Top-down racer Rush Rally Origins slides onto Steam this April

Once a staple of the genre, top-down racers are making a comeback on modern platforms with recent releases like the minimalist art of rally and the charming Circuit Superstars.

Next week, we can add another game to this list as Rush Rally Origins is sliding onto Steam.

Rush Rally Origins Steam release date

Originally released on iOS, Android and Nintendo Switch last year and created by indie developer Stephen Brown, Rush Rally Origins combines the original Rush Rally Dreamcast game's top-down perspective with Rush Rally 3's realistic graphics and physics.

Following the mobile and Nintendo Switch release, Rush Rally Origins is coming to PC via Steam on 14 April.

New cars and tracks

Game modes include traditional rally championships, V-Rally-style point-to-point racing against other rally cars, and time trial.

Despite the top-down perspective, Rush Rally Origins is a simulation with realistic, weighty car handling. You feel how surface changes affect grip levels. Each of the fictional cars can also be upgraded.

36 stages and six cars were included in the original release, but the new Steam version has two new rallies set in the USA and Japan, as well as five new cars.

Since the initial release, fans have been requesting Rush Rally Origins on PC and consoles. Writing in a blog post, Brown says the Steam release is “just the very beginning of the PC/console road.”

This suggests PlayStation and Xbox ports could be in the pipeline. We may find out soon as the indie developer is teasing a "huge announcement" for next week.

Further updates are also planned for Rush Rally Origins on iOS, Android, and Nintendo Switch.