If you just want to hold down the gas pedal and mindlessly drift around a flat track, this isn’t for you. Rovercraft 2 is basically a mad scientist simulator disguised as a racing game. You start with a scattered pile of junk and have to somehow cobble together a working rover that won’t instantly flip over and explode the second you hit a bump. It perfectly mashes up off road driving with some seriously unforgiving physics puzzles, making it one of the most addictive ways to kill a few hours.

KEEPING YOUR JUNK HEAP FROM FLIPPING OVER

The actual driving mechanics are incredibly straightforward. You just tap the screen to hit the gas, lay off to balance your momentum in the air, and try not to completely wreck your bizarre custom vehicle.

But the controls being simple doesn’t mean the game is actually easy. You have to physically build your ride from scratch using whatever random parts you have sitting in your inventory. If your weight distribution is absolute garbage, you are going to flip backward on the very first steep hill. You definitely need quick reflexes and a smooth touch on the gas, but you also need to actually think like a mechanical engineer to survive these tracks.

FUEL PANIC AND BRUTAL PLANETARY TERRAIN

You are going to crash. A lot. Luckily, the game doesn’t punish you with annoying energy meters or limited lives.

You get endless tries to completely tear down your disaster of a vehicle and test out weird new builds to tackle the insane topography. The absolute biggest headache you will face is fuel management. Slapping massive engines, heavy armor plates, and six extra wheels onto your rig might sound awesome in theory, but all that extra weight drains your gas tank in seconds. You constantly have to strike a perfect balance between durability and fuel efficiency just to limp your way to the next fuel drop on the track. You kick things off on a relatively tame Earth, but as you unlock new planets deeper in the solar system, the gravity and terrain get progressively more hostile and completely unhinged.

GRINDING FOR COINS AND UPGRADING YOUR RIG

Beating those alien tracks means you desperately need better gear. You can unlock bizarre new structural parts by grinding out missions, or you can just hit the shop to grab exactly what you need.

Snagging all those random coins scattered across the dirt is critical because you have to continuously upgrade your wheels and frames to survive the brutal later stages. Visually, the 3D physics and suspension animations look incredible, making every single spectacular crash highly entertaining to watch. Throw in a wildly catchy soundtrack, and you have a physics based off roader that is weirdly impossible to put down.