I've barely scratched the surface of this game, but let me just say, there's nothing else on the market like this. It's really engaging, fun, unique, and also has a sprinkle of arcade fun to keep spirits light during long play sessions. I think the game's tutorial (The first two entire chapters of the game) are the reason why people dislike this game, because honestly it was miserable. The game mechanics are far different from Snowrunner, mudrunner, or even Expeditions, and I felt lost a lot by the limited guidance. But, after I got to where the game lets you off the leash and started knocking out objectives, I actually have been looking for a game like this for years, and the flaws turned into strengths very quickly.

The Cons:
* Several visual bugs, which the devs said they will address with a hotfix sometime soon.
* Clunky tutorial (It's terrible and needs a rework) that took me 3 hours to beat, and it doesn't teach you most of the mechanics that make this game unique, which is WHY I'm playing the tutorial???
* The game's performance is... not great. I play this game half on a 4090, half on steam deck, they get similar frame rates (lingering around 45 fps with FSR 3.0 frame gen). Massive stuttering, weird vehicle physics interactions (it feels like I'm rubber-banding in a single player game?!)
* The sound design of the engines is... lacking at best. I actually turned SFX down in settings because they just drone ON and ON with no real variation in filtering or pitch. Sometimes it sounds like the engine is being played through a phone speaker as well, don't know what's up with that lol. The soundtrack and other sound design is spot on though, I especially love the cranes :3

The Pros:
* Hands down the best graphics, attention to detail, level design, vehicle design, etc of any Spintires game. I don't put this lightly, because before this game, Mudrunner always had the best visual style in my opinion. This game really brings back the classic "I'm living in an apocalyptic world" vibe that Spintires and Mudrunner had, the kind that makes you put your truck in park and just stare at the landscape. It's GORGEOUS. Not to mention, bro, they gave literally *every* vehicle detailed interiors, and I mean even the cranes that are part of the map that you can't move have custom fully modeled interiors. When you flip on diff lock or AWD, you physically see a tiny switch with the logo on the dash move with a little "click". When you move a crane, you see the one billion levers awkwardly flop around in the magical dance that is throwing a safe out of a building like a trebuchet (you'll know what I mean when you do this). It's great! <3
* Complex gameplay loop - In snowrunner, you drive from point A to B as fast as you can with one truck and try your best not to tip over for going 3x the speed you should be. If you get stuck, you use a winch. There is virtually ZERO reason to use a scout other than finding vehicle upgrades or squeezing into tight spaces, as you're always better off using a larger truck. This game? Literally every vehicle is indispensible. You get stuck with your truck? No winch. Almost no trucks in this game have a winch, and good luck using a crane to cheese yourself get out of a pickle, they are basically only good for moving vehicles smaller than themselves. Scouts are, scouts. You use them to explore the map, find new roads, there are no watch points so you genuinely have to get your feet nasty in some mud. Semi Trucks? You use those pretty much exclusively to move your smaller vehicles around on big roads. Now if you're a mudrunner fan, what I just said baffles you. Using... a truck... to move other vehicles? Why? Brother, the equipment you use to make roads drives like a tonka truck in molases. You are lucky if you can get it out of the garage, LET ALONE to the jobsite. The only exception to this is maybe the dozer you start with, but bro, it's a bulldozer with no winch and no cargo space, tf you gonna do with that? Anyway, the physics system is not a pushover in this game. Think moving from HL to HL2 type shift. The physics actually matters, because while you can get around easily, you're actually commanding a fleet of rusty toddler-tier trucks to deliver god knows what between your factories. Problem? There is giant chunks of garbage EVERYWHERE and good luck using a scout to move a 20,000 kg pipe out of the way. The mobile cranes in this game are not a gimick, they are actually your GOAT. You will develop a close bond with your rusty 2WD crane by the end of your first map on your own. Most of the vehicles in this game are one-trick-ponies, but that is for the express purpose to make the game more challenging. If you need to make a road, you need to have enough infrastructure to get a dump truck, dozer, asphalt layer, and a road roller, half of which are incompetent at moving on their own in the best case. The cranes move stuff, your cargo trucks just carry stuff, if something gets stuck... you use a crane to get it unstuck. There's even a new mobile base vehicle type that not only looks cool as hell, but is kinda a more bulky scout you can drop somewhere and teleport stuff to for a small fee. There are no "pointless" trucks in this game, there is no one-size-fits-all, and I find it really, really fun to manage my huge fleet of vehicles. When my rusty piece of garbage finishes a job I thought it would fail, I raise my arms in the air and shout "THAT'S MY GOAT! THAT'S MY GOAT RIGHT THERE!" it's beautiful. No more super ultra overpowered trucks you get for free from seasonal dlc (slowly turns to look at snowrunner).
* Easy to pick up - this game has a good quicksave system, basically it saves almost any time you stop moving. So, if you ever need to stop playing, you just slam into park and come back later. Your chunks of concrete will be exactly where you left them. I play this game on a combination of on my TV and on my steam deck, both are really fun experiences.
* Reworked crane controls - Cranes are essential now for doing just about anything since this game doesn't baby you. When you use a crane for the first time, you're probably gonna scream at how horrible it feels at first. Let me tell you, give yourself two hours to learn the controls, soon the cranes will become an extension of your body and you'll be able to operate them while your truck is still moving. It's hard to learn, but once you've got it, oh man is it satisfying.

Anyway, I've ranted on long enough, I genuinely considered refunding this game for the first two hours but I kept pushing through and it's become my favorite in the franchise. I'm still gonna be playing Expeditions and Snowrunner for years to come, but man, this game is really just in a league of its own. I really appreciate the devs going out on a limb and creating something genuinely innovative in the gaming space, even if flawed at the moment. This game, I can tell it's got some passion behind it. It really does feel like one of those passion project indie games, just with a much larger budget. It's rough around the edges, but I've come to love it for what it is.

Overall, 8.8/10, would recommend to any fans of objective type games like Expeditions, Mudrunner, and even fans of something like VCD or Crime Scene Cleaner. Fantastic offering in a field of mechanical stagnation.

P.S. - if you're worried about the "No fuel" thing, it's coming in a later update in hard mode, and to be honest, I think I'll be passing on this mechanic, this game really doesn't need fuel management. You are constantly swapping between vehicles, so I think it would just be more annoying than fun to manage, but I like that the option will be there for hardcore players. Also, the maps all have gas stations (they even have a special icon, so it's clearly been considered in the past).