ExoCross - the futuristic interplanetary racing title published by iRacing seems to have been forgotten about already. Luca believes the game could have been so much more.
I was pretty intrigued when I heard that iRacing was partnering with a small indie developer, Orontes, to assist with the development of an off-road racing title. After it was released on 23 July 2024, ExoCross received a mixed reception from players. Many praised its driving feel but lamented the lack of content and its soulless and dull gameplay.
This is pretty much how I feel about the game, with very little content and reason to load it up again, I admit I have not really touched it beyond my initial few times playing it. But that does not mean I think ExoCross is bad - in fact, I did enjoy it, and I am not one for off road racing typically.
iRacing has been making strives into the console market as of recent with the likes of World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing and the upcoming NASCAR 25 with Monster Games. There is also a project that they are working on with Circuit Superstars developers Original Fire Games, hinted to essentially be a launchpad for getting more arcade racing fans interested in sim racing.
ExoCross is another step in that direction, but something else about it has left me feeling hollow. Surprisingly though, it has nothing to do with its core gameplay.
When motorsport vanishes, the petrolheads amongst us takes to sim racing to fill that void. But as is the way with many of us in the sim racing community, it is no fun if what is being simulated is not happening in reality. So if there was to be no motorsport taking place on Earth, how about on another planet?
After someone has the bright idea to send unmanned vehicles to the far-away planet Proteus (not to be confused with Neptune's moon), a championship is created where the competitors control the cars remotely from Earth. Technology will of course have advanced so there can be instant input between devices on other planets.
If there was a satellite orbiting the planet Venus, it would take just over two minutes for some data to be communicated one way when it is at its closest to Earth. So you can probably imagine a faraway planet like Proteus taking way longer to communicate inputs, like any sim racer with a sub-par monitor knows all too well when it takes way too long to see the in-game wheel turn in with the one on your sim rig.
With all this in mind, I really love the backstory of ExoCross. But once this clip ends, there is no expansion to it, and then it just becomes a by-the-numbers off-road racer with some great occasional visuals but sub-par and underwhelming environments.
That reminds me of another major game from a completely different genre.
Then I asked about the plot of the story mode, and he said, "Oh there isn't one". I was perplexed, for all this talk of the backstory and lore, there had to be a storymode, surely? But no. It seems this is a method that is practised for a lot of triple-A titles, with a very surface-level story with a lot of potential to pull them in, and then the gameplay never follows up on it.
The likes of Overwatch and Destiny have fallen into the trap of only having the lore explained through other means like short videos or pages on a website, whilst keeping the contents of the game itself as very minimalistic. Of course, these successful series have had further chances in follow-up games to delve into the worldbuilding, but that is not something most players are satisfied with.
The playerbase does not want to put in the effort only to find out they have to buy the next game to get even the most basic answers.
ExoCross has a lot of potential with this premise, but beyond that, it is just very bland and safe. With the contents of the game not immersed in reality, you have to wonder who the target audience really is. Since the hardcore sim racing crowd that has been made aware of it from iRacing generally tends to not have such an acute interest in playing something futuristic and otherworldly.
But the reaction to Codemasters and EA's attempt at a story mode in the F1 games - dubbed Braking Point - proves that story modes are not that popular with racing game players. Nevertheless, if ExoCross wants to hook people in with worldbuilding, they could at least try to do something with it.
If I was writing a story in the canon of ExoCross, maybe start it with a former street racer who after serving a sentence for operating an underground racing ring, is contacted by a team who are interested in him driving for them in this revolutionary new racing series.
As the protagonist rises through the ranks and eventually becomes one of the most beloved drivers, they learn of a major conspiracy. Maybe to do with how there was a civilisation on Proteus before the world's governments and corporations displaced them to make way for their playground.
Okay maybe it is not exactly Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us, The Witcher or God of War, but it would be a lot more satisfying than what we got. Of course, Orontes do not have the level of resources of any of the studios that make those games, even with iRacing backing them. Plus as mentioned before, story modes in racing and sports games rarely work.
Ultimately, if ExoCross never tried to set itself up as being something beyond just your contemporary racing game, it would have still felt lacking, but more so in terms of core gameplay features over anything else.
Do you think a story mode would have improved ExoCross? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion on our forums!
I was pretty intrigued when I heard that iRacing was partnering with a small indie developer, Orontes, to assist with the development of an off-road racing title. After it was released on 23 July 2024, ExoCross received a mixed reception from players. Many praised its driving feel but lamented the lack of content and its soulless and dull gameplay.
This is pretty much how I feel about the game, with very little content and reason to load it up again, I admit I have not really touched it beyond my initial few times playing it. But that does not mean I think ExoCross is bad - in fact, I did enjoy it, and I am not one for off road racing typically.
iRacing has been making strives into the console market as of recent with the likes of World of Outlaws: Dirt Racing and the upcoming NASCAR 25 with Monster Games. There is also a project that they are working on with Circuit Superstars developers Original Fire Games, hinted to essentially be a launchpad for getting more arcade racing fans interested in sim racing.
ExoCross is another step in that direction, but something else about it has left me feeling hollow. Surprisingly though, it has nothing to do with its core gameplay.
Surface Level Worldbuilding
When you load up ExoCross for the first time, there is a short clip providing exposition. Essentially, the game depicts a post-dystopic world in which motor racing has been long since retired, and society has moved past the need for fossil-fuel powered transportation in an attempt to create better conditions for all on Earth.When motorsport vanishes, the petrolheads amongst us takes to sim racing to fill that void. But as is the way with many of us in the sim racing community, it is no fun if what is being simulated is not happening in reality. So if there was to be no motorsport taking place on Earth, how about on another planet?
After someone has the bright idea to send unmanned vehicles to the far-away planet Proteus (not to be confused with Neptune's moon), a championship is created where the competitors control the cars remotely from Earth. Technology will of course have advanced so there can be instant input between devices on other planets.
If there was a satellite orbiting the planet Venus, it would take just over two minutes for some data to be communicated one way when it is at its closest to Earth. So you can probably imagine a faraway planet like Proteus taking way longer to communicate inputs, like any sim racer with a sub-par monitor knows all too well when it takes way too long to see the in-game wheel turn in with the one on your sim rig.
With all this in mind, I really love the backstory of ExoCross. But once this clip ends, there is no expansion to it, and then it just becomes a by-the-numbers off-road racer with some great occasional visuals but sub-par and underwhelming environments.
That reminds me of another major game from a completely different genre.
Same Problem As Overwatch
I am not into shooter games, but I remember when the first Overwatch was released and I saw my friend Matthew playing it, and I did not pay it much attention. Then he got talking to me about the lore and all of the characters, and I was interested in it. Not enough to want to play the game, but I liked the worldbuilding they did.Then I asked about the plot of the story mode, and he said, "Oh there isn't one". I was perplexed, for all this talk of the backstory and lore, there had to be a storymode, surely? But no. It seems this is a method that is practised for a lot of triple-A titles, with a very surface-level story with a lot of potential to pull them in, and then the gameplay never follows up on it.
The likes of Overwatch and Destiny have fallen into the trap of only having the lore explained through other means like short videos or pages on a website, whilst keeping the contents of the game itself as very minimalistic. Of course, these successful series have had further chances in follow-up games to delve into the worldbuilding, but that is not something most players are satisfied with.
The playerbase does not want to put in the effort only to find out they have to buy the next game to get even the most basic answers.
ExoCross has a lot of potential with this premise, but beyond that, it is just very bland and safe. With the contents of the game not immersed in reality, you have to wonder who the target audience really is. Since the hardcore sim racing crowd that has been made aware of it from iRacing generally tends to not have such an acute interest in playing something futuristic and otherworldly.
ExoCross Storymode: My Idea
When it comes to games in the racing genre, story modes have been attempted in the past but it is perhaps safe to say that racing game fans do not care for them. Yes, we have had the likes of TOCA Race Driver and some of the old Need for Speed games in the past.But the reaction to Codemasters and EA's attempt at a story mode in the F1 games - dubbed Braking Point - proves that story modes are not that popular with racing game players. Nevertheless, if ExoCross wants to hook people in with worldbuilding, they could at least try to do something with it.
If I was writing a story in the canon of ExoCross, maybe start it with a former street racer who after serving a sentence for operating an underground racing ring, is contacted by a team who are interested in him driving for them in this revolutionary new racing series.
As the protagonist rises through the ranks and eventually becomes one of the most beloved drivers, they learn of a major conspiracy. Maybe to do with how there was a civilisation on Proteus before the world's governments and corporations displaced them to make way for their playground.
Okay maybe it is not exactly Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us, The Witcher or God of War, but it would be a lot more satisfying than what we got. Of course, Orontes do not have the level of resources of any of the studios that make those games, even with iRacing backing them. Plus as mentioned before, story modes in racing and sports games rarely work.
Ultimately, if ExoCross never tried to set itself up as being something beyond just your contemporary racing game, it would have still felt lacking, but more so in terms of core gameplay features over anything else.
Do you think a story mode would have improved ExoCross? Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion on our forums!
