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0 Recharge is an RC car racing sim now available in early access. Room Games (Floor 9) is developing and publishing the physics-based small scale simulator for PC. Release to consoles will come in a future update. You can purchase now on Steam and the play the game as it continues development.
Rippin’ and Tearin’ at RC Scale in Recharge
I don’t play a lot of racing games. Of the few I do, I enjoy those that are a nice mixture of simulator and arcade. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Recharge other than it being a game about racing RC cars, but, you know, the high-tech kind that your parents couldn’t afford. Not the electric kind stuck to the track that just go around and around and around… Anyhow, read below for my current thoughts on the game.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Recharge can be sufficiently described as an RC car racing simulator. There honestly isn’t a whole lot more to it than that. As you earn experience from racing, you can unlock customization options and designs for your RC car. Customizations also allow you to min/max the car’s stats to your liking, for micro adjustments, if you will.
In its current state of early access, I feel that Recharge plays fairly well. The handling of the cars has the level of physics that you’d expect. The stop and go has a slight delay, very similar to the delay in real life when controlling one. The RC cars are also pretty easy to flip over, and I found myself hitting the reset button fairly frequently if trying to just speed through. The traction against the various surface types also translates well.
My time in Recharge thus far has been limited to racing AI, which does provide different difficulty levels. Multiplayer will eventually be available, but I wasn’t able to find any matches without a direct code to play with my non-existent friends. I’m not sure if this just isn’t fully implemented yet or not though, as the roadmap for future content has cars, courses, components but no notes on multiplayer.
Graphics & Audio
Recharge has a very realistic tone to the graphics thanks to the Unreal Engine. Things look and play as smoothly as you could ask for, and the environments and backgrounds for the tracks are a great touch. Though I usually turn off some things like motion blur, I didn’t spend any time tweaking visual settings, as the defaults seem to work well enough on my PC.
The audio track in Recharge is sufficient. It didn’t stand out as anything out of place or obnoxious. I also didn’t feel like it was really a driving force at all for racing. However, most of my focus was just on staying on the track, so I wasn’t entirely paying attention.
Longevity
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot to show at this point of Recharge‘s development. Solo play seems to be the only option, though the multiplayer menu is in. It’s hard to say overall what the longevity will really look like. Room Games does have a roadmap out that lists several updates over the next year to include additional modes, maps, cars, and components. Early access is currently looking at 6 to 12 months roughly.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to pass the time and can’t afford a real nice RC car, Recharge may be of interest. But if you’re looking for a more robust racing simulator, this isn’t it. At least not in the current state. Still fun to zip around in though, and I really like the different camera views. Looking forward to seeing more.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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