SnowRunner

There is something that feels very off about this game and how it plays, at least to me. For starters, the game starts you off in a pickup truck, intended for use as a scouting vehicle. Okay, makes sense. It has offroad tires, you can lock the diff... it can get around, right? But then, why is it that the first truck you unlock, being a giant GMC, is classed as a highway truck, with highway tires, in... an offroad driving sim game where your expected driving conditions involve almost anything but paved roads? What? I find the lack of a manual gearbox option very strange, considering Mudrunner had that option. Being able to select what gear you want to crawl in is very important for a ton of reasons. I don't think anyone interested in games like this need me to explain why. I don't know if I'm missing something or not, but the early-game seems very strange. Do I try to do missions to unlock parts to make my trucks more capable, or scout around for every watchtower first? This game's approach to progression is hands-off in a way that makes little sense to me. It doesn't even recommend missions for your specific truck/trailer setup so it's hard to know what you can actually do versus what's most likely to get you to call a towing service. On normal mode! Why does it feel so bad to drive on what paved roads the game does have? It feels like if I go any faster than "creep mode", my vehicle wants to send itself into the nearest hill and/or get stuck in a mudhole. Even the scouts have this problem. I know old Chevies aren't known for their snappy handling, but come on. Driving should feel good in a driving game, at minimum. I was looking for a worthy compliment to American Truck Simulator, but even at a discounted price, I still found myself disappointed with this game. It feels like the early game wasn't playtested and some features that exist in almost every other driving game simply doesn't exist here. I'd give this a pass just on first impressions alone. Edit: I forgot to mention that this game also lacks Workshop support, unlike Mudrunner.