It’s been a long time since we’ve heard from Three Fields Entertainment, the studio behind Dangerous Driving co-founded by ex-Criterion developers Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry who worked on the Burnout series.
Dangerous Driving 2 was announced in 2020 as an open-world sequel. Since then, the developer has stayed silent, leaving fans to wonder what happened to Dangerous Driving 2.
Well, it turns out that Dangerous Driving 2 evolved into something grander and more ambitious during the pandemic – and the result is Wreckreation.
Burnout meets Trackmania
Announced during the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase, Wreckreation is a new open-world arcade racer blending the best of Burnout and Trackmania.
In Wreckreation, players are dropped into a massive 155-square mile (400 sq kilometre) map called Sledgehammer County with the freedom to create their own “MixWorld.” These MixWorlds can be filled with jumps, loops, stunt ramps, and half or full pipes, while races can take place on the road, off-road, across lakes, or even high in the sky.
There are also options to choose the time of day, set weather, and add civilian traffic. The reveal trailer also shows how you can add hazards such as moving blades and novelty objects like giant rubber ducks.
Impressively, objects can be placed on the map as you drive around on the fly, or you can build tracks with other players online. You can also create unique game modes, which can be shared with the community.
Whereas Dangerous Driving lacked an official soundtrack and instead let players stream Spotify playlists, there will be 16 FM radio stations ranging from Disco to Gospel or from Movie Music to Smooth Jazz.
While the trailer focuses on track customisation, Wreckreation is still a car combat game, rewarding players for crashing, drifting, and narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic.
Everything you do is “wreckorded” and you can challenge friends to beat your scores on a particular road. Sadly, we don’t get a good look at the damage modelling, but the trailer briefly shows a player car trying to ram an opponent off the edge of the track and turn them into twisted metal.
Publisher THQ Nordic describes Wreckreation as the "ultimate open-world sandbox experience for driving and racing fans alike."
Given the lack of big-budget arcade racers outside of Forza Horizon, Wreckreation has a lot of potential to be the next big arcade racer and innovate the genre – especially with veterans from Criterion Games driving the project.
Release date
There’s no release date yet, but Wreckreation is crashing onto PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in 2023 at an unspecified date.
Curiously, a Nintendo Switch release isn’t mentioned, despite Dangerous Driving 2 originally planned for the Switch. Presumably, squeezing Wreckreation’s massive open-world onto the Switch simply wasn’t feasible, but it's surprising to see the game is still coming to last-gen formats.
With Forza Motorsport and Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown also coming next year, 2023 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for racing games.