SnowRunner Season 11 review: No business like snow-business?

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In my (belated) SnowRunner Season 11 review, I take a trip to Scandinavia to help make a movie, cleanup the local environment and rebuild a ski resort – as you do.

Scandinavia, where Season 11: Lights & Cameras takes place, has a rather loose definition. It can include Norway, Sweden and Denmark, but then there is also something called the Scandinavian Peninsula, which excludes Denmark but includes Iceland, northern Finland and the Faroe Islands.

Fitting, it must be said, because the SnowRunner Scandinavia experience is loosely Scandinavian. Too mountainous for Finland, too Fjord-less for Norway, too meatball-less for Sweden and too lava-less for Iceland.

I say that as someone who met Santa in Finland, nearly got stuck under a waterfall in Norway, experienced minus 27 degrees Celsius in Sweden and walked in an ice cave in Iceland. It is a part of the world I know and love dearly.

Scandi-naive

To put it bluntly, Season 11 is as Scandinavian as a Victoria Sponge. Its structures, trees, non-regional place names and overall appearance make it feel like a combination of previous maps with a fake moustache stuck on to try and trick us into thinking it is somewhere different.

This is despite the lovely Northern Lights AKA the Aurora Borealis filling the sky with dancing whisps of light which, as is not always the case in real life, reveal their wonderful colours to the naked eye.

That is not to say the two 2×2 kilometre maps, Mountain View and By the Lake, are badly designed. As pathways go, they are some of the most rewarding to drive – with stunning views across Orestoke simultaneously keeping you in awe and cautious when near the edge.

Muddy pits, isolated forests, dangerous mountain trails, steep ski slopes, land-separating waterways and, erm, giant mosquitoes – this is a seemingly tricky set of maps at first glance though the reality is mostly pleasant.

It helps that mission variety is decent though the unusually cheap generator useage can get tedious. One third of the contracts has you helping make a movie. For you, that means delivering the star’s swanky red trailer, rescuing an old airplane (first seen in Amur) and fetching cargo.

Though you are eventually treated to a Hollywood-esque set of letters up in the hills for all of the non-existent inhabitants to look up at, it feels as if more could have been done with the Emberro Pictures theme. Why was there, for example, no stunt driving? Or a cool cut-scene to mark completion of the movie?

Recycled content

Then we have the environmental clean-up contracts. Do not get me wrong, teaching the benefits of recycling is a worthy cause and it does mean some ‘rubbish’ cargo loads. My issue is that you end up using the same tarmac routes and river crossings, which is not good for repetition.

Similar criticisms can be levied at the ski resort, which features numerous drives up and down the slope as you get those ski lifts working again. To be fair, there is actually an animation for when you finish and clearing blocked pathways. as opposed to being a lazy trucker, is especially beneficial for variety.

Across the three main contract givers and ‘sidequests’, you also get to deliver water, dismantle housing frames, deliver logs, rebuild houses, rescue recycling and almost an example of everything from previous seasons.

Honestly, much of the challenge in not-Scandinavia comes from learning the best routes, many of which circumvent the need to repair or unblock major pathways. Meanwhile, some tarmac roads are permanently inhibited by unfinished roadworks, which can be interesting for longer cargo loads. And reminiscent of the UK.

Fuel scarcity is another noticeable gameplay factor, particularly in By the Lake. This encourages preparation and truck fuel efficiency. Though the fact there is a petrol/gas station close to one tunnel and that the terrain is forgiving means it is not hard to complete contracts without a well-placed fuel trailer or support truck.

Taking the piste

My biggest criticism (but also a plus) I found while making my SnowRunner Season 11 review is that it is too easy, especially after previous seasons. Yes, tarmac trunk roads are great for opening up SnowRunner to inferior vehicles. It is just that you get more time to focus on those somewhat familiar vistas.

Despite the fun themes and the need to build your own watch towers, there is nothing that really grabs your attention or provides fear, to sink your teeth into, to serve up those off-road trucking highs and lows. Acessibility, I suspect, is great for DLC sales but not necessarily for those of us who have been here more than three years.

As for the included Season 11: Lights & Cameras trucks, the Burlak 6×6 is a big scout that is as versatile as it is slow. Unlike most trucks in its class, it can utilise small and medium trailers though I would not typically recommend the latter.

The Neo Falcon 2000, meanwhile, is your more generic scout. Kind of nippy, agile and half-decent to look at but weaker than many of its counterparts – including some from day one.

Should you buy Season 11?

Look, if it seems like I have been unnecessarily harsh, that is because I had hopes as high as Season 11’s snowy peaks. The reality is that how much you enjoy it depends on how many seasons you have previously played, as there is little new here to experience.

Play Season 11: Lights & Cameras early on and I suspect it would be much more fulfilling. Because the core driving experience is largely enjoyable and, thanks to unusually steep ascents and descents, can push many of the best trucks to their load-lugging limits.

With that said, you still get tens of hours of satisfying SnowRunner trucking for a few coins. These days, some full-price games can be finished faster. Avoid expecting Scandinavia to lift your soul as much as those colourful heavens and I suspect you will have a good time.

And that is a wrap for my SnowRunner Season 11 review, take your unfinished popcorn with you and be sure to like and subscribe for more SnowRunner videos. Also let me know whether you liked the penultimate Year 3 Pass DLC in the comments. Take care, bye.