only bring back the vehicle. So much so that after a few hours of playing, I found myself empty-pocketed with twenty trailers scattered all over the map of Michigan. Fortunately, once a vehicle is a little more “go-anywhere”, it is possible to go and find them. In SnowRunner, nothing is lost.

The mods are always there

She was the great unknown not long ago. How to manage mods when SnowRunner no longer uses the Steam platform and its powerful workshop. Saber Interactive has found the solution and now goes through mod.io. The in-game mods tab takes you back to creating an account and re-link your game to it. Then it's childish and it works globally like the Valve Workshop. You consult the list (at the time of this writing, only 5 vehicles are available and no map), we click on "subscribe" and we return to the game. The installed mod, if it is a vehicle, can be found at the dealer, often at the ridiculous price of $ 45.

Remember that MudRunner has more than 3000 mods at the moment, and that there is a good chance that SnowRunner will follow suit. There remains an unknown for the moment: the maps. To be continued.

What about multiplayer?

Little difference between the previous installment of the franchise and this one. It is always impossible to occasionally bring in a friend along the way. The game must be started in multiplayer but it remains your solo part. So if you are stuck on a mission, you start in multiplayer, and you complete the mission with your friends, knowing that they can bring their own vehicles. The contract system is very suitable for multi-party operation. Up to 4 SnowRunners can meet in the same environment. There are no more ghost vehicles like they used to on MudRunner. Here we can run into friends. But nothing beats a shot on the operation in video:

Mud / SnowRunner differences in computer graphics