Parallax Labs’ Despoiler is a unique twist on the futuristic racer sub-genre. You’re not just in some fancy vehicle racing at top speeds to pass a finish line, you’re actually focused on scavenging the wildlands in a post-apocalyptic environment where you need to gather supplies to upgrade your vehicle and to unlock utilities in order to maintain your survival.

The game also changes the way you can expect to explore and engage with enemies by adding a team-oriented element to the overall gameplay gist. You’re not alone, though. Instead of racing around each arena by your own lonesome, you’ll be accompanied by four other players.

The team-based racer features multiplayer objectives that players will have to complete in order to get through each race. You’ll have to take control of a hovercraft and race through not-entirely-desolate arenas that take players through a diverse collection of biomes, including tropical islands, icy tundras, desert canyons, and ash-capped forests.

You can get a look at what Despoiler is like with the trailer below.

The game has some obvious issues with acceleration and deceleration, especially when it comes to getting off the ground and moving around the arena. It reminds me of Hover! for Windows 95, but designed for the 2018 gaming crowd.

The other problem is that the handling looks a little floaty, which is something you would expect from a game featuring hovercraft. The only problem is that it doesn’t look like it’s very tight when it comes to the handling, which could pose a serious issue when it comes to trying to maneuver quickly around the arenas and maintain a solid sense of momentum.

Then again, the Unreal Engine 4 has always had issues when it came to properly depicting a sense of speed and momentum for racing games.

Of course, Parallax Labs has time to iron out the kinks, and the video above was originally published a year ago. So technically there’s plenty of time for them to fix up the handling and ensure that everything works as intended.

To their credit, Despoiler looks really good. It has a distinct visual appeal to it that helps it stand out from other racing games.

Despoiler is set to launch on Steam at some point during the first half of 2018. You can wishlist the game right now over on the Steam store or follow the game to stay up to date on new info for the game.