If you’ve played Spintires: MudRunner, you might come away with the belief that some random former Soviet state has the muddiest terrain on the planet, but as a proud American, I know that no one can outdo us when it comes to the classical recreational pastime of muddin’. And now, MudRunner is going to give the United States its due with a new expansion called American Wilds.
MudRunner is a driving simulator with deep, realistic physics. It originally debuted in 2014, and it impressed players at the time with how accurately mud would move around tires. That terrain deformation served as the foundation for a game that was also satisfying from a gameplay perspective where you had to manage multiple trucks to deliver payloads of logs and other goods to complete missions.
American Wilds is building on that by bringing players to the wilderness of Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota to take on various challenges that all require you to drive mammoth trucks over wet and mushy land. And since the Russian-style vehicles from the core game wouldn’t look right speeding alongside the Rocky Mountains, developer Saber Interactive is bringing familiar brands like Chevrolet, Western Star, and Hummer into its off-road-delivery simulator.
Spintires: MudRunner launches October 23 on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The game is also coming to Switch along with the expansion in November, so you can get your mud-physics action going while hitchhiking in a big rig. Publisher Focus Home Interactive hasn’t announced a price for the expansion, but I’ve asked for clarification and will update with that info when I have it.
The American Wilds expansion introduces 2 new sandbox maps, and Saber’s game now boasts more than 30 vehicles, 10 sandbox maps, and 11 challenge maps. This is especially great for console players because it keeps building content into the game. On PC, however, players have enjoyed community creations through Steam Workshop that have made it already feel a bit limitless.
Of course, for PC players and everyone else, Focus Home and Saber announced MudRunner 2 last month. That game will act as a full sequel, and I hope that means improved visuals, physics, online multiplayer, and missions. For now, however, American Wilds looks like a good reason to check back in on this excellent playground.
Time to break out the steering wheel controller!
