With Spintires: MudRunner due out at the end of the month a new trailer has arrived to show it off in all its muddy glory. Highlighting three different vehicles and how they handle differently in the thick Eastern European mud, the video will scratch the part of your brain that finds the squelch of walking through mud barefoot satisfying.
Sadly, most of the best racing games on PC don’t feature much mud.
<iframe width=”590″ height=”332″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/XvXwFSwVhvY” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Originally released on Steam back in June 2014, Spintires ran into trouble when its developers and publishers fell out and updates for the game dried up. Speaking to us over email, the game’s creator Pavel Zagrebelny wouldn’t say how Saber, the new developers, had come to an agreement with Oovee, the game’s old publishers – “I am limited in what I can disclose due to some confidentiality provisions in our agreement.”
Zagrebelny says that “Oovee owns the Spintires brand, but I have been responsible for development and production from the beginning, so whether Spintires or another game, I would have continued to work on a game that was grounded in the vehicle mechanics that we created. Saber was able to work out a deal with Oovee to get this game done and I am excited to be continuing the Spintires legacy with MudRunner.”
The thing that made Spintires stand out back in 2014, and still to this day, is that it represents the physics of driving in mud much more accurately than other games, having the ground deform and shift around the tyres of your vehicle. Zagrebelny explains that’s both what drew him to the idea and why it’s not been copied, saying: “The physics model for mud is extremely complex as it takes into account multiple factors ranging from the depth of the muck to how thick and wet it is. I don’t think anyone has done it better, but I also don’t think we have perfected it yet. Game physics is an evolving thing and I am super excited to be contributing in my own small way.”
The success of MudRunners will determine if Zagrebelny can continue working on that evolution, though Focus Home Interactive are already committed to funding the development of post-launch DLC and support.