Expeditions: A MudRunner Game

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game isn’t a replacement for the supremely addictive SnowRunner, but its more untamed wilderness maps make it a worthwhile complementary experience.

More offroading excellence from the series formerly known as Spintires, although its scientific theme is not as interesting as it could be.

I will manage to retrieve it eventually though, because if there’s one thing Expeditions and its terrifying muddy siblings will teach you, it’s that eventually overcoming the perils of picturesque, but unyielding nature through sheer relentlessness will never stop feeling rewarding.

At its best, Expeditions offers more of the absorbing, slow, and high-risk driving that made MudRunner and SnowRunner such cult successes. It's a clever formula that now has slightly more user-friendly packaging, making it easier than ever to get into. There are still wrinkles, in particular with visual performance, and there's no doubt that this remains a niche that not all petrolheads will love, but if you're on the lookout for something a bit more zen, it's another great entry in the series.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game arrives on Switch in a port that does a surprisingly decent job of delivering the goods without getting utterly bogged down by issues en route. This is a big game, a modern, physics-heavy beast, and while there's a blurriness to the visuals which detracts from the overall atmosphere, and some frame rate bumps along the way to boot, the core experience has arrived intact. It's not perfect, but it's a reasonably decent place from (s)which to start for a game that absolutely deserves your time and patience.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game shifts the slow-moving action of its predecessors from small scale levels full of straightforward challenges to a set of large open world maps designed specifically for freewheeling offroad exploration. The magic of SnowRunner et al remains intact here, with a gloriously atmospheric bunch of regions to get busy taming as you push forward through swamps, across rivers and over mountains in a game that genuinely feels like Death Stranding in a truck at points. Co-op mode may be missing at launch, which is a real shame, and there's a few graphical issues to sort just now, but we reckon this is still Saber Interactive's best crack at the offroad sim yet, and that's saying something.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is an interesting iteration on Saber Interactive's earlier off-road simulation titles that brings some new features while keeping the core challenge familiar to fans of the series. There is a lot of content available, though much of it inevitably boils down the main concept of having to deal with hard environments. Most of this works reasonably well, but some of the new additions feel a bit light and not as fully fleshed out as I'd like them to be. Overall, it is an enjoyable experience, but only the hardcore fans of the series are likely to make it through the hundreds of hours spent climbing over rocks and sinking into pits of mud.

Expeditions: A Mudrunner Game has a lot of tidying up to do to become what it should be, but there's a wonderfully-rewarding game in there once you've learned its quirks.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is a great off-roading sim for players who are looking for a more approachable title. Unlike the original MudRunner and SnowRunner, Expeditions offers a more linear approach to the off-roading, exploration, and resource management formula introduced by the franchise initially. If you are a hardcore franchise veteran, it may take you some time to get used to all the handholding, but in the end, this title is a more mainstream off-roading experience rather than just focusing on the hardcore community. Tons of new features, like added off-road assist devices, specialists, and more customizable options, certainly add more ways for you to tackle each mission in the game. If you are looking for a decent off-roading simulation game where you can drive plenty of cool trucks and explore the wilderness at your own pace, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game must be on your to-play list.

This time Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is more of a new, slightly different platform than the one we had.