Wheel World

After playing Rollerdrome and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, two amazing games that involve skating and/or cycling, I was looking really looking forward to this game. And I definitely enjoyed it...at first. But the more I played it, the more problems started to emerge, and the more frustrating the experience got. For starters, there are just way too many collectibles in this game. One collectible is finding randomly scattered boxes that have bike parts that you probably won't even use. What makes this collectible REALLY frustrating though is that each bike part you find is completely randomized, which is a bit of a problem considered there are achievements for winning races with specific bike builds. And the worst part is? There is absolutely no way of keeping track of how many boxes you've found. You'll need to reference fan wikis and videos for finding all the boxes, and it can take a LOOONG time to find them all. Similarly, there are rival cyclists you can race called Lone Wolves, and like ...

Why is it when a rider crashes into me it stops me dead in my tracks, yet the AI rider goes on like nothing even happened? The AI is absolutely awful.

I can tell this is a game that I am going to burn out on quick so I just wanted to throw some thoughts out about it. For reference, a score attack game under the name Olli Olli World is one of my favorite games of all time. This game piqued my interest because it looked like it was leaning into the aesthetic of the former while being more of a racing game. I don't hate this game, I just think it's pretty average (would give it recommended if the general reviews were poorer). I am going to be very critical in an attempt to keep this short. Wheel World fails at what I want out of a cycling racing game. The game has no stamina to manage, lets you peddle up hills at 20+ MPH with early game bikes, and throws gear shifting completely out until mid game. There is no pace, or rhythm to racing. You might be thinking "well that keeps the game accessible" and while yes this may be true it doesn't mean it makes for a better game. The racing is so flat and emotionless. Every race I participated in...

Edited for post patch #2: They have fixed the AI bikers ramming into you thankfully so the main part of the game is enjoyable again! The refusal to just show us collectibles is insane, the devs have a bunch of collectibles with no way to see how many you have out of the finished amount, not even the ability to see if you have completed an area, have fun following a video guide step by step and pray you dont miss one, that is IF there is a video for the collectible achievement you are trying to complete. Ignore the fact that there is probably 50% more collectibles than there needs to be leading a ton of part bloat meaning most of the parts you'll get are pointless because they dont fill any gaps stat wise. I really wish there was a visual override for our bike to make use of some of these pointless parts. Also for a game about racing the decision to have no time attack mode for some of these really fun tracks is downright stupid. and lastly for the devs to drop a censored collectible...

It's pretty fun if you're involved with the X-bike scene. I'd wait and catch it on a sale though because it's quite short, the physics are janky and not always in a good way and the racing AI is bad.

[h1]Fun at times, but too many issues to recommend[/h1] I guess I’ve had some fun with this game, but there are several problems that really hurt the experience: [hr][/hr] Poor optimisation - The game struggles to maintain 60fps even on low settings with my 3070 Ti. Performance drops the longer I play, and I often have to restart because the lag becomes unbearable. Bad collision & CPU pathfinding - Too many races start with a CPU rider swerving straight into me. I’ve lost count of how many times this caused me to miss checkpoints or crash. Sometimes I crash despite clearly avoiding obstacles, and even tiny objects can completely wreck your run. Slow camera tracking - The camera can’t keep up with sharp steering. I often can’t see where I’m going, especially in lone wolf cyclist races, leading to avoidable losses. Pointless multiple gears - By the time you unlock drivetrains with multiple gears, most of the world is flat, making them pointless. Single speed is simpler, fa...

5/10 Wheel World is a breezy, decently enjoyable indie title that, despite some charming moments, left me feeling a bit underwhelmed overall. The game follows a silent protagonist on a journey alongside a bike spirit to continue the world’s cycle of life and death. That said, the story is extremely subdued and takes a distant backseat to the gameplay - so much so that I ended up skipping large chunks of the dialogue. It was clear from early on that narrative wasn’t meant to be the focus. The writing was serviceable, albeit simplistic, and a few scattered grammar errors gave off the impression that the game may have been awkwardly localized - odd, considering it's an American-developed title, with no localization required. Gameplay-wise, Wheel World is centered around a series of bike races across mildly varied terrain, punctuated by brief, very light exploration segments. At times, it’s fun - the controls and physics occasionally sync just right to deliver exhilarating d...

Some of the best handling bikes in videogames. A breezy open world experience. I want to live in (parts of) Wheel World.

Fun races, very pretty, chill music. The bike making menu could be better (options to sort parts by stats/set/ability?) and it'd be nice to be able to save builds

Instantly bought the game upon release as I was eagerly waiting. The whole game is an amazing vibe: great electronic music, open world bike exploring, Zelda vibes and fun races. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of everything I just mentioned. Thank you to the developers for making such a fun game! <3