SnowRunner Season 10 review: Rising to the occasion?

Deliver a boat, investigate poachers, provide humanitarian aid – there is never a dull day in the latest DLC, as my SnowRunner Season 10 review reveals. But is the visit to British Columbia worth the money and how does it compare with its predecessors?

They say it never rains, but it pours. Yet so far SnowRunner’s Year 3 Pass has been a ray of sunshine. Where Season 9: Renew & Rebuild took us to the cindering forests of Ontario, Season 10: Fix & Connect in Canada douses the senses with heavy rain and heavier climbs.

Utilising an idea from the SnowRunner mod community, the two Season 10 maps based in British Columbia of Canada – Duncan Bay and North Peak National Park – are the largest size you can get and, thanks to overcoming multiplayer technical limitations, the most elevated.

For those craving a Bolivia ‘death road’ vibe, well, this is the DLC for you. Where even the most powerful trucks in the game fall out of gear as the trail ahead of you looks increasingly skyward, with dangerous mountain ridges and do-not-look-down vistas uncomfortably close to your wheels.

Please note: This is the script from my YouTube video, click play above to watch or go here.

Season 10 review: Ups and downs

It is fair to say that the heart of the Season 10: Fix & Connect experience is one that simultaneously highlights the satisfaction of SnowRunner’s unique off-road gameplay and how ineffective some meta trucks can look when faced with an incline.

I am not saying all trucks should waltz up slopes as if they have the build of Timothée Chalamet. Yet for a giant like the Kenworth 963, with a gross combination weight rating of half a million pounds or 226,757kg, to grind to a halt on modest slopes, well, it just feels plain wrong.

Fortunately, when you do eventually reach the top, the views are stunning and the medium-at-most difficulty allows you to enjoy them. Many routes are tarmac, fuel is plentiful, mud nearly as shallow as the plot message of Barbie the Movie and expanses of water are mostly avoidable.

If anything, it is the distance you often need to drive that can catch out complacent truckers. Duncan Bay and North Peak National Park are 2×2 kilometres in size, with most cargo sources spread far and wide. Some roads can be dangerously uneven too, as I found out the hard way.

DLC longevity

Contracts and tasks are plentiful from the three main providers: The British Columbia Government, Uncle Fishmore (careful how you say it) and Stormy Water Medical. Investigating poachers, restarting a ferry service and helping after a drilling station accident are just some of the challenges.

How many hours of gameplay is that? Somewhere between 25 and 40, depending on your organisational skills, the truck you use and how many times you tip over during the 25 contracts and numerous tasks.

Sadly, nothing new is offered in terms of how they play out. Go here, deliver that, try not to catch fire. You know the score. Nonetheless, the map design ensures the process is rarely a chore and that forethought goes a long way.

It is just that other seasons – particularly Season 4: New Frontiers, Season 6: Haul & Hustle and Season 8: Grand Harvest – provide better value for money and are better suited to co-op play.

Boaty McBoatFace

Thankfully, the developers did not forget to include enormous cargo deliveries. Besides delivering Boaty McBoatFace, as seen in one of the two Season 10 loading screens, there is also an unwieldy Coiled Tubing Semi-Trailer (sounds so sexy) and oversized cargo.

Season 10: Fix & Connect really only steps outside the mould established in Michigan with the ferry mechanic which, once up and running, allows you to instantly bypass a wet shortcut across from the Duncan Bay garage to the nearby Service Hub. In exchange for some SnowRunner coinage.

No, you do not get a moving boat animation in the same way that fire-ravaged Ontario never had flames. Nor do the distant fishing boats ever sail anywhere though at least there are dashes of wildlife and sizable waterfalls to spruce things up.

Get trucked

There certainly is enough peacefully ploddy gameplay to make a cinema ticket seem expensive. Plus you get two new trucks, the aforementioned Kenworth 963 and the Mack Defense M917.

Neither is perfect, however the Kenworth is one of the most versatile for big cargo and logging. It is also slow and a little inconsistent, but generally a pleasing drive. The Mack Defense, meanwhile, needs bigger wheels and adjustments to its underside to shine though it can still work speedily.

Honestly, Season 10 is not as radically different as the generally unloved Season 7: Compete & Conquer nor do I think it is as memorable as Amur or as visually interesting as Ontario or Maine. I am also really starting to miss snow. And yet British Columbia ranks as one of my favourite DLCs.

As a driving experience, hopefully my Season 10 review has shown it to be one of the most breathtaking. One that could be particularly hilarious in co-op. What it lacks in difficulty it makes up for with beauty, satisfaction and hills for days.

It is just that the level of repetition is setting in harder as each season is released and, assuming you play in order, that means each DLC needs to work harder. Making the ferry mechanic more impactful or the world just that little bit more alive would have helped. Same as I said about Season 9.

Where you can fire a rocket into space in Amur, having braved the misery and challenge of the Northern Aegis Installation, here you get to launch a lifeless boat. No bobbing around in the water. Just still. As if the fact you bravely transported it through perilous terrain never happened.

Season 10: Final thoughts

I still love the core gameplay of SnowRunner and if you do too Season 10: Fix & Connect is a no-brainer. A lofty off-road trucking delight with golden sunsets and mostly satisfying cruising. Less a test and more an experience.

For those expecting a gameplay revolution with more of an impact on the world, a gruelling challenge or who are afraid of heights, however, well, you may want to take a rain check.

And that is it for my SnowRunner Season 10 review. If you found it useful gently caress the like and subscribe buttons. Maybe even buy me a coffee. It all helps the channel.