Very disappointing. This ain't it.

[Orrus]

This is baby mode. This is NOT what fans of this franchise want. I have 1,000+ hours in Snowrunner, all dlc, completed every region etc, still play Snowrunner constantly, it's a permanent install on my PC for years, plus hundreds of hours in Spintires and Mudrunner. Why must every single new title in this franchise become simpler and more dumbed down than the last? We want MORE complexity, more control, more simulation, NOT less. Roadcraft's art style is cartoony and childish just like Expeditions, plus they added this insufferable annoying cringe dialogue and "story"? They removed basic features like fuel, damage, gear box, and added even more childish reliance on "puzzle winch" gameplay. Not to mention the absolutely awful optimization and complete reliance on upscaling and fake frames to solve your performance issues. Ryzen 7 9800x3d + 9070xt and it doesn't run 60 fps at native 4k, and blasting 99% GPU usage in the menus? Fix your rendering engine.
The entire Snowrunner community has been asking for more in depth simulation, more control over the vehicles, better physics, etc not less.
I know the response will be "This isn't Snowrunner, its a different game!". Well who asked for this game? While the entire loyal Snowrunner community has been asking for something completely different from this, why did they make this? The insatiable drive for business managers to sell more units to a wider audience always results in the abandonment and alienation of the core loyal audience again and again.

[Game]

Read the pinned FAQ. You shouldn't have bought this methinks.

[Sjöbuse 🍌]

You know what I had in 20 hours of RoadCraft that I didn't feel a single time playing Snowrunner? F U N.

Nothing breaking from dumb branches, no unrealistic tipping over from driving over a 1 mm ledge, no dumb fuel that was free anyways. Not having to minmax 800 different settings for every vehicle that was just made obsolete from DLC trucks anyways.

[Generation]

Originally posted by Orrus:

This is baby mode. This is NOT what fans of this franchise want. I have 1,000+ hours in Snowrunner, all dlc, completed every region etc, still play Snowrunner constantly, it's a permanent install on my PC for years, plus hundreds of hours in Spintires and Mudrunner. Why must every single new title in this franchise become simpler and more dumbed down than the last? We want MORE complexity, more control, more simulation, NOT less. Roadcraft's art style is cartoony and childish just like Expeditions, plus they added this insufferable annoying cringe dialogue and "story"? They removed basic features like fuel, damage, gear box, and added even more childish reliance on "puzzle winch" gameplay. Not to mention the absolutely awful optimization and complete reliance on upscaling and fake frames to solve your performance issues. Ryzen 7 9800x3d + 9070xt and it doesn't run 60 fps at native 4k, and blasting 99% GPU usage in the menus? Fix your rendering engine.
The entire Snowrunner community has been asking for more in depth simulation, more control over the vehicles, better physics, etc not less.
I know the response will be "This isn't Snowrunner, its a different game!". Well who asked for this game? While the entire loyal Snowrunner community has been asking for something completely different from this, why did they make this? The insatiable drive for business managers to sell more units to a wider audience always results in the abandonment and alienation of the core loyal audience again and again.

Let's set aside the trivialities of graphics and performance and dive into the cold, hard, unforgiving abyss of what this "game" should have been. You are absolutely right, Orrus. Your post was a good start, but it was too gentle. You've merely scratched the surface of the profound betrayal we have suffered.
You said this is "baby mode." You are correct, but it's worse than that. It's a sanitized, padded-room fantasy that actively insults the very concept of simulation. They didn't just simplify it; they lobotomized it. The core community has been begging for more complexity, and what you've asked for is the bare minimum. We need to demand more. We need to demand the pain and tedium of reality.
Let's talk about what "more simulation" actually looks like.
First, the gearbox. You're right, its absence is a glaring flaw. But just adding it back isn't enough. We don't need a simple manual shifter. We need a fully-realized, physics-based drivetrain simulation that becomes an adversary in itself. We need to manage a clutch on a pressure-sensitive pedal, feeling for the bite point, risking a stall on a hill, or burning it out completely from misuse, necessitating a call to a virtual tow service that charges by the mile and takes three in-game days to arrive. We need to learn the intricate patterns of an 18-speed Eaton Fuller transmission, mastering the range selector and splitter. Money-shifting shouldn't just reset the truck; it should result in a catastrophic engine failure, sending pistons through the virtual hood and presenting us with a repair bill equivalent to the GDP of a small nation.
Second, your point on "damage." A simple damage bar is a joke. We don't want "damage," we want a meticulous, heart-breaking simulation of mechanical entropy. Every single component on the truck should be a wear item with a manufacturer-specified mean time between failures. We should be changing the engine oil every 100 in-game hours and sending a virtual sample to a lab for analysis. We should be greasing every zerk fitting on the chassis—individually. We should be monitoring brake pad thickness, tire tread depth, and alternator belt tension. Failure to perform this scheduled maintenance shouldn't just be a pop-up reminder; it should lead to cascading failures on the road, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere with a seized engine because we forgot to check the coolant level.
And "fuel"? You're thinking too small. It's not just about a tank running empty. We need to worry about the quality of the fuel from different stations. We should risk getting water in the tank, clogging our filters, and ruining our injectors. We should have to manage Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), and if we run out, the truck's ECU should put us into a 5 mph limp mode, as it would in reality. Every fluid—coolant, washer fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid—should be a consumable we have to monitor and refill.
Let's discuss the "puzzle winch." You're right to despise it. A winch isn't a magic "get out of jail free" card. It's a terrifyingly powerful tool with real risks. We should have to get out of the truck, manually unspool the cable, and inspect it for frays. We should have to select the appropriate rigging—a tree-saver strap, a pulley block for a mechanical advantage, the correct D-shackle rated for the load. Attaching the hook to a weak tree should uproot the tree. Exceeding the winch's load limit shouldn't just stop it; it should snap the cable, which should then whip back and shatter our virtual windshield, requiring a costly replacement.
But most importantly, they misunderstood the entire gameplay loop. We don't want to just mindlessly haul cargo. We want to run a business, with all the soul-crushing bureaucracy that entails. We should be bidding on contracts against competitor AIs. We should be managing fleet maintenance logs. We should be forced to maintain a strict, legally-compliant Hours of Service (HOS) logbook, and face crippling fines if we drive for 15 minutes too long. Before we can even start the engine for the day, we should be legally required to perform a full, clickable, 50-point pre-trip inspection, from checking the tire pressure to ensuring all lights are functional. Finding a single burnt-out marker light should mean we are legally forbidden from starting our journey until we source and replace the virtual bulb. That is the simulation we want. That is the "game" we've been asking for.
So when people say "This isn't Snowrunner," you are right to be angry. Who asked for this watered-down theme park ride? The insatiable drive you speak of—to sell more units to a wider audience—has led them to abandon the very people who made the franchise what it is. They've mistaken our desire for a challenging, deep, and rewarding simulation for a desire for "fun." We don't want fun. We want authenticity. We want misery, struggle, and the immense satisfaction that comes from finally succeeding against overwhelming, realistically-tedious odds. We want a second job, not a toy.

[curtyuiop]

That's what put the final nail in the coffin for me. Rated E for everyone but mE.

[Game]

Originally posted by Generation:

Originally posted by Orrus:

This is baby mode. This is NOT what fans of this franchise want. I have 1,000+ hours in Snowrunner, all dlc, completed every region etc, still play Snowrunner constantly, it's a permanent install on my PC for years, plus hundreds of hours in Spintires and Mudrunner. Why must every single new title in this franchise become simpler and more dumbed down than the last? We want MORE complexity, more control, more simulation, NOT less. Roadcraft's art style is cartoony and childish just like Expeditions, plus they added this insufferable annoying cringe dialogue and "story"? They removed basic features like fuel, damage, gear box, and added even more childish reliance on "puzzle winch" gameplay. Not to mention the absolutely awful optimization and complete reliance on upscaling and fake frames to solve your performance issues. Ryzen 7 9800x3d + 9070xt and it doesn't run 60 fps at native 4k, and blasting 99% GPU usage in the menus? Fix your rendering engine.
The entire Snowrunner community has been asking for more in depth simulation, more control over the vehicles, better physics, etc not less.
I know the response will be "This isn't Snowrunner, its a different game!". Well who asked for this game? While the entire loyal Snowrunner community has been asking for something completely different from this, why did they make this? The insatiable drive for business managers to sell more units to a wider audience always results in the abandonment and alienation of the core loyal audience again and again.

Let's set aside the trivialities of graphics and performance and dive into the cold, hard, unforgiving abyss of what this "game" should have been. You are absolutely right, Orrus. Your post was a good start, but it was too gentle. You've merely scratched the surface of the profound betrayal we have suffered.
You said this is "baby mode." You are correct, but it's worse than that. It's a sanitized, padded-room fantasy that actively insults the very concept of simulation. They didn't just simplify it; they lobotomized it. The core community has been begging for more complexity, and what you've asked for is the bare minimum. We need to demand more. We need to demand the pain and tedium of reality.
Let's talk about what "more simulation" actually looks like.
First, the gearbox. You're right, its absence is a glaring flaw. But just adding it back isn't enough. We don't need a simple manual shifter. We need a fully-realized, physics-based drivetrain simulation that becomes an adversary in itself. We need to manage a clutch on a pressure-sensitive pedal, feeling for the bite point, risking a stall on a hill, or burning it out completely from misuse, necessitating a call to a virtual tow service that charges by the mile and takes three in-game days to arrive. We need to learn the intricate patterns of an 18-speed Eaton Fuller transmission, mastering the range selector and splitter. Money-shifting shouldn't just reset the truck; it should result in a catastrophic engine failure, sending pistons through the virtual hood and presenting us with a repair bill equivalent to the GDP of a small nation.
Second, your point on "damage." A simple damage bar is a joke. We don't want "damage," we want a meticulous, heart-breaking simulation of mechanical entropy. Every single component on the truck should be a wear item with a manufacturer-specified mean time between failures. We should be changing the engine oil every 100 in-game hours and sending a virtual sample to a lab for analysis. We should be greasing every zerk fitting on the chassis—individually. We should be monitoring brake pad thickness, tire tread depth, and alternator belt tension. Failure to perform this scheduled maintenance shouldn't just be a pop-up reminder; it should lead to cascading failures on the road, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere with a seized engine because we forgot to check the coolant level.
And "fuel"? You're thinking too small. It's not just about a tank running empty. We need to worry about the quality of the fuel from different stations. We should risk getting water in the tank, clogging our filters, and ruining our injectors. We should have to manage Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), and if we run out, the truck's ECU should put us into a 5 mph limp mode, as it would in reality. Every fluid—coolant, washer fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid—should be a consumable we have to monitor and refill.
Let's discuss the "puzzle winch." You're right to despise it. A winch isn't a magic "get out of jail free" card. It's a terrifyingly powerful tool with real risks. We should have to get out of the truck, manually unspool the cable, and inspect it for frays. We should have to select the appropriate rigging—a tree-saver strap, a pulley block for a mechanical advantage, the correct D-shackle rated for the load. Attaching the hook to a weak tree should uproot the tree. Exceeding the winch's load limit shouldn't just stop it; it should snap the cable, which should then whip back and shatter our virtual windshield, requiring a costly replacement.
But most importantly, they misunderstood the entire gameplay loop. We don't want to just mindlessly haul cargo. We want to run a business, with all the soul-crushing bureaucracy that entails. We should be bidding on contracts against competitor AIs. We should be managing fleet maintenance logs. We should be forced to maintain a strict, legally-compliant Hours of Service (HOS) logbook, and face crippling fines if we drive for 15 minutes too long. Before we can even start the engine for the day, we should be legally required to perform a full, clickable, 50-point pre-trip inspection, from checking the tire pressure to ensuring all lights are functional. Finding a single burnt-out marker light should mean we are legally forbidden from starting our journey until we source and replace the virtual bulb. That is the simulation we want. That is the "game" we've been asking for.
So when people say "This isn't Snowrunner," you are right to be angry. Who asked for this watered-down theme park ride? The insatiable drive you speak of—to sell more units to a wider audience—has led them to abandon the very people who made the franchise what it is. They've mistaken our desire for a challenging, deep, and rewarding simulation for a desire for "fun." We don't want fun. We want authenticity. We want misery, struggle, and the immense satisfaction that comes from finally succeeding against overwhelming, realistically-tedious odds. We want a second job, not a toy.

Bro has me dead. I off road semis nearly everyday. This novel is TOO real. Also, the game is way more fun than my daily work adventures.

[h1zz1nk0]

saber interactive is pathetic..

[curtyuiop]

Originally posted by Game:

Originally posted by Generation:

Let's set aside the trivialities of graphics and performance and dive into the cold, hard, unforgiving abyss of what this "game" should have been. You are absolutely right, Orrus. Your post was a good start, but it was too gentle. You've merely scratched the surface of the profound betrayal we have suffered.
You said this is "baby mode." You are correct, but it's worse than that. It's a sanitized, padded-room fantasy that actively insults the very concept of simulation. They didn't just simplify it; they lobotomized it. The core community has been begging for more complexity, and what you've asked for is the bare minimum. We need to demand more. We need to demand the pain and tedium of reality.
Let's talk about what "more simulation" actually looks like.
First, the gearbox. You're right, its absence is a glaring flaw. But just adding it back isn't enough. We don't need a simple manual shifter. We need a fully-realized, physics-based drivetrain simulation that becomes an adversary in itself. We need to manage a clutch on a pressure-sensitive pedal, feeling for the bite point, risking a stall on a hill, or burning it out completely from misuse, necessitating a call to a virtual tow service that charges by the mile and takes three in-game days to arrive. We need to learn the intricate patterns of an 18-speed Eaton Fuller transmission, mastering the range selector and splitter. Money-shifting shouldn't just reset the truck; it should result in a catastrophic engine failure, sending pistons through the virtual hood and presenting us with a repair bill equivalent to the GDP of a small nation.
Second, your point on "damage." A simple damage bar is a joke. We don't want "damage," we want a meticulous, heart-breaking simulation of mechanical entropy. Every single component on the truck should be a wear item with a manufacturer-specified mean time between failures. We should be changing the engine oil every 100 in-game hours and sending a virtual sample to a lab for analysis. We should be greasing every zerk fitting on the chassis—individually. We should be monitoring brake pad thickness, tire tread depth, and alternator belt tension. Failure to perform this scheduled maintenance shouldn't just be a pop-up reminder; it should lead to cascading failures on the road, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere with a seized engine because we forgot to check the coolant level.
And "fuel"? You're thinking too small. It's not just about a tank running empty. We need to worry about the quality of the fuel from different stations. We should risk getting water in the tank, clogging our filters, and ruining our injectors. We should have to manage Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF), and if we run out, the truck's ECU should put us into a 5 mph limp mode, as it would in reality. Every fluid—coolant, washer fluid, brake fluid, power steering fluid—should be a consumable we have to monitor and refill.
Let's discuss the "puzzle winch." You're right to despise it. A winch isn't a magic "get out of jail free" card. It's a terrifyingly powerful tool with real risks. We should have to get out of the truck, manually unspool the cable, and inspect it for frays. We should have to select the appropriate rigging—a tree-saver strap, a pulley block for a mechanical advantage, the correct D-shackle rated for the load. Attaching the hook to a weak tree should uproot the tree. Exceeding the winch's load limit shouldn't just stop it; it should snap the cable, which should then whip back and shatter our virtual windshield, requiring a costly replacement.
But most importantly, they misunderstood the entire gameplay loop. We don't want to just mindlessly haul cargo. We want to run a business, with all the soul-crushing bureaucracy that entails. We should be bidding on contracts against competitor AIs. We should be managing fleet maintenance logs. We should be forced to maintain a strict, legally-compliant Hours of Service (HOS) logbook, and face crippling fines if we drive for 15 minutes too long. Before we can even start the engine for the day, we should be legally required to perform a full, clickable, 50-point pre-trip inspection, from checking the tire pressure to ensuring all lights are functional. Finding a single burnt-out marker light should mean we are legally forbidden from starting our journey until we source and replace the virtual bulb. That is the simulation we want. That is the "game" we've been asking for.
So when people say "This isn't Snowrunner," you are right to be angry. Who asked for this watered-down theme park ride? The insatiable drive you speak of—to sell more units to a wider audience—has led them to abandon the very people who made the franchise what it is. They've mistaken our desire for a challenging, deep, and rewarding simulation for a desire for "fun." We don't want fun. We want authenticity. We want misery, struggle, and the immense satisfaction that comes from finally succeeding against overwhelming, realistically-tedious odds. We want a second job, not a toy.

Bro has me dead. I off road semis nearly everyday. This novel is TOO real.

Roger that, sounds like a mechanic from a logging camp. I'm an ex logger. cheers to all, Thank you for trying with the game, good bye, never to return. xo

[Orrus]

I can't believe I just played a mission where they wanted me to drive my truck up onto and inside of a half constructed building, and SMASH my truck into wooden drawbridges. Then drag a generator along the ground, smashing it into things as I pull it to the destination? Wtf was that? Makes absolutely zero sense, complete fantasy. It's exactly like the trailer video, children playing with toys. No sense of reality or believability what so ever. Rediculous.

[Tiredmechanic]

Originally posted by Orrus:

I can't believe I just played a mission where they wanted me to drive my truck up onto and inside of a half constructed building, and SMASH my truck into wooden drawbridges. Then drag a generator along the ground, smashing it into things as I pull it to the destination? Wtf was that? Makes absolutely zero sense, complete fantasy. It's exactly like the trailer video, children playing with toys. No sense of reality or believability what so ever. Rediculous.

its a tutorial mission for the purpose of teaching game mechanics. It serves no purpose in realism or anything else other than showing you how things interact and work and doing in a small area.

[Tiredmechanic]

Originally posted by h1zz1nk0:

saber interactive is pathetic..

whining over a video game is pathetic

[HALVATORE]

Originally posted by Orrus:

I can't believe I just played a mission where they wanted me to drive my truck up onto and inside of a half constructed building, and SMASH my truck into wooden drawbridges. Then drag a generator along the ground, smashing it into things as I pull it to the destination? Wtf was that? Makes absolutely zero sense, complete fantasy. It's exactly like the trailer video, children playing with toys. No sense of reality or believability what so ever. Rediculous.

It´s not "complete fantasy", it is more like „Welcome to the Next-Gen Simulation“

[Game]

Originally posted by Orrus:

I can't believe I just played a mission where they wanted me to drive my truck up onto and inside of a half constructed building, and SMASH my truck into wooden drawbridges. Then drag a generator along the ground, smashing it into things as I pull it to the destination? Wtf was that? Makes absolutely zero sense, complete fantasy. It's exactly like the trailer video, children playing with toys. No sense of reality or believability what so ever. Rediculous.

Winch Kwon Do tutorial was pretty dumb but I haven't seen anything else goofy like that really. I think they just were playing around to show people that the game was going to let you handle problems in any way you can come up with. Anything goes kinda thing. It could also help people in just practicing precise controls and low gear and such. Who knows what they were thinking.

[Lori37]

Originally posted by Orrus:

This is NOT what fans of this franchise want.

Speak for yourself mate....

[masterzone]

Originally posted by Orrus:

childish just like Expeditions

Expeditions is childish? ehm.....NO

[Slavyk]

I'm part of the "loyal community of Snowrunner fans" as you like to talk in the name of all of us, and you're wrong. I bought Snowrunner on Epic before I bought again on Steam to complete my library, and guess what? I LOVE RoadCraft too...
You're not the target, deal with it.