RoadCraft

🔥 What is RoadCraft

RoadCraft is an innovative physics-driven simulation game developed by Saber Interactive, the creators of popular titles like MudRunner and SnowRunner. This game puts you in charge of a disaster recovery company specializing in restoring areas devastated by natural disasters.

In RoadCraft, you’ll navigate challenging terrains across various global regions, each spanning 4 km² in size. Your mission is to rebuild infrastructure, clear debris, replace faulty equipment, and reconstruct roads and bridges damaged by severe weather conditions. The game combines realistic off-roading mechanics with comprehensive infrastructure building and repair systems, creating a unique gameplay experience that balances challenge with satisfaction.

The Setting

The game takes place in environments that have suffered catastrophic events, leaving behind abandoned factories, submerged dams, and out-of-service solar fields. As operations manager, you’ll need to carefully plan routes through these hazardous landscapes, ensuring your vehicles can navigate safely while completing critical restoration tasks.

👉 Features of RoadCraft

Extensive Vehicle Fleet

RoadCraft boasts an impressive roster of over 40 specialized vehicles, including bulldozers, construction cranes, excavators, pavers, dump trucks, cable layers, and more. Each vehicle serves a specific purpose in your restoration efforts, from clearing paths to transporting materials and constructing new infrastructure.

Advanced Physics Engine

The game features Saber Interactive’s new physics engine that allows players to interact with various elements like sand, wood, and asphalt. This system enables realistic terrain manipulation, letting you reshape the environment to facilitate vehicle movement and complete objectives.

Comprehensive Building System

One of RoadCraft’s standout features is the ability to construct new roads and bridges, significantly improving navigation across rough terrain. Unlike previous titles where environmental obstacles remained permanent, RoadCraft allows you to transform the landscape, creating efficient supply routes through previously impassable areas.

Resource Management

The game implements a clever recycling system where debris and materials can be collected and repurposed for reconstruction. Items are color-coded to indicate which recycling center they should be taken to, adding a strategic layer to resource gathering.

Cooperative Gameplay

Experience the challenges of disaster recovery alone or team up with friends in cooperative mode supporting up to 4 players. Work together to tackle larger projects and coordinate complex operations across the expansive maps.

Gameplay

RoadCraft offers a methodical, thoughtful approach to gameplay that rewards planning and patience. As you progress through different maps, you’ll need to:

Clear obstacles using specialized equipment like bulldozers and cranes to create paths for larger vehicles. The physics-based interactions make each clearance operation unique and challenging.

Plot strategic routes on your map to guide logistics convoys efficiently through the terrain. The AI-driven vehicles will follow your designated paths, though getting them to successfully navigate requires careful planning.

Construct infrastructure by manipulating materials and using various specialized vehicles. From laying down asphalt to building bridges over waterways, these construction projects transform the gameplay environment over time.

Restore essential services by repairing power lines, fixing broken pipes, and replacing damaged equipment to revitalize devastated areas.

Pros and Cons

✔️ Pros

Evolving Environments: Unlike previous Saber Interactive titles, maps in RoadCraft progressively change as you build roads and infrastructure, creating a satisfying sense of accomplishment.

Vehicle Diversity: The extensive range of specialized vehicles offers varied gameplay experiences and approaches to solving problems.

Physics-Based Challenges: The advanced physics engine creates realistic and unpredictable scenarios that require creative problem-solving.

Strategic Depth: Planning efficient routes, managing resources, and coordinating vehicle operations adds layers of strategy to the gameplay.

❌ Cons

Steep Learning Curve: Vehicle controls can feel counter-intuitive at first, particularly when operating specialized equipment like cranes.

AI Pathfinding Issues: The autonomous vehicle routing system requires trial and error to work effectively, sometimes leading to failed deliveries despite seemingly clear paths.

Ghost Town Feel: Like previous Saber Interactive titles, the maps lack NPCs or other traffic, creating an eerily empty world despite the focus on restoration.

Potentially Monotonous Tasks: Some operations may become repetitive over extended play sessions, though the variety of vehicles and objectives helps mitigate this issue.