Wheel World

Wheel World is an excellent game, bringing a realistic weightiness from the bike handling and merging it with a beautiful world that's a joy to explore.

That choice, to ride how you want, to shape your experience not just through specs but through connection, is the heart of Wheel World. It’s a title that take you by surprise offering more than expected through its flexibility and reverence.

Wheel World is a universe that cyclists would view as a utopia. Cycling is life in this open world adventure game, so much so that if an ancient bike ritual isn’t upheld, it will be the end of this cycling paradise! That’s where you come in. You play as Kat, a resident of Wheel World who has been chosen by the Wheel Gods to help perform the Great Shift, a ritual that keeps Wheel World alive.

A wonderful open world adventure filled with racing and exploration, Wheel World is a joy to behold thanks to its intuitive controls and stunning cel-shaded art style. Even if you're not a fan of bicycles, this gorgeous little game is well worth your time.

Maybe I like racing games? I signed up to review Wheel World because it looked like an interesting game with a bizarre story, and I thought Nidhogg was pretty darn good. I ended up getting an open-world racing game and was disappointed for about eight seconds. While I was hoping for a little bit more of a story-focus and a mission-structure that felt more off-the-wall, I got an arcade bike racing game that was really fun to play.

At its best this colourful racer has the power to improve your day.

Though it struggles to nail down its atmosphere and can fall apart towards the endgame, Wheel World's bicycle-driving core elevates it into one of the year's premier racing titles.

No summary available

Sometimes, you just want to get on your bike and ride. That's the general idea behind Wheel World, a new open-world biking adventure from Annapurna Interactive and Nidhogg developer Messhof. While the game does feature a story, things are mostly kept simple and the result is an enjoyably relaxing ride.

Wheel World’s unique visual style, laid-back nature, and delightful soundtrack promise an inviting adventure set atop a bicycle in a world where they’re more common than cars. But the gameplay itself, the progression, and the barely-there narrative break that promise with an experience that only gets more frustrating and monotonous the more you play. Rote races, dull dialogue, and an empty world left me wondering why Wheel World’s denizens love biking around it.

Wheel World just doesn't deliver on the promises it presents in its opening hour. You'll quickly find the charm starts to wear off as you complete monotonous race after monotonous race. That boredom only turns to frustration as the later races in the game become increasingly hostile, with no way for the player to push back. Add on a story that goes nowhere, and you have a game that just feels like it never got past the initial brainstorming session.

It's a far cry from Messhof's previous works - the incomparable Nidhogg remains one of the best fighting games of all time. And I'll admit it feels a bit weird to set Wheel World's sweet and ultimately harmless roamaround racing next to the snarling energy and electro fury of the fencing worm and its serpentine sequel. But that redefining of studio style feels inevitable when it expands beyond its origins - Messhof used to be a moniker for solo developer Mark Essen, but is now the name of his...