Wreck Runners is yet another entry in the beloved genre of physics-based extraction looters, alongside already established heavyweights like Lethal Company and R.E.P.O. This game, however, comes swinging with its own offerings and features. It is an ambitious swing, trading tight and cramped facilities for a diverse island dotted with points of interest to loot, haul, and extract from before the local threats catch up to you. For a 10$ price tag, Wreck Runners offers a substantial package that is really fun to play with friends or in co-op. Unfortunately, it is currently held back by the kind of rough edges that you would expect from a game still finding its footing.
More Island, More Everything
The main appeal of Wreck Runners and what makes it different from its other competitors is that the game is scaled up. Rather than shuffling between small and self-contained maps, players have the opportunity to explore a wide map. The map is divided into different points of interest that players can ravage for loot and extraction. The gameplay loop will be familiar to everyone who has spent time in this genre. Drive around, loot as much as you can without breaking anything valuable, protect your loot, extract, and spend your earnings on upgrades.
This game, however, does offer way more variety, mechanical depth, more ground to cover, and randomized enemy spawns that keep each run from blurring with each other. The presentation and visual identity of Wreck Runners back up that ambition. The game is visually impressive. It has sharp visuals and physics that are satisfying to mess around with. Carefully hauling your loot across the island or watching your cruiser take a beating from the waves, the game is immersive. Performance and optimization of the game are also very solid, providing good frame rates even at demanding resolutions.
Built for a Crew, Rough Alone
Wreck Runners truly shine when you play it with friends. The game is built to be played with other players, and unfortunately it struggles when it isn’t. A person can play the game solo, but it is difficult and leads to a more infuriating time rather than a fun time. High-value loot frequently requires more than one set of hands to move, and without a squad, players can find themselves stuck without enough money to afford the upgrades needed to survive later runs. Some enemy types are also difficult to deal with solo and can lead to a waste of time and resources handling them.
However, with a coordinated team, the overall experience of Wreck Runners goes up considerably. The runs are fun and chaotic when you are playing with friends or in a group. The game demands coordination to get the most out of its system. There is also a satisfying learning curve as a squad slowly figures out the gameplay rhythm and the little things that make the experience smoother. If you have people to play this game with, Wreck Runners is the type of game that embraces the chaotic nature of the genre that made it popular in the first place.
A Promising Foundation Still Under Construction
The thing holding back Wreck Runners is polish and its difficulty scaling for solo players. The game can appear buggy and unpolished at times, which is a shame, considering the core gameplay loop is extremely fun. Some shop upgrades also do not work as intended. None of this appears to be deal-breaking on its own, but when it adds up, the overall experience and goodwill of the players is negatively impacted. Difficulty balance, especially for solo players, is another glaring issue. While the game is marketed as a co-op game, there should be a way that the game is equally enjoyable for solo play.
Early runs are manageable for solo play, but the intensity of the runs quickly ramps up. There’s a clear appetite among players for some kind of scaling that adjusts according to the number of players in a run. Right now, it is a flat curve that will bore veterans and overwhelm new players. On the positive side, Wreck Runners boosts the replayability of their game thanks to the cosmetic unlocks and a grindy achievement system. This gives squads a reason to return to the game once the novelty of the core loop has worn off. The game has some rough edges, and its future depends on how quickly they get patched out. Overall, Wreck Runners is a great package for a 10 dollars price tag.
