Snowrunner (PlayStation 5)

Drummond Island and Island Lake have no garages.

When gateways have the lock symbol on them, you can't enter!

Getting the 'Workaholic' achievement by completing every contract seems to be the closest equivalent to finishing a main quest and beating the game.

In Michigan, Medium Logs come from the Sawmill in Smithville Dam, and Long Logs come from the Log Station in Drummond Island.

An interesting aspect of this game that reminds me of other very punishing games is that the risk of failure forces the player to very carefully consider the choices of equipment. I can't think of another vehicle-based game where I have spent so much time looking at stats and researching which trucks and upgrades to buy. Every choice of vehicle, engine, tires, or suspension can mean the difference between success and failure in rough terrain.

The UI and menu structure is clearly carefully designed to be as accessible and useful as possible. However, I find it incredibly confusing in a way that's not easy to put a finger on. Here are some of the basic actions I find myself having trouble with:
- Going to the garage and selecting a different truck, or retrieving a truck from a different map.
- Finding the objectives for a particular mission, e.g. locating a particular material that I need to transport.
- Figuring out which kind of trailer is needed to transport a particular item, and which 'saddle' is needed for a particular kind of trailer.
- Determining which equipment is required for other equipment to be installed, e.g. installing larger tires may require a change in suspension, but which change is not obvious.

I started annotating a map of Black River - red roads for death traps, green roads for good paths. This is a strategic layer of this game that just became clear to me: Planning out routes requires knowledge about the roads that is not visible in the in-game maps, such as roads that are tilted, making trucks flip over.

I think a useful metaphor for SnowRunner strategy is that a collection of trucks correspond to a loadout. I have learned that different Truck roles are used again and again, and you might as well have a set of them ready to go. Then, the challenge becomes to figure out which Trucks are best suited for each role.

Roles:
- Scout discovers Watchtowers and Upgrades. It should be extremely off-road capable and have an Autonomous Winch to assist when flipping over.
- Off-road Transport Truck does the actual work of moving goods around the maps. They should support Saddle Low and Saddle High for different types of Semi-Trailers. They should use Mud Tires.
- Highway Transport Truck for fast transport across highways. They should use Highway Tires and be as fast as possible.
- Rescue Truck carries Fuel and Repair points, and is strong enough to pull a heavy truck out of mud.
- Crane Truck is used for rescues and moving goods around, and should be as heavy as possible to effectively use the Heavy Crane.