Considering the rather lengthy journey Wreckfest took from early access to full release, I was quite surprised to find that it has a sequel, Wreckfest 2, now also in Steam early access. This sequel has the backing of THQ Nordic, which helped developer Bugbear finish the first game after an extended development period.
Like its predecessor, Wreckfest 2 is a no-holds-barred racing game very much in the vein of the classic Demolition Derby on the original PlayStation. With physics-based impacts, cars become twisted metal, and the circuits littered with wrecks and debris.
Even as an early access game, I found Wreckfest 2 to be a bit sparse, content-wise, at launch. Of course, I’ve been spoiled by the original Wreckfest, which, although it started much the same way, is now a very polished and fully featured banger racing game.
A couple of months in and Bugbear has started to populate Wreckfest 2 with more circuits and cars.
There are currently seven track locations to choose from, offering 14 circuit variations. Fincross is a banger racing track available as a circuit and a reverse circuit. Savalax Sandpit is a quarry banger racing track, again, with a main circuit and a reverse circuit. European Rally Cross is a banger racing circuit. Speedway can be selected as an oval, figure eight or as a demolition derby arena. Scrapyard has a main route, demolition derby arena and a criss-crossing circuit called bonebreaker. UK Banger 1 has an oval circuit, a figure eight circuit and a demolition derby arena. Finally, there’s an area called Testing Grounds with all sorts of ramps and devices that show off the game’s amazing physics.
From the above, depending on the circuit, players can select from straight-up banger racing and last man standing or deathmatch demolition derby events. The game has 8 vehicles from American muscle through European compact to a motorhome. Vehicles can be painted to create custom looks. Like the tracks, the variety of cars is likely to continue to expand.
There’s the option from the main screen to select a quick match and jump right in with a single-player race around the Savalax Sandpit circuit or select the custom race option and make your own single-player event. Multiplayer races can be selected either by matchmaking or the server browser. There’s no indication of ping or location on the server browser, but I never had a problem with latency.
The races are bound to make you smile with circuits designed to encourage absolute carnage. From the figure of eight layouts to lethal trackside detritus, players can find themselves in the middle of a pile-up at any minute. Other racers, as well, see no problem in pushing your car off the road. But revenge is sweet, via the guilty pleasure of giving your opponents a little tap that’ll see them careen off the road and into the tyre wall.
Just as with the original game, the physics and spectacle make the game. Be it the superb handling of the cars or the bouncing tyres and other objects spilling across the tracks, Wreckfest 2 is a rather unique racing experience.
The visuals on PC are next level, updating the graphics of the first game and bringing them in line with the virtually photoreal look expected of modern racers. The game uses AMD’s FSR 3.1.3 upscaling but has no Nvidia DLSS. The game did tax the review rig’s Nvidia RTX 4090, with all the settings maxed out when things got busy. There’s plenty of visual customisation options that’ll get the game running smoothly even on more modest machines.
When Wreckfest 2 first hit early access, it was a bit lean, but now with more tracks it’s worth jumping in. As the game develops, we will likely see more tracks, more vehicles and hopefully a campaign mode. If you like the first game or racing games in general, I certainly recommend jumping in early with Wreckfest 2.