It's the pinnacle of the summer and that means that cycling season is in full swing. While many of you might be hitting the roads and clocking in some miles, there is an alternative for anyone searching for two-wheeled fun, and that comes in the form of developer Messhof's charming Wheel World. This is a cycling adventure that takes place in a colourful world, where the aim is to race and build up Rep, all in a bid to improve your bike and eventually save the universe from collapse. That's quite a leap in scale, no? Perhaps, but it makes sense and effectively works in practice.
Essentially, at the start of Wheel World you awake in a lovely, almost Mediterranean-like world with the big question of where you are and how did you get here. In front of you is a temple structure that plays host to an ancient door to a distant spiritual world, a door that has been locked and won't open unless you have the right 'key'. Fittingly, for a game called Wheel World and based heavily on cycling, this 'key' is a special spiritual bicycle, a tool that has been inhabited throughout history by a charming spirit called Skully whose duty is to travel to Mt. Send to complete the Great Shift and help spirits complete their journey from the land of the living. The catch is that Skully's typical ancient frame has been ransacked, with the parts handed out to local cycling 'bosses', and this is where Wheel World begins to take shape as you need to travel around the land, challenging these skilled riders in order to beat them and reclaim the parts, so that you can open the doorway and begin the journey to beyond.
Obviously, as the main character of Kat is a nobody, the various cycling veterans will not just accept a challenge from anyone, so before you begin these races you first need to build up Rep(utation), by battling other racers around the world and completing minor objectives in these activities too. The main goal revolves around simply placing in the top three in each race, but each race has the side tasks of winning the race, completing the race in a fast time, and collecting Skate-like KAT letters around the race too. If you tick off all these objectives, you'll quickly amass Rep and be able to quickly re-acquire Skully's necessary bike parts.
Wheel World plays in such a way that is reminiscent of Lonely Mountains: Downhill. It's a simple game where the majority of mechanics involve accelerating, decelerating, and turning, and then combining these with racing line knowledge and risk-taking to beat your opponents. While that may sound somewhat challenging, Wheel World is meant to be more simplistic and easy to pick up and enjoy, so much so that you can easily blast through the game in less than four hours. Essentially, don't expect races that take tens of minutes to complete, as a long race will typically last upwards of four minutes. This leads to thrilling and fun races that never ask much more from the player, leading to lovely and charming activities that you want to find and complete.
Beyond this, there's not actually much more to Wheel World. Sure, there's a small open-world to explore filled with different biomes and places to visit, but the world itself isn't packed with a great deal to do. There are jumps and hidden tracks to find, largely for fun, plus loot crates to discover that reward customisable bike parts, but these are more of a side activity, as the core substance is the racing.
That's not to say that the bike customisation isn't worthy of note. By acquiring various parts, be it through opening chests or winning races, you can adjust your bike by equipping new frames, seats, handlebars, gears, wheels, forks, and more. Each has different attributes and benefits and weaknesses, a bit like tweaking a car in Forza Horizon, and you can make the perfect bike that suits how you like to play. For me, that meant having a low grip, high-power machine that could reach fast top speeds and accelerate quickly, all while being more of a challenge to handle in corners and on rugged terrain. The point is, this system is surprisingly deep and complex and makes bike customisation a true highlight of Wheel World.
While it may seem like Wheel World is a bit of a one-trick pony with limited things to do, in practice it's a fine example of a well-paced and memorable indie experience, one that doesn't require much of your time but will engage and keep you entertained until the credits roll. The gameplay and mechanics are simple yet fun, the world isn't cluttered with an overwhelming number of things to do, the vibrant art style and the array of charismatic characters make the world feel lived in, and the customisation adds plenty of depth. Would it be beneficial for the game to have voiced dialogue, for example, a way to break up the quite flat audio profile that is otherwise emphasised by indie music? I do think that would have added a lot of character to Wheel World, but since dialogue is less important than some other games, it's not a dealbreaker in any sense.
What can be a tad frustrating is the jankiness of the game. There have been countless times where irritable issues have had a negative impact on the overall whole, be it AI racers pushing me off the track with no repercussions, crashing when literally not hitting anything, cars acting irrationally, and more. Again, like the lack of voiced dialogue, this isn't a dealbreaker, but it's certainly frustrating to deal with especially as the jankiness affects the gameplay... a lot.
Ultimately, what Messhof has created here is a wonderful and charming indie adventure. Wheel World is an easy to pick up and enjoyable experience that doesn't require much investment from the player, despite having a fabulous balance of fun gameplay, memorable visuals, and customisable features. For a title that you can see in its entirety over the course of two-to-three days, there's not many reasons why you shouldn't be giving Wheel World a go this summer.
