Krautscape: an indie racer that doesn't need roads, but randomly generates them anyway

"Okay, so it's a visually fetching indie racer with weird folded wing-like cars," I thought as I watched this trailer for Krautscape . "Ha, idiot!" I thought as one of those cars drove clean off the edge of the suspended track. "WHAT?!" I thought - glad I'd already swallowed my mouthful of tea - as the wings unfurled and the previously doomed vehicle happily flew off.

"WHAT?!" I thought again, seconds later, when I read the game's description. "Krautscape is an action-packed multi-player racing game, in which the leading player builds the track during the race ." Emphasis mine. Because seriously .

Digging further into the game's website explains these surprising features. The player in first place directs the procedurally generated tracks through the coloured lane they're driving on. "If you keep driving on the right side of the road, the next track element will be a right curve. Drive on the left side and it goes left."

For an idea of how this random creation works, the developers posted this image of a spaghetti like track on the Krautscape blog :

Then there's the flying, which depending on the game mode, can let you take aerial shortcuts through the track, or pick up and score points.

There doesn't seem to be a firm release date for Krautscape, but the website assures that it's landing "Soon".

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.