RoadCraft is developed by Saber, the same game studio which has earlier made the terrain driving gaming Mudrunner and Snowrunner, and even if RoadCraft is not meant to be the exact same type of game as those, the heritage is still visible.
RoadCraft is however more of a construction game and – slightly – less of a challenging driving game. In fact it would probably be a bit unfair to make too much of a comparison between the games.
In RoadCraft, the basic premise is that you and your company is working as a subcontractor hired to help reconstruct damaged and destroyed infrastructure in disaster areas wrecked by natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes and the like. In order to succeed in that the player has to their disposal a number of heavy duty vehicles ranging from trucks and bulldozers to huge construction cranes and specialized vehicles.
This construction work could be intricate enough on its own, but remember the after disaster part? This means that all construction takes part in a landscape that’s not always exactly easy to move around in, especially not with heavy equipment. Also you may have to start with building up the necessary infrastructure such as getting local raw resources factories and power plants back online in order to provide for the continued work.
The goal is to provide accessible roads for the AI-controlled convoys of trucks with additional equipment to be able to deliver much needed supplies both for your continued progress and for the benefit of the local region. In a way this sending out convoy part works as a check of if your work has been adequate, while also being the way your company gets rewarded with new money and resources after completed missions.
This combination of construction game and driving challenge game works very well. The two parts have achieved a good, balanced level where both remain both fun and providing for a more than adequate challenge level. It becomes a game of both strategic thinking needed to solve some of the mission problems as well as fun driving in mud and terrain.
It should be said that RoadCraft is not a fast game. Constructions take time to get done, in particular since the landscape is often challenging for the vehicles and there are times it can feel a bit of a slog. On the other hand it feels very rewarding when your improvements to the thrashed local infrastructure gets visible in all their glory. A tarmac road becomes a true achievement.
As if that wasn’t enough, the game comes with a total of no less than eight different, and huge, sandbox maps. All with their own missions, terrain features and buildings.
The tutorial introduction takes the form of a big map on its own with a full set of missions, guiding the player though the basics without ever feeling all that tutorial-like while preparing the area for the coming storm.
To your help you have the friendly central office dispatcher who in her slightly cynical but always chipper ways provide you with mission updates and helpful commentary. She’s a godsend, upbeat voice in all the chaos and tribulations.
The graphics and design of the game is of high quality and manages to get a good feeling of devastated geography. Likewise the physics are of quite high standard, with muddy roads feeling definitely muddy, water-drenched streets making for careful driving with machinery hopefully adequate for the task, and general landscapes providing both stunning vistas and interesting challenges.
There is no possibility for your player character to actually get out of the vehicles and walk around on his own two feet. This is something which at times can feel a little locked in and sometimes give you the feeling that you’re more the vehicle than the person. You can chose first or third-person view as you’re sitting in there but that’s it.
RoadCraft is fully possible to play as a single player, but in my opinion it works even better as a multiplayer game. A total of four players is possible on all maps. More players means an easier and slightly faster way of getting the projects done. In multiplayer each participating player have their own company with their own economy and equipment but are nevertheless working together to complete the mission and all gets part of the rewards.
To conclude, RoadCraft is a nicely done mix of terrain driving and construction. It manages to do parts of both well without one of the two taking the focus from the other. It is however a slowburn game where progress take time. Sometimes lots of time. Not because it’s hard as such, the various missions are all doable. It is more that it simply is a big game with its generous amounts of maps and missions. So be prepared to put quite a lot of hours into it if you want to reach the higher levels and unlock the many different vehicles to play with. But while you do that you can enjoy the immersive and goodlooking landscape as well as the “how do we best accomplish this” questions which will pop up.
