Driving in video games typically means driving fast. If you’re used to racing games like The Crew Motorfest or traditional haulage simulators like Alaskan Road Truckers, then Expeditions: A MudRunner Game may prove challenging. Here, where the road itself is your opponent, driving at all is a bigger concern.

In Expeditions: A MudRunner Game you complete contracts on maps made up of loose rocks, soft soil, and fast-flowing deep rivers. You must navigate this unforgiving world without running out of fuel or breaking your vehicle. One wrong turn can end your mission, forcing you to restart.

The main thing you should take into Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is an abundance of caution. The moment you stop thinking or paying attention—that’s when accidents happen. But if you find yourself in a 4x4 that’s rolled over at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you may be thinking, “Well, now what?”

We’ve put together this guide with some essential tips on how to get out of trouble in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game—or better yet, how to stay out of trouble in the first place.

 

Prepare...

Preparation is the focus of Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, even more than its predecessors SnowRunner and MudRunner. You're driving into the unknown without any support, so you must take everything you need with you.

You have many ways to prepare for an expedition. You can carry extra fuel to top up your tank if it runs dry. You can customize your vehicle with off-road tires that better traverse uneven and unstable terrain. You can pack specialist equipment, such as winch anchors, that can help you out of pits if you become stuck. And the most important decision of all is, of course, the vehicle you choose to take on the expedition. Some journeys call for a nimble Scout 4x4, others a flatbed truck with torque for days.

While you can never know exactly what you’ll need on a contract, the Tips section provides useful hints. It tells you how far you’ll be traveling, the difficulty level, the kind of terrain you'll face, and what sort of vehicle it recommends. It even gives you a small map of the area you’ll be navigating. If the Tips say the distance is high, take extra fuel. If the terrain is mountainous, fit your vehicle with offroad tires. If the Tips recommend a 4x4, you'd best pick one.

Also, the worst time to realize you didn’t pack a jack tool is when your vehicle rolls onto its back, and you have no way of righting yourself—so think hard about what equipment you’re choosing to take or leave behind.

...But don't over-prepare

I admit this might sound unhelpful, but hear me out: Every piece of equipment you pack costs money, eating into your earnings for completing a contract. Yes, you do automatically sell unused equipment back to the shop when you return to HQ, but it’s only at half the value you paid for it. Developer Saber Interactive is prompting you to take only what you will need on a mission.

You'll get a feel for the "right" amount of equipment the more missions you complete, but resist the temptation to take a jack or winch anchors on every excursion. If you drive carefully, you'll rarely need them.

This is why the following tips are essential.

 

When stuck, don’t go straight for the expensive stuff

Okay, so you got yourself stuck. Maybe you’re sunk in the mud, and your wheels are spinning uselessly. Maybe you’re halfway up a steep scree and can’t climb any further—or worst of all, wedged on a rock with none of your wheels on the ground. It’s frustrating (maybe even a little embarrassing) but every MudRunner player’s been here before.

Before you do anything, stop and think.

The two worst things you can do when stuck in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game are accelerate or use an item without first taking stock of the situation. It’s pretty natural to slam your foot on the accelerator, but in many instances it will make the problem worse—particularly if you’re stuck in mud—and if you stay stuck, you'll have burned fuel you might need later. Using an item may get you unstuck quickly, but they’re expensive and may be unnecessary.

Now, depending on your problem, there are a number of tools available that don’t cost you a thing. First is the winch. This grapple can be attached to nearby tree trunks and used to pull yourself out of the mud or pivot your vehicle if the wheels are in the air, allowing them to find purchase.

If you need more traction, such as when trying to climb a steep slope, you can reduce the pressure of your tires, increasing their surface area. This can also help you over soft terrain such as mud.

Putting your vehicle into low gear will increase your power output, which is helpful for mud or high-angle slopes. You can also boost power by activating All-Wheel Drive or locking your truck’s differential.

Only after trying all of these methods should you consider using expensive equipment. More often than not, you can escape from sticky situations without resorting to spending money.

 

Go slow

While it’s vital to know how to get unstuck when your vehicle becomes sunk in mud or wedged between rocks, it’s always better to avoid getting stuck in the first place. Whenever you’re trapped, you’re burning fuel and risking damage to your vehicle, and both an empty fuel tank and busted engine can bring expeditions to an early end.

To avoid getting into trouble, the best thing you can do is drive slowly. The slower you go, the more control you maintain over your vehicle. You can see when your wheels are beginning to sink into soft ground and reverse before you get in too deep. While moving slowly downhill, you can stop yourself from picking up speed and ramming into rocks or rolling your vehicle at the base of the slope.

Whenever you level out on a drive and find you can put your foot down, only give in to that temptation if you’re sure the ground is clear. The rocky ground of Arizona, for instance, is often cut through with narrow crevices which, if you hit them at speed, can roll your car or break an axle.

Driving slowly may not excite you, but it can avoid all manner of future frustrations.

 

Don't react to problems—preempt them

Now that you’re considering the merits of driving slowly, consider stopping altogether. Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is all about paying attention to your surroundings and avoiding literal pitfalls before they ruin your journey. To that end, developer Saber Interactive has given you an array of tools to keep you out of danger. You just need to remember to stop and use them.

The simplest of these tools is a pair of binoculars. If you stop your vehicle on a high ridge, you can take in the surrounding landscape and plan your journey. Yes, you can use the field glasses to identify airdrops and other points of interest, adding them to your map, but they are also helpful simply as a way to get an idea of the terrain you’re heading into.

Similar to the binoculars is your drone. You can fly this aerial camera in a wide radius around your vehicle, scoping out the ground around you. This is most useful for getting a sneak peek at the landscape on the other side of hills and rocky outcrops. If ever you're facing a steep wall of rock and are unsure whether you’ll be able to climb it, use your drone to see if there’s an easier route to the top. There almost always is.

The echo sounder is the tool with the most narrow use-case, but it can save you from some of the most frustrating failures. Activate this little sonar and it tells you, on a scale of green to red, the depth of nearby water. Whether you're looking to ford a river, traverse a swamp, or haul a trapped truck out of a mud pool, this is a fantastic tool for mapping the best path to safety.

Finally, while not technically a tool like the other items listed, use your map screen. The bird’s-eye view of the landscape gives you tons of information when it comes to plotting a route. And make use of your ability to pin waypoints to your map. It can be easy to get turned around when driving across a rough landscape, and waypoints can keep you on track.

Follow the above advice, and you’ll rarely find yourself completely stuck in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. Just remember: Be cautious, remain thoughtful, and lean into the challenges. Try to see getting stuck as a puzzle to be solved, not a frustrating blocker in your mission—because even with the best of intentions, you will get stuck in the mud a lot.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is available now in the Epic Games Store.