Developer Caged Element has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its planned Grip: Combat Racing sequel, Grip XR. A demo for the game is available to download now on Steam.
A scorchingly fast combat racer, Grip: Combat Racing and Grip XR are spiritual successors to the long-defunct Rollcage series.
“Grip XR’s driving is unlike other racing games thanks to its big-wheeled, flippable cars that can drive on both sides while going incredibly fast,” explains Caged Element via the Grip XR Kickstarter. “Cars in this game can hit speeds of over 1000km/h, all while blazing through twisting tracks with opponents trying to blast them into oblivion.”
“While easy to pick up and play, the car’s movement mechanics open a wide range of opportunities to pull off advanced maneuvers and stunts. The levels in this game will encourage the craziest use of the vehicles, and will have multiple paths for players to experiment with.”
A new mechanic for Grip XR will be “Crank”, which is described as auxiliary boosters attached to each side of your vehicle that can be activated to flip your car instantly left or right, “letting you pull off quick and steezy maneuvers.” Players will be able to use Crank to instantly flip onto walls, reach other surfaces, and boost to shortcuts.
Grip XR will also feature an expanded version of the Carkour mode from Grip, with level editor tools.
“We’ve already developed these features for our previous game Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks, which has a flexible and easy-to-use level editor and workshop,” explains the studio. “We’ll be using the same system from that game, but improving and expanding on it.”
Grip XR will also feature an expanded range of weapons, and promises to address the weaknesses of the original Grip’s tracks.
“We are well aware of there being issues with Grip’s tracks, and we will do our best to not make those same level design mistakes again,” says Caged Element. “Grip XR’s racetracks will have better flow and be less punishing, while still requiring considerable skill to drive. We’ll be avoiding dead-stop obstacles and falling off the track as much as possible – unless it’s for higher difficulty maps.”
The original Grip: Combat Racing launched in 2018, after its own cancelled Kickstarter campaign and a subsequent stint in Steam Early Access. The project was born when Rollcage enthusiast Chris Mallinson tracked down programmer Robert Baker, a veteran of the original Rollcage development team at Attention to Detail, and pitched building a new game inspired by Rollcage.
Rollcage and Rollcage Stage II were released on PlayStation and PC way back in 1999 and 2000.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
