I don’t even know how to hype Spintires. It’s a fun game, but trying to explain it to anyone… “It’s an offroad sim… you drive Russian trucks through the Russian countryside… there’s lots of mud… sometimes you haul logs. It’s awesome.” By the strict description of the game, and hell, even trailers, it defies logic that this game would be entertaining.

And yet the other night I spent a few hours trying to get a load of lumber from point A to point B and loved every minute of it. At one point I managed to get my truck wedged between two trees. Unable to free myself, I went and got a different truck, and attempted to push my first truck free. Then the second truck got stuck.

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After a lot of trial and error, and some crafty winch work, I managed to free the first truck and continue on my way, incredibly proud of my accomplishment. If I had been stuck in the mud for an hour in real life, I’d probably be pretty irritated. But being stuck in the mud for an hour in Spintires was fun. Weird.

I remember seeing this game when it was on Kickstarter… I didn’t back it because it really didn’t seem like my kinds of game. However when it launched this week and shot to number one on Steam for a few days, it caught my attention. I read a lot of positive things about it, and decided to just give it a shot. I’m glad I did.

It’s a very raw, open-ended game. The map I was playing, for instance, didn’t even outright tell me to deliver lumber. There just happened to be a lumber mill on my map, and I made my way there. How I I did so was limited only by my sense of exploration and the fuel in my tank. Otherwise, I was free to drive to my heart’s content. It’s like DayZ, in a way. The game presents you with a simulation, and how you choose to play within it is entirely up to you.

But getting from point A to point B is by no means a simple task. Not only must you contend with mud and water and trees, but also be wary of the damage your truck takes, and how much fuel you’re burning. Then there’s a hardcore mode to make it even more difficult.

You can truck alone or you can truck with friends. The game’s coop mode allows multiple players per map, so you help eachother out when you inevitably get stuck in the mud.

The website also appears to offer a tech demo if you want to check it out… I’m not sure what content it contains, but I imagine it would at least give you a glimpse of the game’s fantastic/entertaining mud physics.