MudRunner

my car is at the bottom of a river

Introduction:
Simple, yet complex. Relaxing, yet stressful. Slow, yet intense. Mudrunner is an immersive off-road driving simulator set in the deep Russian wilderness, where some serious social recluse decided to set up a logging industry.
Positives:
+ Engrossing gameplay.
+ Good graphics
+ Workshop support for new vehicles and maps.
+ Achievements (easy to 100% but requires a co-op partner)
+ Audibly rather atmospheric.
+ Runs well.
Negatives:
- Achievements require another player.
- Less colourful than Spintires (personal preference).
Performance:
GPU: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti
RAM: 8GB Single-Channel DDR4 @ 1330MHz
CPU: Intel Core i5 9300H @ 2.4GHz
Storage: 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD @ 7200RPM
I ran this briefly on my work laptop (specifications on profile) while away from home and while not totally smooth, it was playable. Otherwise, I played it mostly on the above hardware and it ran like a dream; no lag, crashes, or anything of the sort.
Audio:
Mudrunner is audibly quite a minimalist game, but for all that it is not without atmosphere. The lethargic grind of the engine or gears of vehicles gives them a tangible sense of weight as they lumber (ha!) over awkward terrain with tonnes in tow. A handsome chorus of birdsong plays subtly in the background, and the zen-like sound of running water makes you cross your legs as you firmly hold down W hoping to God that you won’t get stuck in a bog – which you could rather do with by the end of a three-hour expedition.
Graphics:
While by comparison to Spintires, its big brother, Mudrunner is practically greyscale, this may better appeal to your taste, but I do think it’s a shame as Spintires captured a really quite colourful natural beauty while maintaining the sense of isolation as you work, day-and-night, in the middle of quite literally nowhere.
The atmosphere is not too different in Mudrunner, but it’s less of a treat to the eyes. Having said that, textures seem higher quality in this game, so it balances out, and can even look quite remarkable under different lighting conditions, such as sunrise or sunset. There is enough variety in visual theme thanks to the dynamic weather day and night cycle.
Gameplay:
Mudrunner shines most in its gameplay. It is customisable in its difficulty level with a casual mode, but it is best enjoyed, I think, on hardcore. There, you have realistic problems to contend with, such as vehicle steering pulling downhill on a slope, damage affecting handling, and heavier fuel consumption, necessitating more careful driving and better route-planning – not least because you can’t respawn your vehicles at the garage either, incentivising you to take care of them.
Achievements:
While the achievements are easy enough to get, they will require another player to 100% since each map has an achievement for beating it with at least two players. It’s worth noting that the last game was shut down making achievements impossible and so it’s not unreasonable to worry one day same may happen here, though for now it works just fine. In any case, though, not being first and foremost an online game, having online achievements is not an appreciated design choice.
Environment:
The nature of a dynamic environment is so immersive in ways typical driving games could only dream of. Your vehicles way many tonnes, and will readily sink into soft mud if badly weighted, or driven on a bad angle, etc. Water exerts force against them, and can push them off-course. Nighttime blankets them in, creating eerie shadows and still blackness that make for an alarmingly suspenseful atmosphere, particularly around water or cliff edges, where one over-zealous move can tip the vehicle to its demise.
Driving:
It is a slow-paced game where the difficulty comes from nature – not other ‘players’ (AI or real). Personally, I enjoy this much more. The difficulty makes you think and problem solve, and is more fulfilling to rise to (and overcome) than simply holding down ‘W’ and trying to fall into someone’s slipstream. You instead must make use of diff locks, all-wheel drive, and well-timed gear changes to avoid wheel slip (and digging yourself in), cross-axling yourself by bottoming out on uneven terrain, or even flipping the vehicle.
Your loadout (and its distribution) matter here too. Top-heavy or tall-sided loads will tip you easily if you drive too fast, or take a chance on uneven terrain, while loads that are too light will leave you without grip in some muddy areas. The equipment you attach to the vehicles you take is also important for completing the map objectives, as vehicles that consume lots of fuel will need to be re-supplied on the move in order to deliver logs, while damaged vehicles you might find across the map need repairing to be of any use at all.
Mudrunner even makes use of gears to add a layer of complexity specifically to driving over various terrain. You will need to mind that you don’t drive excessively fast, as vehicle handling rapidly diminishes and you become vulnerable to rolling or crashing. Going too slow, on the other hand, while safer, not just comes at the cost of time, but may cause you to get stuck on some types of terrain. Gears are always about optimising power and speed. In bogs, excess speed digs you in, where a lower gear allows the tyres to get traction and push you on.
You have use of a winch to save you in some situations too, but it can only be attached to certain terrain – mostly trees – and if your vehicle is truly stuck (and very heavy) you will break the trees, leaving yourself stranded, so even this requires careful thought. In all ways, Mudrunner is just the right amount of complexity without being overwhelming, or mechanically difficult to play.

Conclusion:
If you like vehicles with big wheels, nature, and a challenge, and aren’t all that keen on people, Mudrunner is the game for you. It has some of the best simulations of water, rocks, and mud for vehicles that I’m aware of, and presents an altogether different challenge to the usual driving games where you are competing either for maximum speed or maximum damage.
I think what I love so much about Mudrunner (and Spintires) is that it’s a driving game for people who want to think, in a world where so many other driving simulations are arcade-y or mindlessly simple. It gives you, as a player, a real sense of agency – like what you do in the game matters, as you become fully engrossed in the challenge. Without any hesitation, I recommend Mudrunner. I wish there were more games like it (sadly Snowrunner took a different course, but my review is still to come on that). Workshop integration also adds a lot of replayability too, as you can try out new maps and vehicles beyond what the game and DLC natively offer.
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Bought this game on sale for 80% off and I must say I'd have been happy to pay fill price (£20) for it. Keep in mind I have Autistic Spectrum Disorder and a large part of why I love this game is the incredible simulation of heavy vehicles. From the mud and water dynamics around the tyres to the engine sounds and gear-shifts, brake pressure releases. It is extremely satisfying. I am someone who plays War Thunder almost exclusively for the "tanks in the mud" appeal and Mudrunner has been on my short-list for a long time. I am so glad I picked this up, this game will help me relax to the beautiful theatre of Heavy Vehicles slurping through the mud ans the Diesel engine roars, working for every inch we progress. I love it. Music to my eyes.
I will keep this game open in the background all day while I work/do other things. I will pretend my character is stopping for a nap when I park up and switch tasks. What is even more awesome, is that if you leave AFK for long enough, the driver literally does take a nap. 10/10 GOTY.

Feels like a breathe of fresh air after endless Snowrunner. This game has that vibe of something cool and old-school, vintage even... the ambience is just there for your to enjoy. Don't use graphic mods like Adega pack, the fog and bleak colors are all part of Mudrunner's unique style. This is not exactly a chill game, but after thousands of hours in Snowrunner spent hauling dozens of cargo slots... it's nice to go back and reflect a bit, hauling logs to remote locations - not because they will pay you much, but because you can. The maps are small and there are not many tasks, but they are hard to acomplish and you feel like a real hero after you finally do. I miss the music when you are approaching a sawmill with a load... once again, in Snowrunner there's much more to haul, and each delivery doesn't feel like something worthwhile. Here it still does.

I am a 45 yo father, probably one of the oldest people playing this game. I am a single farther to my Son, who is 14 now. My son got this game for Christmas in 2021 from his uncle, so we installed it on his computer and he started playing. By the end of the week he had 24 hours on this game. This was horrible for me, as it was already hard for me to find ways to spend time with my son, as he is always out with his friends or just watching YouTube. So I decided to make a Steam account and get this game to see if I could maybe play alongside him. I loaded into the game, picked my character and started playing but I was stuck on what you where supposed to do. I asked my Son for help and he hosted a game for me to join. I loved it as it was the best time I had spent with my Son since my wife had died. This game has ever since brought me and my son closer again and now we actually spend time together outside the house together as well. This game reminded me that there's fun to be had in everything, and it has brought both me and my Son many happy memories.

Since you cant buy the OG Spintire by OOVEE because of trademark problem with FOCUS, you can only try their best physic engine with this game.
But if you manage to find keys of the game with all dlc for a reasonable price then go for it (can go up to 500euros for the china dlc).
Cons:
-Of course graphics are outdated, the gameplay seems rather slow compared to snowrunner.
-Missions are just exploration and hauling logs.
-Multiplayer is dead unless you play with friends.
-Not a colorfull game
But the way the vehicle behave and the feedback they give is by far superior to snowrunner.
Pro:
-One of the best offroad game games out there (even better with mods).
-Seeing the trucks going out of the mud is very satisfying as they get dirty and throw mud particles everywere.
-Because of the slower gamepace the vehicles are balanced and dont seem overpowered (like snowrunner), they have
actualy weight to them, not bouncy like the sequel.
-Once you understand the game, Mudrunner is by far easyer to play than Snowrunner because the engine is just superior (in Mudrunner each wheel is a connection to the road, wheras in Snowrunner the connection is in the middle of the axe, you can see that when the truck a ripping sideways)
-The manual gearbox with autotrust so you dont spend hours on the W or the controler trigger to advance
Go on youtube and check the videos made by SD1ONE on the subject.

I don't know why my vehicle burns 35L/min of fuel. Nor do I know why, on opposite sides of a river, someone would build a crude sawmill and crude log kiosk. But I'm going to deliver 4 truckloads of logs between them, even if I burn 2000L+ of fuel in doing so.