Dakar Desert Rally Deluxe Edition

I came into Dakar Desert Rally the same way I approach any motorsport game: with a gamepad in hand, a healthy scepticism toward the marketing, and the core question of whether it holds up past the first hour. The short answer is: sometimes brilliantly, sometimes maddeningly. This is a game that can slot you into a thundering Kamaz truck barrelling through a snowstorm on the Saudi highlands and make you feel every kilo of that machine's momentum, and then five minutes later watch you spin a quad out of control on a simple sweeping turn because the handling model just decided it hated you today. The vehicle roster is the game's clearest strength. You get five categories, motorcycles, cars, trucks, quads, and SSVs, all officially licensed from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Dakar Rally editions. The trucks are the standout class. They are weighty, theatrical, and enormously satisfying to pilot at pace. The quads, on the other hand, are virtually undrivable with their alarming tendency to spin out the moment you try to change direction. Career mode is the backbone of the experience: you earn points, buy vehicles, level up your profile, and eventually unlock Simulation mode at level 25. Sport mode is available from the start and uses an arcade-leaning approach with navigation aids that makes the game accessible to newcomers. Simulation strips that safety net away entirely and demands real waypoint discipline, which achievement data confirms almost nobody sticks with: only about 5% of players on Steam have finished a single stage in Simulation. The terrain itself is legitimately varied, covering dunes, beaches, savannas, and snow-capped mountains across over 30 stages, with dynamic weather that throws sandstorms at you mid-race. Carry-over vehicle damage between stages adds a repair management layer that racing game fans will appreciate, though even the lightest difficulty setting keeps that system active. The problems are real and worth naming before you spend money. The absence of a Quick Race mode is baffling for a 2022 release, meaning you cannot just drop in and run a single stage without committing to career structure. The AI is inconsistent, occasionally competitive, occasionally happy to shunt you off the track without consequence. Progression-killing bugs have been reported with some regularity, and framerate drops appear when on-screen action gets dense. The handling model never fully convinces regardless of difficulty setting, sitting in an uncomfortable middle ground between arcade accessibility and sim demands that satisfies neither audience completely. Multiplayer is present through online PvP, and Remote Play Together support means you can technically run it with a friend remotely, but there is no local split-screen, which rules out couch co-op entirely. For the Saturday night crew, this is not your party racer. Where it clicks, it genuinely clicks. The environments are the best-looking part of the package, with sunset lighting over the Arabian desert and storm effects that punch well above the game's budget. Free roam lets you explore outside of race events, which softens the grind of the career structure. If you have ever watched the actual Dakar Rally on television and wanted a reasonably authentic sense of what navigating those stages feels like, this gets closer than anything else currently available. It is accessible enough at Sport difficulty for a casual player to enjoy, punishing enough at Professional and Simulation to keep a dedicated rally fan engaged. Just go in knowing that the rough edges are real, the bug history is real, and the lack of a quick-play option is a genuine daily inconvenience.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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