To this day, the now-stagnant Burnout series is still the prime example of an arcade racer that every other contemporary is compared to. Naturally, it's spurred on a bunch of imitators and spiritual successors over the years, especially after the decline of Criterion Games into a support studio at EA. Nowadays, instead of pioneering racing games, it's a "Battlefield Studio".
One such spiritual successor was 2025's Wreckreation, created by Three Fields Entertainment, a small team of veterans, including from Criterion Games, making games since 1999. Unfortunately, Wreckreaction launched to mixed reviews, not quite reaching the heights of its inspiration.
But it's not the end of the team or the series. "We've made a double announcement today," the developer's latest statement on Patreon reads. "We're making a sequel to Wreckreation … It's built around aggression, pressure, risk, and of course consequence."
"Over the last six months we've been talking directly to players about what they want from a modern arcade driving game, and Wreckreation 2 is the result of those conversations," said studio head Fiona Sperry. "From handling and progression to events and world design, our community has already helped shape key aspects of the experience. We're building this game with the players, not just for them."
There's already a short announcement trailer for the game, showing off a bunch of unique cars (I'm a big fan of all the classic muscle), the arcade handling and, of course, plenty of crashouts inspired by Burnout. Cars go absolutely flying.
The second announcement is that the team has formed a new studio, When Tides Turn. "While Wreckreation began life at Three Fields Entertainment, we've reached a point where it makes sense for the project to have a new home, one that we own completely."
"Nothing has changed about the people making the game. It's still the same team, with the same passion and the same ambition to build the best open-world arcade racer we possibly can. This is simply the next step in our journey."
The developer will continue to post updates on Wreckreation 2 on its Patreon, and you can also sign up to playtest the game. There's no such thing as too much Burnout, so hopefully the Wreckreation sequel delivers where the first one didn't quite hit the mark.
