At its best, this energetic racer can brighten your whole day.
Among its many surprises, Wheel World serves as a reminder that a game can feel stitched together from familiar building blocks while still delivering a truly one-of-a-kind experience.
Put simply, I keep telling myself that I sort of recognize various pieces of what I’m seeing in this open-world racing adventure. The races have you collecting letters to build words, echoing the vibe of Tony Hawk’s work. By heading to shrines, you uncover sections of the map—or at least reveal its many hidden layers—much like the approach used in a range of Ubisoft mega-titles. During the run, enormous glowing arrows shut off alternate routes, while boosts come from taking chances through maneuvers such as catching air or threading through oncoming traffic. Burnout, sweet Burnout… is that you?
Of course, that isn’t what’s happening when you’re controlling the moment-to-moment action. Tony Hawk, Ubisoft, and Burnout aren’t actually part of the experience as you race around. Or, to be more precise, you might catch fleeting reflections of them, but you never truly step into their territory. And as someone who’s into Tony Hawk and Burnout, I see that as a good sign. Because in terms of feel, Wheel World carves out its own character. It’s thrilling, high-tempo, and unexpectedly intimate — I’d even call it “human-sized” — especially when you consider its focus and how it frames its sense of scale. At its best, it’s quietly refreshing too. On a rough day, Wheel World has a way of lifting your mood.
That impression, I think, comes mainly from the vehicle at the center of everything. Wheel World focuses on bicycles in a world that seems completely captivated by them. There’s a whole set of beliefs about bikes, along with gods and ancient tales tied to wheels, drivetrains, and saddles—stories that come together in a setting where you’re picked by old biking spirits to perform a ritual that’s been forgotten. Practically speaking, that means you race across a couple of compact open worlds and go up against different groups in either checkpoint or point-to-point events, while you assemble a magical bicycle from scattered components. Alright. Fair enough. But it’s bicycles you’re using—no motorcycles. Proper, old-fashioned bikes.
And Wheel World is keen to underline how strange—and charming—traditional bikes can be even before you build your own little mythology around them. Take a look at the game’s protagonist, Kat, while they’re riding. They’re almost folded into the machine: a slim, angular slice of improbable paper-fold design resting inside another. There’s no engine, yet the blend of rider and machine creates a form of motion that seems to generate its own breeze—something that flutters across your skin, hair, and knuckles. It’s a constant nudge that the world is alive, responsive, and full of motion, and that you’re an active part of it.
Notice how Kat is pointed straight ahead—watch that focus and determination. That same quality is what makes it feel so unusual: bicycles lock you into the real-world side of space and speed, with vector choices and looming threats, while also acting like a reflection of dreams. You become a living sketch of arcs and playful lines, the racing tip of some cosmic fountain pen. You’re in direct contact with the ground, but you’re defined by constant movement. Truly magical stuff.
This is Wheel World’s standout achievement. It lets you wander through those open worlds freely—the first, and most impressive, being a gorgeous landscape inspired by Italy that feels like it could have been created as a joint effort between Cézanne and Moebius. I know those artists weren’t actually Italian. Still, it’s a place where trees look sharp like quills, hills are lined with vineyards, and tractors appear as bold caricatures. Then it opens up to show you that these areas contain both gripping straight segments and complex curves that test you in the best way as you try to hold speed. The world is built for you to explore and find your way through it.
That also means it’s enjoyable even when you aren’t racing. While you’re busy trying to take on teams on the open road to build your reputation for tackling bigger, more important challenges, you often find yourself spending time in Wheel World just wandering—looking for new races or shrines, hunting out shops, or tracking down free bike parts scattered around. Those bike parts help you upgrade your starting, beat-up bicycle piece by piece, swapping in forks, frame, seat, and more, with each new part bringing its own set of stats. Those stats affect everything from the bike’s aerodynamics (I wrote “aerodynamism,” and Google Docs helpfully corrected me) to its handling grip. Some parts even include perks that refill your boost in particular situations—for example.
The strength of this system is that although some bike parts are clearly better than others, many of them—there are plenty of options—are simply different. That’s why you can fine-tune your bike for whatever comes next, depending on whether the route is rough, whether you’ll be dealing with long straight sections, or whether you’re going to be threading through lots of corners and navigational twists. Each race has its own brand of challenge, with different finish goals such as ending in the top three, beating a particular time, or taking first place while gathering the three letters K-A-T scattered along the course.
Still, every event asks you to master the same core principles, just presented in different ways. Most races start with a chaotic mix of competitors, which gives you plenty of chances to draft behind others and win boosts from the people around you. But then,
You’ll need to spot the right time to tap into that burst, and to know exactly how to reset it. You also have to watch for jumps and identify shortcuts that let you skip sections of the route. As you press further into the game, you’ll be dodging vehicles more often, working your way through difficult stretches, and even dealing with hostile cyclists.
At first, this might feel like a lot, but just like any kind of practice, Wheel World really comes into its own once the lessons sink in—and each track turns into nothing more than those sweeping, winding paths that seem to murmur to you when to speed up, when to stop pushing, and when to let gravity do the work. Add bicycles with gears, and you’ll have to rethink several things from the ground up, yet you can still find your way back to that moment where Wheel World hits its radiant, wind-lashed, blissful high point—when it’s mostly about elegance and motion.
There are a few minor annoyances, I suppose. Once you finish a race, there’s no quick restart right away—at least, nothing I could locate—but in general, the game drops you fairly near to where you can hop back on and begin again. Likewise, the opening area is so striking and inviting—warm, breezy, and steeped in rustic character—that some players may not enjoy the harsher, more dystopian feel of the second zone. For my part, it felt as though I’d swapped Montaigne Country for Los Angeles through a techno-style lens, so I was satisfied, though it’s clear the mood change is substantial.
Still, beyond those points, Wheel World is packed with plenty of things worth loving. There are bike component bundles waiting for you to uncover. There’s even a standout moment where you roll out of the woods and suddenly glide along a jaw-dropping stretch of rugged coastline. On top of that, you’ll need to get off your bike to talk with the characters. And it even includes a charming detail: when you activate shrines, it comes with a ring from your small bike bell.
What a delightful experience this game delivers. It’s tightly focused on a sensation that rarely gets explored in games—pedal-driven power—and in doing so, it strikes a wonderful balance between playful wandering and high-energy rivalry. Wheel World genuinely sets itself apart.
A copy of Wheel World was provided for review by Annapurna Interactive.