Screamer

Screamer is a pure shot of adrenaline. Learning the game's intricacies rewards players with an exhilarating, aggressive, and action-packed experience. With its engrossing storyline and anime aesthetic, Screamer is sure to captivate players.

84%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, replayability

84% User Score Based on 660 reviews

Critic Score 84%Based on 7 reviews

Platforms

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About

Screamer is a single player and multiplayer arcade racing game with a anime theme. It was developed by Milestone S.r.l. and was released on March 26, 2026. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Dive into Screamer - Digital Deluxe Edition! In addition to the full game, enjoy the Digital Deluxe Upgrade and equip unique customizations for your favorite teams' vehicles.* A reason to race Longing, ambition, vengeance. Everyone has a reason to enter the Screamer tournament, and no one’s backing down. Join the competition and race side by side with fearless drivers, ready to push past every li…

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84%

Audience ScoreBased on 660 reviews

story164 positive mentions

grinding6 negative mentions

Unique and innovative twin-stick drifting controls offer a rewarding and challenging gameplay experience once mastered.
Engaging and lengthy story mode with diverse characters, fully voice acted in multiple languages, and anime-style cutscenes adds personality and immersion.
Stylish visuals, excellent car designs, and a dynamic soundtrack complement the fast-paced arcade racing.
Various game modes including extensive single-player content, arcade modes, local split-screen multiplayer, and online multiplayer (though online population is currently low).
Cars and characters have distinct handling characteristics and unique abilities, adding depth and encouraging playstyle variety.
Well-optimized performance on PC and Steam Deck, with customization options for cars and multiple accessibility settings.

Steep learning curve and complex controls may frustrate some players, especially those unfamiliar with twin-stick drifting.
Story mode pacing can be uneven, with long visual novel sections and dialogue-heavy cutscenes that may break game flow or feel excessive.
AI difficulty is inconsistent, with occasional frustration due to difficulty spikes and some AI behaving unrealistically or better than player capabilities.
Some cars feel unbalanced or have poor handling, leading to uneven difficulty and player preference issues.
Price is considered high for the amount of content and genre niche, leading many to recommend waiting for a sale.
Online multiplayer netcode and matchmaking suffer from issues, including jittery physics and low player counts resulting in empty lobbies.
Track design has mixed reception, with some tracks feeling too narrow or lacking flow, impacting the racing experience.

story
829 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
75%
5%
The story in this racing game is a notable departure from genre norms, featuring a lengthy (12-20 hours) and character-driven narrative told primarily through visual novel-style dialogues with some anime-style cutscenes. While many praise its depth, engaging characters, and gradual introduction of gameplay mechanics, others criticize its pacing, uneven execution, frequent story interruptions, and occasionally unsatisfying or rushed ending. Overall, it offers one of the most ambitious and substantial stories in a racing game, appealing especially to fans of anime and visual novel storytelling, though the heavy story focus and delivery style may not suit all players.
- “I can honestly say this is the best story driven racing game I've ever played.”
- “While the surprisingly-beefy story mode (it took me a solid 20ish hours to complete, though that playtime was certainly padded by my playing on hard mode and almost never clearing any events in one go) isn't particularly groundbreaking (other than it being a rare racing game that actually puts the effort into trying to have a plot) in the story it wishes to tell, the way it manages to weave between the swapping perspectives of the 15 player characters enough to make them all genuinely interesting and sympathetic (except for Dirk, who is just the worst guy of all time but in a fun way) is a genuine feat.”
- “The story mode is about a tournament of which the game takes its title from, and will take you for episodic drives filled with drama between the participants, all with their own reasons for joining, and the game does a pretty nice job at presenting it to you through visual novel-style dialogues and cel-shaded anime-style cutscenes, all of them fully voiced with many different languages in one go.”
- “The very last few missions made me feel like I got some kind of bad ending though, it was really unsatisfying and the characters I'd grown to enjoy had their arcs basically wiped out, except Hiroshi I suppose.”
- “One major issue with the story is its ending. It also feels like they ran out of time/money and just crammed in cutscenes to finish the story at the end, with some really weak resolutions to some factions. That said, they've very clearly teased a sequel and if it ends up being made I hope that they rein in the story for that one.”
- “Mid part 4 the story completely falls apart into an unbelievably ridiculous excuse for the game's setting. The story itself has over 100 'events' but a significant chunk of these events are just click and read sections. Also, the story has a habit of reusing certain tracks over and over and only using others once or twice.”
gameplay
408 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
69%
2%
The gameplay is a standout feature, offering an innovative, complex twin-stick drifting system combined with combat mechanics like boosting, striking, and overdrive that create a high-action, skill-based arcade racing experience. While the control scheme and mechanics have a steep learning curve and may initially feel awkward or overwhelming, the story mode effectively introduces these elements progressively, making mastery rewarding and satisfying. Overall, the gameplay is praised for its depth, uniqueness, and engaging challenge, though it may not appeal to everyone due to its difficulty and unconventional design.
- “The gameplay is innovative and once you get on top of the controls it is really fun.”
- “Still, nailing the high action-per-minute mechanics is very satisfying, combining drifts with charging meters, boosting, shielding, etc. This is a proper advanced and unique combat racer, with gorgeous visuals and a kickass story to go with it.”
- “From the fun and engaging dual-stick driving system that is both incredibly unique and incredibly hard and rewarding to master, the fighting mechanics that let you approach races in different ways depending on the character, game-mode or track, the large cast of voice actors from different nationalities that add flair and character to the roster, the completely unique car designs that reinvent existing car models in creative ways, each assigned to a different driver with a different ability, theme song and extensive customization with unlockable parts through gameplay and challenges, the wide variety of tracks in widely different biomes, the plethora of offline modes including 4 player splitscreen in 2026 and last but not least the story mode which does a great job at making me care about this roster and this world, all whilst slowly introducing all the mechanics the game has to offer to the player in a non-overwhelming way all culminating in a great finale.”
- “The gameplay is almost secondary to a story that is heavy and rich in detail.”
- “The gameplay however is confusing, unforgiving and unfun.”
- “Don't get me wrong, I want to like this game, but it's not easy when the game doesn't properly tell you how to drift, which is one of the core mechanics.”
music
215 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
51%
1%
The music in the game is widely praised as high-energy, diverse, and perfectly complementing its fast-paced arcade racing style, with distinct themes tailored to each character or team that add personality and immersion. While the soundtrack is often described as "banging" and memorable, some users note a lack of variety and repetition due to a limited number of tracks. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout feature, elevating the gameplay experience and earning strong acclaim for its production quality and fitting aesthetic.
- “The OST is downright perfect, each faction has 3 really good and appropriate songs, I was looking forward to listening to the next one every time.”
- “The soundtrack is peak, I am currently listening to it as I am writing this, each team in the game has their own theme that is reflected in the soundtrack, but there also some more generic tracks in the OST that reflect what is happening in the game or story.”
- “The music, I can't even describe how good the OST is, every team and member has their own theme and genres and the menus just bop, high octane and energetic, it just screams to me jump in another race (pun intended).”
- “The music is also admittedly bland.”
- “It gets the job done and hypes you for the race, but like club music, when the race is done you don't really remember what you listened to.”
- “I wish the soundtrack had a few more tracks; I felt like I was hearing the same songs a little too often.”
graphics
161 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
48%
2%
The game boasts a stunning and distinctive anime-inspired cyberpunk art style with vibrant, detailed car and track designs that many find visually captivating and fitting for an arcade racer. While graphics run smoothly on most setups, some users report performance issues and reduced visual fidelity on lower settings or specific hardware like the Steam Deck. Overall, its graphics are praised for their creativity, clarity, and strong aesthetic appeal, though optimization could be improved.
- “The graphics are wonderful, perfectly combining the game's anime artstyle with realistic visuals that really pop.”
- “The graphics look stunning with an amazing art style, while not losing any image clarity (something a lot of racing games on Unreal sadly struggle with).”
- “Everything comes together well in this package, the story is matched with amazing visuals across the board, both in the cinematic storytelling and the racetracks, vehicles and effects.”
- “The graphics on Steam Deck look like hairy poop, with incredible amounts of shimmering and ghosting.”
- “Graphics look like a Real Racing 3 mobile game, racing like trash.”
- “The background does not match the character art style at all and looks very out of place, but the actual game is visually pleasing and vibrant for the most part.”
optimization
62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
69%
5%
Optimization in this game shows a mixed bag: many users praise its generally smooth performance and solid visuals on high-end systems, with good use of DLSS/FidelityFX to balance quality and framerates. However, others report occasional frame drops, stuttering, and significant performance hits in races with many cars or multiplayer modes, especially on lower-end hardware and laptops. Overall, while often well-optimized for a new Unreal Engine 5 title, some issues remain that may impact gameplay, and further patches could improve stability and performance consistency.
- “When it comes to the optimization for this game, it's incredible.”
- “The optimization is really well done.”
- “-no stuttering, slowdown, shader compilation hitches, or other typical Unreal Engine 5 issues on my system.”
- “Performance wise the game runs fantastically.”
- “Performance is good too, I had a couple minor stutters only a handful of times throughout the main story, but on maxed settings with a 4070 Super and 7800X3D, I was getting well over 100fps quite happily.”
- “Screamer looks gorgeous, it’s optimized extremely well for a freshly released Unreal Engine game.”
- “Performance is smooth on my system, upscaled 4k 120-165fps depending on quality settings.”
- “Performance wise, the game runs well on my setup, though I think there’s some room for improvement.”
- “Setting global illumination to medium or high helps give some performance gains without much visual trade-off in my experience.”
- “Performance, I got quite a beefy rig and I play on an ultrawide display, it has been a smooth experience thus far and no crashes.”
- “Absolutely stellar visuals with little to no performance problems on my machine.”
- “This is all tied together by excellent presentation—rock solid technical performance.”
- “Performance wise it runs fine and I'm able to run this at 60 fps on all high settings at native resolution, so that's nice.”
- “The graphics and visual style are splendid, and the optimization is quite good as well.”
- “Performance has been fine, it's UE5 so DLSS is annoyingly a must on epic, despite running on a 4080 and i9-13900KF.”
- “Price aside, the game looks great and handles pretty well... the game runs well on high settings on my computer and I've not hit any optimization issues.”
- “It's not a limitation of my PC, it's a poorly optimized game.”
- “Also if you restart a race the performance drops worse each time.”
- “On tracks with a large number of opponents I did have performance issues.”
character development
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
15%
21%
Character development in the game is generally praised for its well-crafted and engaging character designs that reflect personalities and complement the story, with a mix of interpersonal drama and plot twists adding depth. However, opinions on specific characters vary, and while some find the narrative compelling, others see the story as less impactful. Voice acting received mixed feedback, indicating room for improvement.
- “There's conflict among characters, interpersonal drama, an interweaving narrative, swearing, murder, revenge plots, conspiracies, great character designs with interesting concepts and ideas that are actually thought out and not at all phoned in?!”
- “It also is the first racing game with a genuinely good story, it has character development and plot twists.”
- “The character designs overall are solid and their cars seem to be an extension of their personalities in a way.”
- “Character design and voice acting 5/10”
- “Aisha has a hatred feeling, Hina is annoying but the rest are fitting.”
- “The character designs overall are solid but lack depth in development.”
emotional
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
85%
15%
Emotional responses to the game are mixed, with some players finding the story unsatisfying and emotionally flat, citing poor character development and lackluster animation, while others praise its engaging, layered narrative and emotional depth, especially appreciating the highs and lows experienced during the campaign. Overall, the emotional impact varies greatly depending on players' expectations and attachment to the characters and story.
- “The 20 hours I got from the story, its emotional highs and lows, and enjoying the art instead of a product.”
- “The story is super engaging with its layered characters and the emotional depths it dares to venture.”
- “Not in a million years I'd expect an ending to a racing game to emotionally destroy me.”
- “Insanely boring story, 20% cutscene 80% incredibly slow and pale soulless visual novel slop”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
36%
The game is well-optimized and runs smoothly on various platforms, including PC and Steam Deck, with minimal crashes or glitches reported. However, the multiplayer mode suffers from bugs such as random player disconnections and long matchmaking times, which can impact stability. Overall, the gameplay and technical performance are solid, making it a reliable and enjoyable experience.
- “The game runs great even on the Steam Deck, and also looks good while doing so.”
- “It runs great on my PC, it looks great, but it also can run just fine on a Steam Deck, so it's well optimized.”
- “The game runs great on my hardware and I only had one isolated crash throughout the gameplay for this review, which consisted of the entire main story plus around an hour of other modes.”
- “Multiplayer is buggy, if it isn't getting bumped around and killed randomly, it is waiting for a match indefinitely until you have to close and restart the game.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game's atmosphere is consistently praised for its bold, immersive, and richly crafted design, combining visually varied tracks, compelling story elements, and a distinctive art style. Reviewers highlight how the atmosphere enhances tension and nostalgia, contributing significantly to the overall engaging experience.
- “Everything about it is bold, from the atmosphere to the very way that the game plays and handles.”
- “Combine that with an incredible atmosphere, tricky tracks, interesting characters, and a good story.”
- “Really great gameplay and interesting art style, the atmosphere is peak with even the menus having that old school arcade racer tone.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally praised for its hilarious and unique character interactions, especially in the earlier parts where dialogue is genuinely funny. However, later installments tend to devolve into less appealing, meme-like writing, which some find less funny. Overall, the humor balances well with the story's tone, providing moments of charm and levity that enhance the experience.
- “Pretty hilarious with like 10 cars all with unique dialogue bashing each other.”
- “I don't have a huge issue with that as the dialogue (especially in the earlier parts) is genuinely funny and it's enough to keep you going until the plot starts to get interesting.”
- “We got one mode in multiplayer that was all overdrive all the time... it caught me off guard but my friends and I were laughing the whole time.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
Grinding in the game is rewarding due to its customizable car parts system, making the effort to unlock items feel worthwhile as your vehicle evolves with your progress. While parts and cosmetics are earned through gameplay and challenges rather than paid systems, some players find the grind—especially through story mode and randomized part drops—tedious and time-consuming. Overall, the grinding experience is engaging but can feel repetitive depending on playstyle.
- “You unlock cosmetics through playing the game and doing optional challenges, not grinding battle passes you paid for, or hunting for an item in a Fortnite-style daily rotational shop.”
- “With each driver's car handling being completely different, I'm stuck grinding through the story mode to unlock all the characters just to find the one I want to be my main car (I am aware of the alternative route with the challenges).”
- “The parts you need are locked by playing the game (that's perfect) but they're all randomized. It's tedious to get the parts you need after beating the game.”
- “I initially booted up time attack just to get a feel for the controls and ended up spending a couple of hours grinding laps for a faster time.”
replayability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game offers a solid level of replayability with a good amount of content and enjoyable arcade racing mechanics, though some find the content light and drifting mechanics occasionally frustrating. While not abundant in game modes, it provides enough variety to keep players engaged, but overall depth and efficiency in replay value could be improved.
- “Absolutely makes it replayable!”
- “The gamemodes are not too abundant, but enough for very good replayability.”
- “Nothing very buggy, a solid amount of content to experience, a competent, replayable, arcade racer in 2026 that is just done right.”
- “It has interesting and less interesting parts depending on a person's interest, but maybe it could've been more efficient and replayable than doing a soap drama.”
- “The content feels pretty light for full price, the drifting mechanics can get frustrating, and there's not enough depth or replayability to justify the cost.”
- “Content and replayability.”
monetization
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The monetization is generally seen as reasonable, with a focus on optional cosmetic purchases rather than intrusive microtransactions, providing good offline content value. However, some users express disappointment over the high prices of cosmetic items and compare it unfavorably to past arcade racing games, critiquing the industry's current trend toward monetized open-world and games-as-a-service models.
- “Honestly it's a great value, it has tons to do offline and isn't hitting you over the head with microtransactions (there are purchasable liveries though).”
- “Obviously people are mentioning comparisons with Blur and Burnout because we miss those games and big triple-A studios aren't taking the risk by developing arcade racing experiences anymore.”
- “I'm disappointed by the pricey cosmetic microtransactions.”
- “Obviously people are mentioning comparisons with Blur and Burnout because we miss those games and big AAA studios aren't taking the risk by developing arcade racing experiences anymore. Nowadays everything needs to be open world, full of microtransactions, FOMO, games as a service oriented game design and other kinds of BS.”
- “If they want monetization to support the game, players will happily spend for in-game cosmetics given that 1.”