REVIEW: ‘Trailmakers: Pioneers’ Adds A Mixed Bag Of Modes To The Solid Core Game

Trailmakers: Pioneers is the latest update to developer/publisher Flashbulb Games’ six-year-old vehicle creation game. With new modes, including survival and story modes, players have new ways to explore, craft, and experience everything Trialmakers offers. However, some of the modes fare better than others.

Trailmakers is a vehicle creation game that lets players craft their own cars, boats, planes, and even spacecraft. Once completed, players can participate in races and some battle modes. The game also offers mod support so the community can create their own add-ons and modes to play in.

The way players craft their vehicles is easy to grasp. Pieces snap together, and small descriptors let players know what elements are good for what purpose if they aren’t thoroughly experienced in engineering. The game also gives access to premade, basic models of vehicles so players can start with a premade chassis and customize from there.

Skill with engineering-style tasks is not a prerequisite for identifying what is going wrong with vehicles while building and how to fix it. While most of the solutions to problems are inelegant, to say the least, they got the job done. Which gives them a special kind of charm all their own. Vehicles can also be armed, and designs can be tested in the heat of battle between online opponents as well as NPCs. It should be noted that online play takes place in player-hosted servers with a chosen game type. There is no matchmaking.

Start with the new story mode in Trailmakers: Pioneers to get your feet wet.

The combat is passable. There are a variety of weapons players can build, each provides its own strengths and weaknesses. Maneuverability obviously depends on how well your vehicle is built, so it’s important to enter a fight with a smoothly designed machine. This is especially true for naval combat, as a boat thrown around by rough seas can make accurate targeting all but impossible.

Some elements of the game are unlocked by collecting in-game currency accrued in the various modes. Many high-end elements are tied to this. It’s recommended to get started in single-player modes and build up some currency, as well as skill in the game, before diving into online play.

For those itching for more casual battles, Trailmakers: Pioneers story mode offers plenty of chances to blast simple AI challengers. Set up as the first mission of a new Tralimakers member, this mode feels like the best place for players to start the game. It limits your resources early, and slowly introduces more options as the player progresses. It also ties vehicle construction to raw materials that must be gathered, making exploration another part of the mode’s charm.

Despite being a good place to learn the basics, most players won’t finish this mode. The bare-bones story and repetitive mission structure provide little fun once you feel like you’ve learned what you need to move on. Unless you relish the thought of endlessly busing the frog-like denizens of Planet Gregory around.

Stranded is the most promising new mode in Trailmakers: Pioneers.

The mode that shows the most promise is Stranded. Here, players find themselves stuck on a planet, needing to construct a rocket to escape. Wreckage is strewn across the huge open world to be collected. Each piece of wreckage holds a new construction element or a power core that allows players to utilize more powered objects, like engines, in their vehicles.

The wreckage is converted into building items at a special station. Getting the wreckage to the station provides fun and frequently intriguing puzzles. How to get a piece of wreckage to a station can test creativity and problem-solving. Sometimes, with less-than-ideal tools to work with, ad-hoc contraptions must be made to get the job done.

Some wreckage, though, cannot be acquired right away. A piece on the edge of a cliff may require a flying vehicle that the player doesn’t have yet. These hard-to-reach objectives give the open world a Metroidvania feel to it, as returning to old areas becomes necessary when new options are unlocked.

The other appealing element of Trailmakers: Pioneers is how laid back it is. The vast majority of the content in this package feels constructed with zero pressure intended. You do what you want at the pace you want. Forage, explore, and even some of the combat feel laid back. Especially since there are no penalties for dying.

The biggest problem the game presents is how little the larger structure of the game is explained. The in-game currency is never explained, and it’s unclear what it was for until after downloading a schematic and trying to build it. Only then was it clear a piece was lacking for construction and currency needed to be spent to unlock it.

The game also has difficulties with its airplane/spacecraft controls. No plane feels good to steer. This could always be due to design flaws, but even downloaded ones that seem well put together, or example ones the game provides never handle well. Turning is always slow, and getting on course feels finicky at best.

Trailmakers: Pioneers has some solid elements amidst its selection of modes and deep customization options. However, portions of the game feel a little half-baked. Mileage with this experience depends on which modes click for the player.

Trailmakers: Pioneers is available now on Steam, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X via Xbox Game Pass.