MudRunner follow-up RoadCraft is all about natural disasters, heavy machinery and, yes, more mud

RoadCraft - Reveal Trailer - YouTube

Off-roading sims MudRunner and SnowRunner are poised to get a new sibling in the form of RoadCraft next year, which will once again see you veering off into unfriendly, slippery, boggy terrain with big vehicles. This time, it's to aid in the reconstruction efforts of areas devastated by natural disasters like floods and sandstorms—and that means it's time to play with some heavy machinery.

The reveal trailer shown off at Gamescom's Opening Night Live gives us a taste of the familiar (like getting stuck in the mud, again) alongside the use of construction vehicles and machinery, like bulldozers and cranes. You'll need to smash through debris, rebuild infrastructure like roads and bridges, reactivate dormant factories and effectively resurrect these ravaged regions through hard graft.

"We are constantly in search of new and fun types of gameplay experiences that complement our best selling titles such as SnowRunner and MudRunner," says Saber CEO Matthew Karch. "RoadCraft is our first foray into heavy equipment simulation. The game provides the best combination of off-road and construction simulations to create a new experience unlike anything that has preceded it.”

Saber hints at some management and logistics systems, too. You'll need to manage and collect resources and supplies to fuel the reconstruction effort, for instance, and we see some route planning and possible automation in the reveal trailer. Really, though, I just want to get into the driving seat of some of those beefy vehicles. I have a strange, primal urge to flatten things with a steamroller or chew through some fallen trees with those logging machines.

The trailer mostly focuses on an industrial area hit by a flood, full of mud and trees, but it also teases a more arid biome, presumably one struck by the aforementioned sandstorms, which will no doubt come with distinct terrain challenges and different vehicles.

RoadCraft is coming in 2025, but expect to see more of it as we get closer to the release date. In the meantime, check out the rest of our coverage of Gamescom 2024.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.