SnowRunner Season 13 review: Is it nice?

In this SnowRunner Season 13 review, it is time to find out whether the first of the Year 4 Pass expansions is, as Borat would say, nice.

At four years old, SnowRunner is no longer the plucky newcomer that came out of nowhere and saved our souls during those tedious lockdowns. As the name suggests, this is the 13^th seasonal DLC – and there are three more to go in the Year 4 Pass.

Despite the controversy surrounding Season 7: Compete & Conquer in Tennessee, Season 13 also has just one map. It is known as Zherbai Quarries, would fit perfectly inside a 2×2 kilometre shopping bag and is based in the Almaty Region of Kazakhstan.

Home of Borat and the area with the most nuclear bomb tests and, therefore, the highest chance of radiation zombies and fish with multiple eyes.

Season 13 review: A one-map wonder

Admittedly, a small, potentially radioactive map is not automatically bad. After all, it is how you use those inches – I mean kilometres – that matters. Who needs exploration, value for money and variety when you have crumbling rocks? That only exist in a small area.

To be fair, this sizeable slab of Central Asia also includes a frog and a man with shiny trousers and a preference for drinking steam and hanging out at bus stops and balconies.

He does not even disappear when you get close, like those creepy fisher-folk do, making him the first animated person in SnowRunner. The bad news is that he will be waiting a long time for a bus.

Certainly longer than it will take to complete all the contracts, which come from two providers as opposed to the usual three: KAZ Minerals and the Zherbai District Mayor’s Office. Eleven contracts for the former and seven for the latter.

While that random chap burns his face and contemplates all his wrong life decisions, it is your job to get an airport off the ground (pun intended), conduct geological surveys and restore life to the local mining industry. Finding horses and a cat are optional.

Now, for those who love big open holes – Zherbai is ze one. Well, unless you were hoping for four of them. Once you have spiralled your way down into the main quarry (or jumped off the side), you then get to spiral your way out with a gigantic trailer and slate blocks.

Never too slate

This two-slot cargo type introduced in Season 13: Dig & Drill is great ‘fun’. If by fun you mean giant grey cubes of endless pain. Then multiply that by eight because that is how many you need to deliver of these tippy horrors.

With the map design and environment offering decent attention to detail, the Almaty Region is a nice place to drive in. Especially as mud is less of a focus. However, the fact there is only one map means you soon repeat journeys while the scenery aesthetic, unlike a Boeing engineer, plays it safe.

What the truck?

Okay, so you do not get two maps but at least Season 13: Dig & Drill provides two new multi-region trucks. First is the PLAD 450, a fuel-sipping 8×8 beast with bags of horsepower and utility addons up the wazoo.

Slow and steady. Just how your mum likes it and the best way to describe the PLAD 450 driving experience.

The second new truck is the AAC-58DW, potentially the last scout to ever grace SnowRunner, according to Saber Interactive. ‘Capable’ is a fair summary yet the AAC is reminiscent of previous offerings in terms of functionality and aesthetics.

Plus it has a face that is not ‘A’ for aesthetically pleasing.

At this point in time, if we get one more long boi heavy truck I will scream into an abyss emptier than my bank account. Thankfully, that will not be for tens of hours as that is what it takes to complete every contract, task, contest and explore every nook and cranny. In search of horses.

Is it compelling though? Well, I have enjoyed Season 13’s more technical, more rock-crawly and more truck-friendly vibe. However, like most of my jokes, things soon fall flat. It lacks the personality of Maine, the challenge of Amur and the brutality of the Kola Region.

50 shades of grating

Another thing I totally do not dig during my Season 13 review is that Kazakhstan seems to spend all but lunchtime as one of fifty shades of contrast-avoiding grey, which is great for atmosphere but not so good for a romantic picnic at a local radioactive quarry.

Maybe, just maybe some of the promised Expeditions functionality will help bolster the Season 13: Dig & Drill experience. Maybe there will be a second map as we saw with Rift added to Taymyr in Russia many moons ago.

Whatever the case, the Season 13 update did bring with it a plethora of bug fixes and adjustments to various trucks. If you wanted a functional snorkel on the Caterpillar 770G, for instance, well now is the time to enjoy a celebratory mug of steam.

Should you buy Season 13?

My SnowRunner Season 13 review verdict, then: Expect a short and sweet technical adventure with a decent concentration of satisfaction per kilometre. It feels less of a repetitive, unimaginative slog than Season 12: Public Energy and is more interesting than Season 7: Compete & Conquer.

It is just that hardcore players will wish it was tougher, veterans will wish it looked and felt less familiar, critics will wish it had more than one map and fans will wish it lasted longer. Just like my exes. As such, I give the Zherbai Quarries a solid three Earl Grey teas out of five.

Roll on Season 14: Reap & Sow. Or, as it shall be known if not very good and we get more farming, ‘Weep & Sow’. Subscribe and like. Maybe even donate to help me buy cool stuff I can make videos of.

Did you like Season 13: Dig & Drill? Let me know in the video comments.