Wheel World is the latest from Messhof, the small indie studio responsible for games like NIDHOGG. It’s about riding bikes in an open-world bike-themed purgatory. You wake up at a bike-themed shrine with a crappy bike and a magical glowing skull (named Skully, naturally) demanding you get up and help him reboot the world’s system of reincarnation, which seems to be broken, or corrupted, or something.

Wheel World is full of all the standard things you’d expect from an open world racing game. It’s got Bell Shrines that expand your ability to boost and reveal a section of the map, it’s got little shops to buy new parts for your bike, it’s got hidden parts tucked all over the place, and – obviously – it’s got races.

Each region has a couple little bike clubs that you can challenge in a race nearby their home turf. Win a race and get Rep (which you’ll need to challenge the “boss” of the region) and a new part for your bike. Races also have two key side-objectives: collect hidden K-A-T letters along the course (your name is Kat) and beat a challenge-time, completing those will earn you more Rep. Regions can be tackled in any order, and races within those regions can also be done in any order, save for the boss, who might need you to go get more rep from another region first.

Races in this game can be pretty challenging, and not just because I apparently picked the hardest region first, when I had the worst bike imaginable. The “hard” AI in this game is brutal, it will steer you into walls, it will steer you into traffic, it is not subject to collision physics, it is not subject to being knocked down, it’s rough stuff. To balance this out your bike is wildly customizable, you don’t just have like different models, every part of the bike can be swapped out at any time between races: frame, wheels (front and back independently!), handlebars, front forks, drive train, seat, everything. Every part has unique stat implications, and in some cases extra perks like better traction on dirt or gravel. Drive trains also have varying gear options.

So that all sounds great, but honestly I didn’t find a serious reason to engage in this system at all. Your initial goal is to race against these bosses, collect their Legendary Bike Parts, and assemble the Legendary Bike. These Legendary Parts are both objectively better than off-the-shelf parts and they’ve got an outright broken perk that makes them passively build boost. Usually you have to do something to build boost like catch air off a ramp, draft behind a racer, or graze past a hazard like a car or something. These Legendary parts just build boost all the time, ensuring you can easily continuously boost yourself even in first place.

It’s not a super long game, I finished with first place in all races after about 5 hours of play. I still have some challenges incomplete, and a whole mess of achievements tied to racing with specific loadouts, but I’m not sure I’ll go back. It’s fine, it’s good, I enjoyed it, but it’s not something I would’ve sought out if it wasn’t for Game Pass. If it’s on sale, or if you’ve got Game Pass, go for it, though!