Wheel World

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Current goal: Find better wheels

Wheel World is like Mario Kart World if the open map was actually fun to explore. It’s not as full of mysteries, treasure, or NPCs to run into as I’d like, and the game is one or two mechanics shy of feeling like a really robust racer, but as a walking sim on wheels, it’s really nice. The cel-shaded art is pretty, the music is nice, and the pastoral seaside routes you race through feel like getting a small taste of that vacation to the South of France you’ll never be able to afford.

The writing can be kind of silly—you’re basically helping a ghost find its special bike parts so it can ride an extra-dimensional slip-stream or something—but I like the absurd conversations you have with all manner of cyclist gangs just waiting to be challenged for supremacy on their home turf. Throughout the adventure you earn better bike parts that can be used to customize your stats for racing, with each win and special objective unlocking extra rep that lets you compete in tougher races. It has the pacing of a Pokémon game if you were shredding down gravel paths instead of mashing Pikachu’s thunderbolt over and over again. — Ethan Gach