Roadcraft Review – Rebuilding One Road at a Time

I’ve dipped my toes into previous off-roading behemoths from Saber Interactive and always came away awestruck by the level of detail, immersion, and graphical prowess on display.

While I wouldn’t call myself an expert in any of them, I’d be lying if the idea of construction being added to the mix didn’t excite me. That’s exactly what Roadcraft is: a brand new entry in the series that rewards patience and demands mastery of its systems.

Pave the Way, Literally

RoadCraft puts you in the shoes of a contractor tasked with overseeing the restoration of various locations struck by natural disasters. This includes constructing bridges, paving roads, transporting materials, restoring power, and much more. Following Expeditions, it feels like a natural evolution of a formula that was once focused solely on traversal and the challenges it presented.

That’s not to say traversal isn’t still a big part of the experience. It absolutely is, but efforts have been made to streamline certain aspects to support the game’s new focus on operating heavy vehicles that pave, lift, build, and spread concrete, sand, and everything in between.

For example, fuel is no longer a concern, and even your scout vehicle can traverse the map without burning a drop of gas. While this might sound like a step back from the hyper realism of previous titles, I think it’s a necessary change to ensure the construction theme remains engaging rather than overwhelming.

As such, the focus shifts toward clearing roads of debris and boulders, removing trees, laying sand, and trying not to mess up in the process. I could go on about what each massive machine does, but the level of detail and finesse required to operate them could easily fill a page.

It can feel overwhelming at first, and there’s genuine frustration when you can’t do something as seemingly simple as lifting a barrel with your bulldozer. But putting in the time to learn the unique functions of each vehicle is deeply rewarding. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the correct pressure applied to the stick just clicks, and suddenly, you feel like a fully qualified operator who can get the job done.

I also want to touch on the automation aspect because, like I mentioned earlier, there are parts of the construction process you’ll be handling indirectly. This involves plotting paths for vehicles to transport goods while making sure the route avoids any dangerous terrain.

Careful planning ensures your vehicles actually reach their destination in one piece and aren’t stuck ramming into a gate you forgot to account for in the bird’s eye view. Not that this happened to me. Okay, it did. Simply put, the automation system feels like another natural evolution of the traversal formula, and I love that you can spectate the whole process as it plays out.

Heavy Machinery, Smooth Handling

With so many vehicles in the game, a lot of effort has clearly gone into making each one feel robust, intuitive to operate, and mechanically dense. Even beyond the basic functions like the handbrake, AWD, and maneuverability, there’s a surprising amount of depth here. You could spend hundreds of hours repeating the same activities and still feel compelled to keep going.

To make all of this work, the handling not only has to be precise, but the controls also need to feel effortless when you’re expected to perform more advanced functions. I think the game mostly succeeds in this area. Most vehicles feature context-sensitive actions that remain consistent across different types, but there are moments where you’ll need to adapt to a machine that feels completely different from the one you just used.

This is definitely a game that requires patience, and even simple tasks can take much longer than expected. For instance, moving just six slabs of concrete might sound easy, but when you’re doing it with a massive vehicle and managing things like arm length, rope length, angle, and nearby obstacles, that simple task suddenly becomes far more complex than you anticipated. This also means that when you do master these construction giants, it feels all the more rewarding in return.

To make things less daunting, you can always recover your totaled vehicle at one of your bases, which means that failure doesn’t always result in a loss. Considering how demanding the game is from the player, it’s also equally restrained when it comes to results, and experimentation is always encouraged.

I found that playing RoadCraft on a controller felt far more natural in practice. Since there is so much going on at any given time, the controller’s layout feels less daunting and intuitive in practice compared to keyboard and mouse.

Built to Impress

Finally, I want to highlight the game’s incredible visuals, which aren’t just there to show off the studio’s proprietary engine. The variety of physics, weather effects, and terrain deformation is genuinely staggering.

While previous titles achieved impressive results in these areas, RoadCraft takes things even further by featuring multiple distinct environments within the same game. You’ll find yourself constructing in forests, mountains, deserts, and highlands, all in one experience.

The level of detail packed into every corner of the game is truly remarkable and puts many AAA titles to shame. It’s not just about eye candy either. It’s the way your vehicles interact with objects, terrain, and random events in such a believable and immersive way, creating dynamic gameplay scenarios that constantly surprise you and feel entirely organic.

Verdict

Considering the staggering number of main and side missions in RoadCraft, it will be a while before I’m anywhere close to finishing it. That said, RoadCraft is another titan in a genre that has been, quite frankly, almost effortlessly dominated by Saber Interactive and their excellent off-roading franchise. This entry is far more ambitious than Expeditions, with its focused commitment to all things construction. It demands engagement with its mechanics, consistently rewards patience, and allows you to approach tasks at your own pace.

RoadCraft celebrates construction in a way I’ve never seen before in a video game. It shines a light on the frankly ridiculous amount of work that goes into the process, offering a fresh and grounded perspective. If you’ve been put off by the traversal-heavy aspects of previous games, RoadCraft still includes that, but its larger focus is clearly on operating heavy machinery and vehicles.

Pros	Cons
Well realised construction mechanics that actively utilise physics with plenty of depth to explore and experiment with.	Tricky to get the hand of at first, but immensely rewarding when you do.
Loaded with content that can last you for hundreds of hours, whether you’re playing solo or with friends.
Solid controls and handling that’s intuitive and simple to grasp, but hard to master.

Final Score

9/10

A copy of RoadCraft was provided by the publisher for review. Reviewed on PC.