RoadCraft by developer Saber Interactive and publisher Focus Entertainment—PlayStation 5 review written byJim with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
I love a good simulation game whether it's building, designing theme parks, being a firefighter or even driving trucks and heavy equipment vehicles. I loved the idea behind the game. You are in charge of a natural disaster recovery company where you must rebuild infrastructure, construct roads and bridges, clear debris, and recycle debris.
There are 8 levels in the game with the first two being in the same area in Africa and almost every level being a different disaster. The first level has you prepare for an upcoming storm and the second level has you cleaning up after it. One of my first big issues with the game is there is not much of a tutorial. It tells you what to do, but without showing you how it's done it sometimes is overwhelming to try to figure it out. The only reason I was able to figure some of it out was because I played Snowrunner. Now anyone who has played Sabers other games Mudrunner or Snowrunner should feel at home with this game as there are a lot of similarities. If you don't know what diff-lock or AWD is then you may want to skip this game.
After getting used to the game and its controls. The crane controls still confuse me from time to time. One of the big pains in the game is plotting routes for transportation and you do this a lot! You have to be exact as the AI who drives the routes doesn't know enough to avoid things in the road and then getting stuck. The game then will tell you it failed and you have to fix the problem. I honestly hated doing this. It really isn't fun having to go and look and or change the route time and time again until you find the right path to make it so the AI won't get stuck on something or in mud. If the game has an objective for some things like making a road all you have to do is bring a dump truck full of sand, a dozer, a paver, and a roller to a designated area. You can also set it to do the work automatically. You can do it manually if you wish and if you want any other spots on the map paved you can do it yourself, but it's a bit hard to do. I wish they made it so you could select a spot and have it do it automatically.
Each map is decent-sized but I don't like how it's all covered at the start with a fog of war if you will. I understand doing it in another type of game where you should explore, but this is a game set in the present day. If you are in a disaster recovery business you should at least have maps or GPS. Because of this, it can take you longer to get to destinations you have never been to before because you can run into dead ends or bridges that are out.
There is a lot of driving in RoadCraft and some of the vehicles are extremely slow, so getting from point A to point B can take a while. The only form of fast travel is to recover your vehicle, but you can only select your garage or a recovery point. Recovery points cost fuel that you get by completing objectives. You can also get places faster if you use the transport vehicle that lets you put your heavy equipment vehicles onto it. And you can drive the truck instead of the slower equipment. Completing objectives give you money and experience. As you level up you can buy better vehicles with the money you earn. You will always start with a rusty version of a vehicle so you may want to buy a newer version sooner rather than later as they work a bit better and faster.
There's a lot to see and do in RoadCraft from surveying the damage to using cranes and even laying down underground electrical wires. I have played a lot and I still haven't seen everything you can do in the game a part of this being how slow-paced the game is. All of the tasks can get overwhelming at times though as the game will tell you to do something before the place you need is even up and running. At one point I needed metal pipes. I haven't gotten the metal pipe plant open yet so I would have to do all that before I could fix the needed infrastructure.
Recycling plays a big part in the game as you will have to start plants that make things like metal pipes and such by recycling old stuff you find lying around on the ground. You can do this with a truck and crane or with your scout truck's winch. Just like Sabers other games your scout vehicle will have a winch you can use to pull things or help if you get stuck.
Graphicly the game looks amazing. The way the mud and dirt move as you drive, the way it sticks to freshly paved roads, the way it kicks up and sticks to your trucks all look pretty well done. The views can be really nice also. The sound is also good in the game, but if you have played Snowrunner then some of the sounds may sound familiar.
I have a love-hate relationship with RoadCraft. On one hand I found parts of it to be relaxing and fun and on the other, I was so frustrated I had to quit and take time away from it. RoadCraft is not a bad game by any means, but it is not for everyone. There is also 4 player coop so if you and some friends want to play together there is that option.
Overall RoadCraft is a decent simulation game that may ask a little too much of a player making it a tad too realistic. Now if you are a fan of Sabers other games you will like RoadCraft. If you didn't like Sabers other games like Mudrunner then you will probably dislike this game too. I however thought it was decent enough with a lot to see and do even with its shortcomings.
Score: 6.75 / 10
