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.

83%Game Brain Score

story, gameplay

grinding, replayability

83% User Score Based on 738 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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83%

Audience ScoreBased on 738 reviews

story187 positive mentions

grinding5 negative mentions

Unique and refreshing arcade racing gameplay with a twin-stick drifting mechanic that provides a high skill ceiling and rewarding mastery.
Engaging and surprisingly deep story mode presented through anime-style cutscenes and visual novel segments, with a diverse, well-voiced international cast.
Excellent art direction, car designs, and soundtrack that vividly complement the cyberpunk racing theme, creating a stylish, immersive experience.

Steep learning curve and challenging controls may frustrate new players; the twin-stick drift setup can feel unintuitive initially.
The story pacing is uneven and overly long, with excessive visual novel dialogue that can disrupt the racing flow and may not appeal to all players.
Online multiplayer is underpopulated with netcode issues and balance problems; higher price point limits player base and community activity.

story
906 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
74%
5%
The story mode in this arcade racing game is a surprisingly substantial and character-driven experience, blending visual novel-style dialogues with occasional animated cutscenes. While it takes time to pick up and is occasionally criticized for pacing issues, excessive dialogue, and a somewhat uneven ending, many players found it engaging, emotionally impactful, and a refreshing departure from typical racing game narratives. Its integration with gameplay mechanics and a diverse cast receiving development adds depth, making it arguably one of the best stories in the genre, though not without divisive aspects such as its heavy anime influence and presentation style.
- “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. The game does a pretty nice job at presenting it through visual novel-style dialogues and cel-shaded anime-style cutscenes, all fully voiced in many different languages.”
- “While the surprisingly-beefy story mode (it took me about 20 hours to complete) isn't groundbreaking, it manages to weave between the swapping perspectives of the 15 player characters enough to make them genuinely interesting and sympathetic. This is a rare feat for a racing game story.”
- “The story mode gradually introduces new mechanics at a comfortable pace, making it easy to get hooked as everything starts to click. The narrative is a mix of anime storytelling and visual novel elements, combined with engaging characters and unique motivations for racing.”
- “The story mode is just an absolute drag. It is about 4 times longer than I wanted it to be, dragging everything out like crazy. Even the races felt too long and repetitive, with similar courses used over and over.”
- “The story is badly written and confusing due to constant switching between characters with little warning. The visual novel scenes are mid at best, making it difficult to follow or stay immersed.”
- “The story has a tiny spark of potential but is immediately smothered by poor writing. The pacing is uneven, dialogue is mind-numbing, and cutscenes feel poorly timed. Overall, the story is somewhat messy and feels like an unfinished fanfic.”
gameplay
453 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
68%
3%
Screamer offers a highly unique and mechanically deep arcade racing experience centered around a challenging twin-stick drifting system combined with combat elements like boosting, striking, and overdrives. While the gameplay has a steep learning curve and may feel awkward or inaccessible at first, persistent players find it highly rewarding, fast-paced, and engaging with varied character abilities and tactical depth uncommon in the genre. The game’s story mode effectively introduces mechanics gradually, making it essential for mastering gameplay, though some find it lengthy or pacing uneven; overall, Screamer stands out as a refreshing, skill-focused racer that demands mastery but delivers satisfying and stylish racing once the controls click.
- “The gameplay is the real standout, featuring a cool right-stick drifting mechanic that demands you unlearn years of muscle memory; it’s a steep learning curve, but once it clicks, it truly clicks.”
- “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 (the OST slaps incredibly hard, funnily enough the most fighting game-reminiscent part of this game is its character-specific OST) and extensive customisation with unlockable parts through gameplay and challenges, the wide variety of tracks in widely different (sometimes otherworldly) 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.”
- “Gameplay wise, Screamer provides a fast paced racing game with slight hints of fighting game thinking, from knowing when to shield (block) and strike your opponents.”
- “The mechanics are pretty awful.”
- “It also has one of the worst drift mechanics I have ever seen in any driving game.”
- “The gameplay however is confusing, unforgiving and unfun.”
music
234 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
49%
1%
The music in the game is widely praised for its high-energy, genre-diverse, and character-specific soundtrack that perfectly complements the racing action and stylized visuals, often described as a standout, hype-inducing element. While some players wish for greater variety and more tracks, the overall consensus highlights a dynamic, memorable, and banger soundtrack that enhances immersion and adds significant personality to the gameplay.
- “Characters feel like they have personality when racing, visceral engine sounds, and dynamic music. At peak moments it reminds me of Split/Second: Velocity.”
- “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 to jump in another race.”
- “The soundtrack is peak. I am currently listening to it as I write this. Each team in the game has their own theme that is reflected in the soundtrack, but there are also some more generic tracks in the OST that reflect what is happening in the game or story.”
- “Once again another boring music selection from Milestone.”
- “The music is also admittedly bland.”
- “I wish the soundtrack had a few more tracks; I felt like I was hearing the same songs a little too often.”
graphics
175 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
49%
2%
The game features a striking anime-inspired art style that brilliantly combines vibrant, cyberpunk aesthetics with detailed vehicle and environment designs, earning widespread praise for its visual appeal and artistic direction. Graphics run smoothly on medium to high settings, though some users note optimization issues and diminished visual quality on lower settings or certain hardware. Overall, the visuals are considered a standout element, effectively enhancing the immersive, stylish racing experience despite occasional technical hiccups.
- “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).”
- “Absolutely stellar visuals with little to no performance problems on my machine.”
- “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, low quality and disappointing.”
- “The background does not match the art style of the character art style at all and looks very out of place; as for the actual game, I'd say it's visually pleasing and very vibrant for the most part.”
optimization
63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
71%
5%
Optimization for the game is generally solid, delivering smooth performance with high frame rates on powerful systems and well-implemented upscaling options like DLSS and FSR. However, players with mid-range or lower-end hardware report frame drops, stuttering, and performance dips during intense scenes or multiplayer, indicating room for improvement. Overall, while visually impressive and technically stable on high-end setups, some optimization issues and inconsistent performance affect the experience for a portion of the player base.
- “When it comes to the optimization for this game, it's incredible.”
- “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 4070super 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, and the VO and campaign story are great, but the minute-to-minute racing feels super frustrating.”
- “If you increase settings to medium, performance drops quite a bit, especially at higher speeds where it can fall to around 45 fps.”
- “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.”
emotional
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
82%
18%
The game's emotional impact is mixed: while the racing offers intense excitement, adrenaline, and unique character mechanics that heighten engagement, the story receives criticism for its filler content, shallow or cringe-worthy dialogue, and unsatisfying endings, despite occasional emotional highs and well-crafted characters. Some players find the narrative emotionally affecting and refreshing for a racing game, but others view it as slow, poorly animated, and lacking depth.
- “This story made me cry and gasp, and the racing made me shake and scream.”
- “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.”
- “Bad and really boring story (after 3 hours of useless, cringe dialogues it made me skip everything).”
- “Insanely boring story, 20% cutscene, 80% incredibly slow and pale soulless visual novel slop.”
character development
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
59%
23%
18%
Character development in the game is generally praised for having well-designed, engaging characters with distinct personalities and intertwined narratives, featuring conflict, drama, and plot twists. While some character designs receive mixed opinions, overall they are considered thoughtful and tied closely to story elements. The story's pacing and character growth are seen as decent, contributing to one of the first racing games with meaningful character development.
- “The character designs overall are solid and their cars seem to be an extension of their personalities in a way.”
- “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.”
- “One of the worst character designs.”
- “Character design and voice acting 5/10.”
- “Aisha has a hatred feeling, Hina is annoying but the rest are fitting.”
stability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The game demonstrates excellent stability, running smoothly on both high-end PCs and lower-spec devices like the Steam Deck with minimal crashes or glitches. However, some multiplayer issues such as matchmaking delays and occasional bugs were reported. Overall, it is well-optimized and reliably stable for single-player and general gameplay.
- “My CPU is actually below the minimum spec, and the game still runs great.”
- “The game runs great even on the Steam Deck, and also looks good while doing so.”
- “The game runs great on my hardware, with only one isolated crash during the entire main story and 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.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is often praised for its genuine, witty dialogue and amusing multiplayer banter, especially early on. However, some find the story's attempt at maturity and later installments devolving into awkward fan fiction-style writing less funny. Overall, the humor balances well between intense, charming moments and lighthearted, chaotic multiplayer fun.
- “You can even get meter from KOing your own teammates, which to the game's credit, never ceases to be funny.”
- “Pretty hilarious with like 10 cars all with unique dialogue, talking and bashing each other.”
- “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.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The atmosphere is consistently praised for being bold, immersive, and richly detailed, combining striking visuals, engaging music, and a nostalgic arcade vibe. It effectively enhances the game's wide variety of tracks and deepens the overall experience with a strong sense of passion and originality. Players highlight the intense tension and authentic feel that make the atmosphere a standout aspect of the game.
- “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.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
83%
Grinding for parts and cosmetics is generally seen as worthwhile and rewarding, as it unlocks meaningful car customization that evolves with gameplay rather than relying on paid or randomized systems. However, some find the grind tedious, especially in story mode and post-game, due to randomized unlocks and slow progression. Overall, grinding enhances personalization but can occasionally feel repetitive or time-consuming.
- “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 that's all randomized. Now it's just 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 competent arcade racing experience and multiple game modes, though some find the content light and drifting mechanics frustrating. While enjoyable, it may lack sufficient depth and variety for all players to feel it justifies the full price.
- “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
60%
60%
The game's monetization is generally seen as reasonable, focusing on optional cosmetic purchases without aggressive microtransactions. While some users appreciate the value and offline content, others express disappointment over the price of cosmetic items and the lack of demo or advertising. Overall, players prefer fair monetization that supports the game without intrusive tactics.
- “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).”
- “If they want monetization to support the game, players will happily spend for in-game cosmetics.”
- “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.”
- “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...”