It’s getting on for a year since we last heard anything from THQ Nordic about its upcoming open-world title Wreckreation, but the publisher has shown a new trailer for the title this weekend.
If you missed the earlier announcement — or simply forgot about it in the intervening 12 months — Wreckreation is set to be a massive automotive sandbox game, which will allow players to customize not only their cars but the racing environment itself too.
A massive, 155 square-mile (400sqkm) map called “MixWorld” will host the racing, with players able to build pretty much whatever they want. Not only that, they’ll be able to share it with others, so there’ll be as many unique maps out there as there are players.
It’s developed by Three Fields Entertainment, a studio founded by three ex-Criterion staff known for their work on Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed, and looks to be the sequel in of sorts to its 2019 title Dangerous Driving.
Naturally the trailer shows off a lot of the track editor functions, through a build interface that looks to be called “Game DJ”. This includes snappable standard track pieces and some freedom to adjust them by roll and pitch — although we’re expecting that to be close to entirely free adjustment in three dimensions — as well as some crazy custom objects such as the spiralling “Maelstrom” tunnel.
Along with the road surface itself there’s a wide range of other objects from buildings and obstacles to random track litter, which at one point is just fired onto the course at random. Also shown is a start gate so we’d assume end gates and checkpoints will also be in the objects list for races on defined courses.
The clip then moves into vehicle customization, which appears to be pretty detailed if limited to the cosmetic; an unused “livery” tab might hint at the ability to apply stickers for a more custom ride. We do note that every car (and hot dog truck) in the clip has a nitrous bottle somewhere, suggesting a nitro boost function as standard just as with Dangerous Driving.
Notably every car in the clip is a fictional model, with names like Saxondale (taxi), Corduroy (muscle car), Hooper GTR (modern muscle), Gatsby Outrunner (hot rod), and Templar Doom GT (supercar). Given the extreme damage possible in the game — one car shedding all four of its wheels in a high-speed crash — that’s probably not a surprise given car manufacturers’ sensitivity when it comes to such things.
One final piece of customization is also shown, with various fonts used for the game HUD as selected by the user.
Originally slated as a 2023 release, there’s still no concrete launch date for Wreckreation. However it will be available for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series, and can be added to your PlayStation Store or Steam wishlists now.
