RoadCraft review – build unfinished roads in an unfinished game

by

There’s an undeniable sense of tranquility in shaping sand into roads while classic American music plays softly. I’ve found myself engrossed for hours in conversations with friends as we rebuild the foundations of towns affected by natural disasters, be it earthquakes or hurricanes. We fill in gaps in the land and transform chaotic landscapes into smooth terrains suitable for large vehicles.

RoadCraft appears to be a logical progression from the MudRunner series, offering an expansive sandbox environment with purposeful challenges designed to encourage patience and innovation. Upon arriving at each map, you’ll find chaos – potholes to mend, damaged roads to repair, and clutter to clear away. The game’s charm lies in its resemblance to games like House Flipper, where the freedom to color outside the lines keeps things interesting. Regrettably, it seems that not just the holes in the maps you traverse require filling.

In every gaming session, the audio inexplicably cuts off and the sound of a 50-ton vehicle engine ceases, diminishing the enjoyment of driving such a massive machine. This issue is often triggered when switching vehicles, something you do frequently, and can only be resolved by reloading the entire game lobby. Additionally, there are specific areas on the map where my 5070 Ti struggles to maintain over 30 frames per second without any discernible cause. Lastly, those semis…

In every gaming session, the audio stops and the sound of a 50-ton vehicle engine disappears, making driving less enjoyable. This problem occurs after switching vehicles, which you do often, and can only be addressed by reloading the entire game room. Furthermore, there are certain parts of the map where my 5070 Ti performs poorly, struggling to maintain over 30 frames per second without any obvious reason. Finally, those semis…

Without doubt, RoadCraft centers around designing roads to move goods and establish logistics systems. It’s like Grand Theft Auto 6 for those who find joy in watching fire trucks pass by. In this game, the ultimate goal on each map is making it entirely accessible for a fully-laden semi-truck, as these vehicles would otherwise get stuck in mud and sand due to their heavy weight without proper road construction.

To set this up, there’s quite a bit of intricate physics involved. First, you position the semi-truck near some concrete slabs or your loading materials, then you bring a crane over to carefully load and secure each item. Each item has its unique weight and physical properties, and securing them prevents them from shifting during turns.

Instead of functioning smoothly, it frequently malfunctions. A clear indication is when it starts to gyrate or bounce uncontrollably. If you notice your half-broken device swaying its long body or bobbing up and down suggestively, regardless of societal norms regarding human courtship behaviors, you’re likely in for a frustrating experience. One moment it might be moving that thing, and the next, it could blast off like a wild firework, causing destruction to your setup and ripping up trees by their roots, behaving much like an adolescent Godzilla.

It’s amusing when an incident occurs for the first time, but it quickly becomes less amusing with the second, third, and fourth occurrences. Eventually, you lose your cargo, which requires obtaining resources once more by carrying them to a depot, followed by lifting all of it onto a new semi-trailer truck and restarting the entire trip from scratch.

Whenever this occurs, precious hours of advancement vanish before my eyes. It’s been a recurring issue for me during various instances – such as when loading goods onto a semi, an unintentional brush while driving, and even when attempting to right a semi that had accidentally toppled over with a crane. It’s hard to believe the developers weren’t aware of these glitches.

It’s unfortunate yet impressive as it resembles Death Stranding in many ways, despite being part of the MudRunner series. Playing RoadCraft, I found myself reminded of Death Stranding due to its similarity in scanning landscapes to assess risk before traversal, and a freeform approach that allows for creating shortcuts with additional effort upfront. These early setups often prove beneficial when revisiting previously prepared locations. Unlike the strand system, RoadCraft offers real-time multiplayer interaction, providing immediate feedback on innovative solutions to obstacles, making gameplay more collaborative and engaging.

On one area of the map, we drained a marsh and felled trees to construct a new highway, shortening a five-minute drive between storage facilities by this route. In another location, we erected a bridge connecting our railyard to a fortress, enabling our AI transport vehicles to bypass winding across the entire map.

Even though our creative strategies were employed, they were frequently thwarted by the game. By the fifth level, my companions and I had mastered it. We constructed roads everywhere, dividing the vast map into grids for efficient future deliveries. However, the game fails to acknowledge these pre-existing roads and will often demand new road construction in places where we’ve already built one.

After that, there’s the AI, much like some individuals on Twitter who respond with “I don’t understand, could you explain?” to every post. When a road is established, navigating delivery routes for AI becomes necessary, but these digital drivers often move in random circles, collide with walls, struggle with simple turns, and unexpectedly fail routes they’ve successfully completed before.

RoadCraft is an impressive idea that requires at least another year for refinement. In a short while, it could become the top game in its category, but due to issues such as glitchy truck AI, faulty physics, occasional AI stupidity, and underlying technical problems, it’s hard to wholeheartedly endorse it at this stage.

At the onset, I committed a few errors while playing. Instead of mapping things out for future use, I’d construct roads as I went along, sometimes even in the middle of driving them, filling them with sand to free my vehicle from the mud it was stuck in. It seems like the publisher is content with the developer carrying on this approach, rather than smoothing over the flaws before releasing the final product.

Read More

2025-05-19 19:17