SnowRunner Season 8: A GRAND look at absolutely everything

Wurzels CD at the ready, SnowRunner Season 8 brings farming to the fray. Here is what to expect from the forthcoming Grand Harvest DLC, including the new maps, new trucks, new upgrades, new skins and more.

Now that SnowRunner Season 8: Grand Harvest is on the Public Test Server, meaning PC players can give it a go before its official release, I can now share with you a smorgasbord of fresh information produce. Dug up from the soil of truth and accuracy.

While I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum in other videos such as my first impressions of the new trucks, those who want a surprise may want to look away now and come back later. Remember kids that is an early build, so some things may change.

Be sure to like, subscribe and maybe even let those annoying adverts run – for it all helps me make more gaming videos. Now grab a tea, coffee or cider and let’s begin.

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

SnowRunner Season 8: Grand Harvest maps

Up first, the maps. There are four of them and based in a place called the Belozersk Glades, Central Asia. Wait, not Russia as previously alluded to in those early screenshots?

Well, Belozersk is a place in Russia and the original plan, according to my trusted source, was to go with Krasnodar Krai. But then war broke out and it seems as if the developer and publisher are trying to avoid the association.

Hence the ‘Central Asia’ bit despite Belozersk not being a real place there. But then apparently it also translates as white city or region.

Azerbaijan is actually mentioned in the game files and is the country in this tiny map. Although that makes the Central Asia bit wrong. And, you know, it also recently experienced war (Nagorno-Karabakh).

Was Season 8 ever Ukraine? Apparently, no, according to the lead producer. Nor are we likely to get real life locations again, but I will save that for a separate news video.

I digress. The four maps are Crossroads (where you start), The Institute, Heartlands and HarvestCorp. Each is a four kilometre (4km) square for a total of 16 square kilometres of potato potential. The size of easy-going Amur.

Crossroads is where things start gently. Imagine lots of dirt trails, fields of sunflowers and, though mostly flat overall, many moguls and ditches to ruin your day. Apart from a few lakes, water is less of a thing here.

Then we have The Institute, which is where the north-west and south-east are split by a not-so-friendly river. Things are still largely flat, largely green, largely pretty and largely easy to traverse. There is even a fair amount of tarmac road to make use of highway trucks.

At the heart of Heartlands, meanwhile, accessible by The Institute and Crossroads, is yet more snorkel-testing water. Except now it mainly resides in the north-west. Scenery remains similar, but there is more of a swamp vibe in places.

And finally we have HarvestCorp, which I was secretly hoping to be a farm-based version of Northern Aegis Installation in Amur. However, the reality is less prone to causing hair loss and more about wind turbine farms. FYI: Three of the four maps have garages.

I will reserve judgment until later Season 8, Phase 8, PTS builds and the full retail version, but I will say the maps are enjoyable and challenging in good measure. Some of the relaxed pace of Phase 7 Tennessee is felt here, but the sheer size of the maps and some tough areas mix up the pace.

Oh and if you like glowing sunrises and sunsets, then you are in for a treat. And tree-lovers will be pleased to know there are new ones, helping spruce things up when it comes to visual variety.

The Tasks, Contests & Contracts

The overall themes of SnowRunner Season 8: Grand Harvest are farming, as in starting one, averting ecological disaster and getting a wind turbine spinning for clean and green power. The names are Power Grid Restored, Ecological Crisis Averted and Company Farm Established.

Content-wise, there are many things to do – about a billion times more than one-map-wonder Phase 7 Tennessee and even more than Amur. A total of 45 contracts, nine contests and 53 tasks. Given the developer says the PTS build is “content complete”, this total is unlikely to change.

Farming gets the most love, but general deliveries appear to be the core of the experience. With some oversized cargo tasks for good measure.

Along the way you unlock more stuff than usual such as gateway access, farmland and new buildings, making the map feel slightly more alive and your lonely existence more impactful. Especially as there are numerous fishermen and even a few ghostly visages.

Shoutout, also, to the absolutely massive buildings that I will obviously spend time I do not have trying to climb.

The Farming

Yes, SnowRunner Phase 8 brings with it farming. I will do a separate how-to video, but the skinny of it is that you do actually get to cultivate, plant and harvest things in a field marked by bright yellow lines.

Rather than a basic animation such as buildings being erected, lol building, you actually have to drive round. On PTS the process involves doing part of the field. However, I have been told you will need to do more in the retail version.

To be honest, the SnowRunner physics system, though imperfect, lends itself to plodding around a field with various trailers, deploying them as you see fit or letting them deploy automatically if you drive in and out and then back in the field.

Is this a sign of Saber Interactive making a farming game to compete with Farming Simulator 22? Maybe, or perhaps it will be feature more in the increasingly likely Year 3 Pass.

The new trucks

Speaking of plodding, the Kirovets K-7M is chief plodder – one of three new vehicles at launch. Not just because it can have dual tyres (looks ridiculous), but also because with the two new engine upgrades found in Belozersk it becomes a powerful steed.

It is, however, limited in the addon department – so far there is only a modified van body with 180 litres of fuel, two spare wheels and 600 repair points. As SnowRunner’s widest vehicle when fitted with dual tyres, getting through gates can be somewhat challenging.

Currently there is no Diff Lock on the K-7M, which seems odd for a modern-day tractor. Given the lack of utility, I doubt it being especially powerful off road would harm game balance.

Meanwhile the 1960s Kirovets K-700, seen before in MudRunner, has more addons and is also pretty nippy once you ditch the original engine and gearbox. Like its K-7M successor, the K-700 can fit all the necessary farm trailers as well as a claw that would look at home in Robot Wars.

Is this the smallest dashboard sticker in SnowRunner? Perhaps. All I know is that the K-700 is also lacking Diff Lock, reducing its effectiveness off-road. And that it is, currently, incredibly convenient to unlock.

Both Kirovets are the first officially licensed Russian vehicles in the game, which is amusing given how many there have been already, and neither has customisation. Maybe that will change.

Lastly, we have the Step 39331 Pike 6×6. Despite its name, this truck never feels like a fish out of water. AWD and Diff Lock always on plus some good-sized tyres give it off-roading skills.

Not only that, the Pike can use many different addons. Ignore the volcanic paintjob, something is not loading quite right with its one custom skin. Usefully, it can fit a log crane and carry long logs. Plus the trailer, bed and crane combo.

As for the Western Star 57X, this is not yet available on the Public Test Server. I would assume said highway truck will arrive after launch as we have seen with other standalone truck DLCs.

The new ‘trailers’

Want new trailers for carrying things? You will be disappointed. In terms of farming equipment though, we have the Cultivator for cultivating land for planting seeds. In steps the second trailer, the Multi-row Planter for planting potatoes.

Growing potatoes without being able to harvest them would be pointless, so we also get the big and red Potato Harvester. Yet another trailer currently only available to attach to the two new tractors.

All trailers can be bought at a trailer store in case you lose the original machinery. Silly. Side note: The original plan was to let the player choose what to grow, but this never spouted.

The new cargo types

So what about new cargo types in Phase 8? Well, we have the oversized wind turbine blade that comes in two different sizes. One version is the longest cargo in game at the time of making this video, beating the rocket in Amur.

Another is a train wagon tank and there are also chemical barrels. Plus two types of potato, mmm, hay bales and trash. Or rubbish, to us Brits.

What is New Game +?

From ecological spills to fresh beginnings, we have the New Game + mode arriving with SnowRunner Season 8: Grand Harvest. As revealed in previous news videos and something I will talk about in more detail, basically this is the mode to play the game from scratch using rules of your choosing.

This can include whether trucks cost a lot, little or are free, what trucks you start with, how much of the day is lit, whether time can be skipped and a whole lot more. Said rules only apply to a new game, not any existing saves.

Where the hood (ornaments) at?

Nope, there are not new hood ornaments – at least, not on this PTS build. The hood ornaments you are seeing were removed because they were meant to be released in Season 8, not Season 7.

What is new, however, are 10 stickers of a farming theme. Not Jeremy Clarkson’s face sadly. But if you were yearning to have ‘Milk Power’ and ‘Farm Gang’ on the bonnet, Season 8 delivers. Still no Tayga King sticker, though. Boo.

Any other noteworthy upgrades?

Oh, yes, it is time to bask in the glory of the fact the DAN 96320 now has a new wire. Phwoar. There are also new tyres (known as DMHS I, II and III), the values of which appear the same as the existing MHS I. But I suspect this is just a temporary placeholder value.

What is the intro music like?

Lastly, one question I have seen in the comments a total of three times: What is the intro music like and is it less annoying than before? Well, I will let you decide when you watch the video or play Season 8: Grand Harvest yourself.

And on that musical note, get it, I shall let the curtains drop on my SnowRunner Season 8 extravaganza. I hope you found it useful. In-depth truck videos and other cool stuff to come so stick around. And let me know if you like the sound of Season 8: Grand Harvest in the comments.