Vehicular Mayhem: 10 Games for Fans of Gaslands

I’ve been positively munching my way through as many great tabletop skirmish games as I can get my hands on, often via print-and-play and 3D printing.

Despite being my favorite genre, the post-apocalyptic Gaslands from game designer Mike Hutchinson and published through Osprey Games’ blue book series didn’t move the needle for me until a few more skirmisher types put it at the top of their list. I decided it was time to give it another look. I’ve been printing like a maniac on my Bambu A1 printer, and my HP Instant Ink plan is on a three-month promo deal, so I’ve been printing all my purchased PDFs out.

After going full geeked on it and kit-bashing my childhood into patinaed pulp, I started inviting friends over, and then those friends began inviting friends over as we doled out maximum carnage with our haphazard Hot Wheels. Any excuse to get grown-ups to play with their toy cars and laugh out loud for several hours is the only argument you need.

So, I started reflecting on the digital smash ’em ups in my catalogs, like Twisted Metal, Crazy Taxi, and (as LocalStriking1073
on the Gaslands subreddit reminded us) Carmageddon. I am a lifelong George Miller fan. It breaks my heart that Furiosa didn’t please the Hollywood overlords, so we may not get another like it for a long time, if ever.

After some poking around at my catalog, forums, and rabbit holes, here is our list of:

10 PC games for fans of the Gaslands

Mad Max

by Avalanche Studios

I really love this game, full stop. Sandbox (pun intended). Great action. Customization. Story and worldbuilding. It’s def a labor of love. The game emphasizes building and customizing Chumbucket’s “Magnum Opus” vehicle, scavenging for resources, and facing road gangs in a sprawling open world. It an underappreciated gem with visceral combat and super fun explosive desert drivin’.

Dark Future: Blood Red States

by Auroch Digial

This is a port by Auroch Digital of the old – and too mechanically heavy for most – tabletop game of the same name from Games Workshop. This works out nicely in digital form, where fidgety accounting can be hidden under the hood.

This digital port combines car combat with strategy elements and is set in a dystopian future set in 2025. The opening video crawl is eerily prescient, talking about governments run by corporations, water and energy shortages, and mercenary police forces facing off with increasingly powerful gangs in a poisoned landscape rife with vigilantes, predators, and survivalists. You can upgrade all parts of your car and hire career drivers.

Command Mode lets you slow down time, issue tactical orders, match speed with other vehicles, deploy front and rear-facing weapons, 360 turrets, and more. At the same time, it’s one of the best alternatives to Gaslands for PC.

Platforms: Sony PS4, Microsoft XBox One, Windows PC, Mac, Linux, Steam

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks

by Caged Element

Speaking of everyone’s favorite company these days, from PLAION, there’s a pretty solid newcomer as of August 2024 in which you and your Ork chums are out for the usual mayhem. Some folks lament the in-game currency, which is ubiquitous these days for purchasing in-game accouterments (a hilarious word when I write it here).

Others love the high-speed, sweet-looking action and miss a little Warsong Gulch capture the flag, deliver the football, and so on. The lobby wait can get a little long sometimes, but there are games to be had, and this is just coming out of Early Access with lots of significant player-informed patches adding QoL and heaps of new content hitting on a fairly frequent basis.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

Death Roads: Tournament

by Knights of Unity

Wow this one is an almost literal port of Gaslands, except that it isn’t 1:1 and in fact add a creative deck-building card Roguelite component to the proceedings. You are on a Death Race across the Divided States of America, as illustrated in comic book style, and spend your tourney switching lanes, rear-bashing, SMG shooting with your hand of drawn cards, before using your Skid cards to play out the maneuvers that, in Gaslands, would be handled by the Skid Dice.

It works though. It may not make a lot of sense to a non-Gaslands player, but for one like me, it was super easy to pick up and a great proxy for the real thing.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam, GOG

Convoy

by Convoy Games

Blending the tactical challenge of FTL: Faster Than Light with the post-apocalyptic feel of the great empty, this game focuses on managing a convoy of vehicles through a procedurally generated wasteland.

The mix of random events, real-time tactical combat, and survival decisions makes for a cool tactical and strategic experience, though folks say it can be overly punishing. Nonetheless, it’s fairly singular in its format and one that I dig for this kind of game. In Meatspace, you’d be looking at stuff like dice placement solo game Wreckland Run or Thunder Road: Vendetta.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4, Microsoft Xbox One, Windows PC, Mac, Linux, Steam

Low Desert Punk

by Outlaw

This sleeper came out as a tie-in to a desert rock album but caught my interest because of its hyperminimalist and comely black, white, and red aesthetic. Beholder eyes are collected as you deke out raider baddies on an austere background. It feels great to skid, slide, spin, and keep on rolling to the chunky-AF guitars. For 99 cents, it’s an easy win. File under: if Queens of the Stone Age album covers were interactive.

Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Steam

Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage

by Gamepires

This is a precursor to Gas Guzzlers Extreme, which is better reviewed but less aesthetically like Gaslands. Racing, pick-ups, and good wanton destruction will earn you cash to mod or upsell your car, kit it out with weapons, stickers, and paint jobs, and build a career in death-driving for yourself.

Another nice touch is the optional commentator, whose gruff insertions are good for a few chuckles to validate your crazy moves. Sure, they can get a bit repetitive, but I liked ’em.

GGCC’s high-speed races and destructive, fast-paced mayhem meet the criteria we so hungrily seek on this list despite, according to some, being less polished than its sequel. Plus, “maximum carnage” is a term directly derived from Gaslands. The cardinal rule is when in doubt, choose the option that creates maximum carnage. You can get it for a few bucks on Steam.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

Bloody Rally Show

by Kodo Linija

This game combines Rogue-like elements, combat racing, and procedurally generated tracks and campaigns. The dystopian story, AI-generated missions, and chaotic battles add replayability (ideally), though some folks say it can be the weak spot. Battle Mode and Weapon Zones offer extra variety.

I love how each of these games is like Gaslands in a different way. Besides being pretty great, Bloody Rally Show also looks like battle maps you find to lay out on your table for TTRPGs and skirmish games, which is like bringing them to life. You can try the free Prologue chapter on Steam.

Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Linux, Steam

Make Way

by Ice BEAM

This game has Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and offers a cartoonish take on vehicular combat, loop-de-loops and a lighter, destructively fun experience similar to what you actually do when playing Gaslands IRL: moving modded 1:64-scale toy cars around your game table. With multiplayer mode, think Mario Cart meets the wastelands. So even though it’s a little less gritty, it makes up for it with madness.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Sony PS4/5, Microsoft Xbox One, Microsoft Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC, Steam

FUMES

by FUMES Team

In the 11th hour, IGR writer TheOvermatt pointed me to FUMES, which is actually pre-Early Access at the time of this writing but looks like a bullseye candidate for this list. It also has a free demo you can download!

It features procedurally generated environments with rally-inspired physics, no loading screens, and an original guitar-heavy soundtrack. A pseudo-pointillistic rust aesthetic further sets it apart. It’s a kind of procedural sprite animation DOOM-like arcade action wasteland thing.

I’m looking for a little more depth and customization than this, but I loved being able to 360-degree my cannons, so I hit the mobs from all sides while in turbo. Worth keeping an eye on.

Platforms: Windows PC, Steam

BONUS:

Dust & Diesel: Deadland Delivery

by Rejected Games

A promising-looking upcoming game from Playway (no date whatsoever yet) is Dust & Diesel: Deadland Delivery, which has a modernized graphic equivalent of Mad Max, but the car-building, highway attacking focus of Gaslands (which Mad Max does too, admittedly).

Developer Rejected Games is perhaps best known for its Mr. Pepper series, and Playway has built a business on simulators like House Flipper and Car Mechanic. They have had years of practice, so this could be a solid outing that legit gets under the hood.

Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Steam

The Verdict:

In short, there is an absolute bounty out there.

I did have a few more on the list that I ultimately chose to leave out. Crossout was one of them because they are asking exorbitant prices to upsell you from the free base game, and there are a lot of complaints about bots. It’s too bad because it has a great look and creative vehicle designs.

While not a racing game, Gas Station SimulatorGas Station Simulator: Car Junkyard DLC by DRAGO Entertainment explores life in a gritty car junkyard salvaging, repairing, and customizing vehicles. You’ll source and rebuild vehicles, climbing the ranks of the car-dealing world. I think it’s a great alternate perspective on the trope.

Platforms: Windows PC, Mac, Steam

Hard Truck Apocalypse by Targem Games from the aughts was a minor breakout hit for what it was, but contemporary support is lacking, and stability is inconsistent. Maybe GOG will GOG it someday.

Heavy Metal Machines was a great diminutive free-to-play game hoping for a comeback, but financing issues and a botched takeover set them back. Hopefully, this terrific racing MOBA-style smash ’em up will find higher ground soon.

I also remember liking Wasteland Angel more than I probably should have…could be XBLA nostalgia. I also liked the comics that it incorporated. But ultimately, this top-down twin-stick comprised little more than a bunch of waves coming at you ad nauseum. Some liked it better than others. I was in the former category.

Even the very popular ARK: Survival Ascended dino hunting MMO has a new expansion called Bob’s Tall Tales features Wasteland War, released December 2024 that promises: “high-octane automobile action as you clash with rival tribes and scavenge for survival in this post-apocalyptic wasteland!” Early reviews are negative because of trouble activating the new content with existing accounts. Still, it looks rad, and hopefully, the issues will get straightened out soon.

You can also pick the classic version of Death Rally free on Steam. (Thanks to Sad-Entertainment336 at the /r/Gaslands sub for that tip.)

Ultimately, our journey along the track has proven that there is a bounty of material out there to keep the engines roaring and win you the fame, filthy lucre, and spare cans you seek. Some are even great.

I would love to hear about your faves, too.