I’d been interested in this one from when I’d first heard of it, back when it was known as Next Car Game. It was something that interested me, being touted as a spiritual successor to the FlatOut series. But… me and PC games, I knew there was little chance of me actively playing it.

Around January-2019, I’d found a video titled Survive the Hunt #8. A video from the channel of FailRace. That video launched me into being a fan of the FailRace channel, and soon I’d caught up with the previous Survive the Hunts, as well as watching the latest videos as they arrived. Some of which were about Wreckfest, allowing me to experience in some way this game I was waiting for (though I already would have seen the Hat Films perspective, of course).

The racing wasn’t that serious, since the aim was to get ahead through any means necessary. Whether on tarmac or dirt, though usually a combination of the two (along with a few other surfaces), the racing always felt fierce. But once the game was announced to be releasing on the Xbox One, I never jumped at the opportunity to own it and get stuck in.

Until last month, that is, where I felt the time was right to jump into a new racer. The LEGO game marathon of replaying those older games I’d once enjoyed had almost come to its end, so it felt right to get a racer into that primary priority slot. Wreckfest might have fallen from that primary slot quickly, but I’m still enjoying it whenever I get on it.

The career offers a number of racing events, complete with bonus objectives. Along with those races are also the destruction derby events, again with bonus objectives. I found these mostly easy, though it was the first part of the career, so it’s designed to be easy. Having completed the first part of the career, I also played some of the second, just to unlock a new vehicle. After that, I stuck with the single events, jumping into a range of races with my trusty lawnmower. When I wanted a laugh, that is. Otherwise it was using the first car that is given in the game, which I’d customised a little bit across that first part of the career.

Through these single events – and from the career – I’d come across a few tracks that I’ve found becoming my favourites. The video on my channel shows off two of those favourites, with one of them being the Deathloop. The other is Pinehills Raceway, which feels a lot like something you’d find in DiRT.

While I do have my favourites, I do love all the racetracks within the game. As for the cars, I can’t say much about the full range of them, but the ones I’ve used have been mechanically sound. They do seem a bit tail happy, but then they all do seem to have rear-wheel drive. Even the lawnmower. But that doesn’t matter much, as they’re easy to get back in control.

I know I’ve got plenty of other vehicles to get around to experiencing, such as the bus, motorhome, and even a sofa car, so when I continue on with the career, I’ll be sure to have fun with those as well. Swapping the options to allow only a certain car in the races will make sure I can have the all-sofa dirt-track challenge go ahead across plenty of those circuits. And see how well it does on the Deathloop.

I said it at the start, and I’ll say it again. Wreckfest really is not a serious racer. It’s a racer purely built for fun and silliness, and it truly is the spiritual successor to the FlatOut series it was designed to be.