Carmageddon: Rogue Shift’s premise is stronger than its execution

Carmageddon: Rogue Shift positions itself as a vehicle carnage game, but the series' signature vehicular combat is largely absent. 34BigThings seems to imagine a future where Carmageddon is more than running things over and blowing up what's left, but the game remains too beholden to the series' past, and new elements like randomized power-up selections read as dabblings rather than bold steps forward.

The premise pits racers in weaponized cars against a zombie-overrun world, supposedly to mow down the undead and protect civilians. There is no sense of camaraderie: rivals are happy to hurl your body onto pulpy piles of corpses, enemies can respawn endlessly while death ends your run, creating an artificial, often infuriating difficulty spike.

Underneath the explosions and grunge, Rogue Shift is essentially a simple racer with added violence and a shallow roguelite layer of randomized upgrades.

carmageddon, rogue shift, 34bigthings, vehicular combat, vehicle carnage, roguelite, randomized upgrades, zombies, weaponized cars, difficulty spike