SnowRunner

SnowRunner is a game about trucks. Big trucks. Slow trucks. Trucks that will betray you. Trucks that whisper “you should’ve brought the winch” as they slide sideways into a ravine. It’s not about speed. It’s about suffering. Glorious, mud-caked, axle-deep suffering. I accepted a mission to deliver two logs to a sawmill. It took me four in-game days, fifty gallons of fuel, three recovery vehicles, and a personal moment of spiritual crisis. The logs made it. My sanity did not. Every terrain is a trap. Mud? Death. Snow? Death, but colder. Water? Oh look, a river. It has currents. It’s pulling my truck. I’m yelling. And the best part? You chose to be here. You look at a flooded, frostbitten mountain pass and say, “Yeah, I can totally get an 8-ton diesel truck up that in the dark with no road and two wheels missing.” Multiplayer? Just four people screaming “YOU’RE NOT HELPING” while winching each other deeper into the abyss. I have unlocked scout vehicles, built bridges, recovered sunken trailers, and delivered a mysterious crate labeled “important.” No one knows what was in it. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I got it there - sideways, upside down, running on fumes and pure stubbornness. SnowRunner isn’t a game. It’s a test. Of patience. Of engineering. Of your ability to not cry when your trailer tips over 5 feet from the drop-off zone. 10/10. Would drive a 12-wheeler through the devil’s frozen sandbox again.

I just finished the main game (100 % of the 3 base game maps) and planned on doing a longer review of this game. Although many things have been said before, what you can do, how punishing it is and how good the modding community is, I would like to focus on one thing: [b]The mentality you develop[/b]. You go into this game expecting an off-road driving simulator with neat physics and a world to explore and things to do. And while this is technically true from start to finish, it's more of a [i]problem solving game[/i] - puzzles, if you will. At its core the game will give you gradually more difficult problems to solve and unlocks more tools for you to use. For example the game says: [b]"Here is item/vehicle X, it must go to Y."[/b] And this is it. The game (usually) doesn't care how you do it. It's up to you. And [b]NOW[/b] the thought process ramps up. Because depending how you approach this task, it can go fast, slow, easy, difficult or even tedious. [list] [*]What kind of truck am I going to use for the job, do I go for the faster or the stable one? [*]Or the slower one with better fuel economy, because I don't want to refuel on the way? [*]Do you think you might tip over? A small crane would help pick the things up right on the spot in that case. [*]But you don't know where it might happen, perhaps you should scout the roads to the destination? [*]Perhaps I should bring a small fuel trailer for my scout while I'm there anyway. [*]There are multiple roads to choose from, but one loops around, maybe there's a shortcut between the trees? [*]How thicc is my truck, will I be able to fit through this tree gap? [*]What about the cargo, what kind of trailer am I going to use anyway and will it be able to make this sharp turn over there? [*]etc. [/list] So I feel that while the physics and graphics are great without a doubt, the [b]core problem solving gameplay[/b] cannot be ignored to have fun. And as if that weren't enough, you can start with your own ruleset for a new game. You have the ability to go all unlocked full easy mode up to basically permanent game over due to softlocking yourself.

IRL I hate Trucks. Trucks annoy me. They are loud, spew emissions, take up a lot of space and inefficient. IRL I drive an electric car. A Nissan Leaf Econobox to be exact. Its efficient. What can I say? It costs .02 cents per mile to operate! And I love the quiet hum of the motor and efficient roll and regenerative breaking! BUT…. I can’t believe I am saying this. I can’t believe I’m playing this game. I can’t believe how fun this game is. Holy crap. This game. It’s so fun. So addicting. So, satisfying. Before this game….I didn’t know why or what a diff. lock was….When you would need it or how to use it. Now I can tell you why you don’t use them on hard surfaces! That there is no such thing as a true always on Diff. Lock (according to Google AI anyways) I know what Truck Paper and Ritchie Bros is now. I’ve been admiring trucks and the different kinds during my commute to work. Wondering their capabilities, capacities, and uses! I’ve been fantasizing about starting up a side hustle with the sole purpose to buy a huge truck. I’ve researched the process to get a CDL-A…even sent emails to some schools in my area. (I work a well-paid office job with excellent benefits BTW.) I’ve researched starting up my own roll off dumpster business. The kinds of truck I might need and its hauling capacity. I can tell you the difference between a Hook Lift and a Cable Truck now! I’ve watched YouTube videos on starting up a septic service business and thought to myself. Yeah. That’d be fun. Holy hell I’d be fun to drive that huge ass truck. Never mind I’d be hauling other people’s literal poop. Liquid gold they say! I’d sure be cool to lock the differential while I rolled onto someone’s property to siphon their poop into a tank. BTW. Where would I even take the "juice" (industry term apparently) once the job is done? Ugh. Queue up another YouTube Video! WTF is happening to me? BTW, can someone explain to me this used semi-truck market? Its crazy. You can buy a used Mack Truck with Cummins engine, 6x4 with diff. lock and huge monster wheels for less than a new F150! Holy hell. Why do people even bother buying an F150 for 100k when you can go to Truck Paper and get a real truck for 30k? Never mind where the hell I’d park the thing. I live in a city town home BTW! Maybe I’ll get some land so I can buy a truck to put it on said land. By the way. Diff. Lock > 4-wheel drive. Prove me wrong! Don’t play this game if you value your time.

yes and yes. I just bought the game and 1-4 year passes on sale for $75, and its well worth the money. So much content I may never get to it all.

good game to just chill in discord call with your friends while driving trucks

Controller settings are being reset every time I start the game. What an insult to your paying customers for not fixing this. Refunding.

It's a good game, but they really made a massive mistake by not adding a smoother wheel control, no manual transmission, the annoying "auto reverse" option and just overall straying a lot from the simple keyboard/wheel combination of MudRunner to this very arcade-y buttons and what not everywhere style. Physics feel great, vehicles feel great but just the amount of silly things the game and the UI has is so annoying, I checked "do not recommend" not because the game is bad but because it has so many silly mistakes and missed opportunities. I understand that maybe this is what players prefer nowadays, more simcade like experience but I wish they gave us more options to do things ourselves and made the UI work smoother. Also, there are too many dlc's that are not included in the bundle... feels like a waste of packs.

This game has so much potential however it just is not fun. Frustrating for the sake of being frustrating. Does not respect the players time at all! Also, constant DLCs being released instead of working on some of the issues of the core game that could make it so much better.

I got myself obsessed with simulation games and I was looking for a new "cozy game" I could play on the Deck while sitting and watching TV. I bought this game and sank 20 hours in over a three-day weekend. It has been an awesome experience! Its slow-paced play style and challenging terrain made me want to grind just to get something just a little better so I could get to the new areas. The trucks look and feel great, and I've lost my time without even realizing it. What a great game! I've been obsessed with this title and I don't find myself being bored, despite the relatively simple game dynamic. I'm always finding myself being challenged and looking for ways to get the cargo where it needs to go. The trucks are also each unique, and I have not found a single one-truck-does-it-all, which adds a level of complexity and diversity I really enjoy.

refunded - because: you HAVE to complete tutorial to play online, fair enough. it not registering we did so, not fair enough. 3 people could not play together after 2 hours of pfaffing around. v0v thats all the hours we get, if you want a proper refund. important time frame. just let people play togheter without a need for such inane pfaffing around... now we arent playing it at all. lessons to be learned here.

Frustrating, unoptimised, buggy, piece of shite game. Save your money and your sanity. A severe disappointment and it doesn't recommend me to any of their other titles. I'll be steering clear.

Simple, casual, and fun game play loop. Get truck, explore the area, complete contracts. Unlock more trucks by finding them broken on the maps and bringing them back to the garage for repair, or you can complete contracts to make money and buy the trucks from the in game truck store. Simple, fun and addicting if you like casual games.

great game very challenging without mods very fun with mods

Game is fun, but the winch bug is really fricking annoying. IT HAS BEEN APPERENTLY LIKE THAT FOR 5 YEARS.

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☐ Old Fashioned ☑ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☑ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☑ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☑ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☐ Worth the price ☑ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☑ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10

Had a blast with this game, was fun to drive around with friends. Chill game, relaxing.

This game is good if you like nice graphics and just wanna complete a few tasks with a truck, its also good on game+ with mods cause its basically a playground and very fun to just mess with mods and drive custom vehicles and custom maps.

i like that it is an open world game but it is not very clear on how to start progressing and how to do some of the missions

The fun of the game is completing the mission... You strive to get vehicles that are better at completing the mission, aiming for the next best 8x8 or shiny new mudtires... And then you realize that the fun of the game was completing the mission when you had to work for it... ...You go back to the old trucks, the ones that made you feel something... ...and then you get stuck in mud (or flip over, or break one of your wheels on an innocent pebble... etc...) and ragequit, only to come back 15 minutes later, because we all know we have more fun dragging ourselves out of the mud than recovering to the garage.

fun, but somehow no point in playing multiplayer... each person just do different thing and rarely pass each other in the road. stop playing because get bored when play solo. but still fun in the first 40-50 hours

if you're even reading snowrunner reviews on steam in 2025 or later, buy this game. wait for a discount if you need to. It's not a truck sim but it's not Forza Horizon With Trucks either. And lots of people may complain about it, but it does SO much right if you're looking both a meditative exploration game and a rewarding hauling game.

Excellent game with lots of gameplay. it reminds us that the journey is more important than the destination

This game is so fun to just get lost in and play, especially with friends.

This is an absolutely brilliant game for me! Is it totally realistic? No, not even close! But it is close enough to reality to be fun and challenging, while also being unrealistic and comfortable enough to not become work :-D And it is just plain beautiful and soothing if you ask me, even when your truck beautifully keels over on the last hill of the haul with the sun setting in the background - and you will now do recovery in the night... but that is all part of the game, and when your wife calls from the bed you can just log out and enjoy it again whenever it suits you. You can do coop play as well, but hey for me that again begins to sound like work ;-) The DLCs are a bit expensive perhaps, but the seasons are well worth it if you ask me. The direct integration with Mod.io is a big plus in my book, enabling me to import or make whatever I find lacking, be it vehicles, features or whole maps with dozens of new interesting missions. The only thing I miss is being able to add airships to play with how trucking may very well look within the next few decades, and I can probably make that work with mods given a little help :-) A solid 9/10! Improve and expand the physics so farm implements can not suddenly jump 30 feet into the air etc., make modding besides just basic wheeled vehicles easier so actual skid steering and flying vehicles are easier (those likely synergize; flying is really just floating on air!) and I'd say 10/10 is approching fast.

Hello everyone! I played this game first on a rec center's Xbox and it was an amazing experience. However, the download phase on my Mac computer was grueling. It took Steam twice to verify files and then now it can't stop! If you've seen this and know what it is and how to fix it, please comment. Thanks!

Genuinely one of the best games I have ever played on steam. The feeling of bringing cargo and fixing many bridges and the whole 15 dlc maps and plenty of trucks you could ever want are just amazing 10/10

best truck game ever it could be litte hard same times but best

Honestly didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I do. SnowRunner is slow, frustrating, and half the time you're just trying to unstick yourself from a mud pit… but that’s kind of the magic. It’s not a racing game — it’s more like a survival puzzle game with trucks. Every delivery feels like an adventure. You have to plan your route, pick the right vehicle, and hope you don’t tip over halfway through because you got greedy and tried to cross a river. What really surprised me is how relaxing it is. Just driving through quiet forests or snowy trails with the sound of your engine and some music in the background? Weirdly peaceful. And when you do finally finish a difficult haul, it feels genuinely rewarding.

I have not experienced a game this fun since my high school days. The truck models are detailed, the physics is accurate, the operation of the trucks is intuitive, the environment and ambience just pulls you in, and it even has changing weather. I cannot say enough positive things about this game. They give you plenty of trucks and maps to start with, but the game is so good I do not mind in the least paying for the extra DLCs. This game satisfies the craving of every guy's fantasy to drive big trucks.

Best off road game around, not boring, efficiently time consuming.

I have to admit, i am really enjoying it. From the customization to new vehicles! Nicely done!

I found Snow Runner a nice game to relax. There's enough to do, a good excuse to drive around tough terrain and marvel at trucks and the scenery. I played MudRunner briefly years ago but lost interest very quickly.

The difficulty curve in this game is a joke. After 10 - 20 hours this game becomes faceroll and it just feels like a grind.

The game is so fun to play with the friends the game play and graphics so good.

this game is awesome, still so much better than Roadcraft which is childish in comparison.

The enjoyment you get slightly outweighs the glitchiness and simplicity of it.

I bought a trucker hat and a lot lizard shirt for when I play this game. 15/10.

One of the most fun games I’ve ever played – totally worth the money. Highly recommend it to everyone. Excellent multiplayer!

this game is super fun because it is relaxing and flowy. i can listen to podcasts by this game and still have focus. it's a game to play if you have some time, but it may get repetitive for some people or not have enough action. you essentially explore a map and transport goods/complete quests in many different regions. it's super satisfying and easy-going without any limited-time events. but also it will take a long time to complete maps.

Very good game to play with friends and just have fun doing tasks and just mobbing around the maps. Could use more updates but nothing to worry too much about.

This game just hits the sweet spot for me, a nice balance between video game and sim. It's Truck Simulator Off-Road. I enjoyed the fuel mechanics, it added a layer of strategy. I found it fun, but I can see how it might not be fun for others. If that doesn't sound like fun, this game isn't for you. There's small trucks, and big trucks with several between. And there's vehicle customization, of course!

the occaisonal bug and crash aside, this is a really good game, especially if one has friends to play with

I had 70h in this game when I quit it ... then came Roadcraft and after completing the first 4 maps, I returned back to Snowrunner, and I do not regret it. 80 more hours in and still progressing ,-)

This is the last game I thought I'd enjoy but apparently I have an interest in sludging trucks through mud for hours on end to complete tasks. 10/10 because you can make the trucks pink

Very fun and relaxing game, tons of customizations, amazing graphics and physics, and a ton of value with hundreds if not a thousand hours of gameplay if you include the dlc regions.

I started playing this game after watching the regulation podcast crew play it and I've been having a very chill an fun time playing the game.

great detail, and I haven't tried Roadcraft yet but this is the best game they have made so far

So I've played this game off and on when I had game pass and thoroughly enjoy it I managed to pick it and bunch of the DLC I had wanted on sale up and haven't been able to stop playing it. early game is very difficult but once you start getting upgrades for your vehicles and finding better trucks the game opens up there's a tricky part in Alaska that requires you to look at the contracts section to repair a downed pipeline but that's my only gripe it's fun game if you like driving sims and also like off roading at times it can feels like a soulsborne game having to constantly restart whenever you lay your truck over and have to regain all the ground you lost.

My favorite thing to do in this game is to load my truck up as much as I can and take the quickest route, even if that means tipping over 5 times in the same spots

if this game worked with the new hori system "muah, magnifico" but it doesnt i do love this game i paid for every dlc so far, still in russia at the moment awesome game if you like to work right after work lol