I’ve been neck-deep in Warhammer games these last few years, jumping between dark tide, Space Sailor 2and dishonest trader like a Mawtribe Ogre at a buffet. The Warhammer crowd? We are celebrating. It’s gotten so wild that we’re putting up numbers that would equal star wars Fans do a double take.
With all these hits falling, you’d think I’d be on top, but the first time I found out Warhammer 40,000: speed freaksmy hype train hit the brakes. Every time a franchise tries to become a kart racer, I have flashbacks of those awkward crossovers that no one asked for.
Turns out I was dead wrong. Speed Freeks is not a cute kart racer; It’s as if Twisted Metal has been kidnapped by a mob of Orks in the middle of a sugar rush.
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Qualification: Warhammer 40,000: speed freaks
Genres: Combat Runner, PvP, PvE
Released: May 22, 2026
Developer: caged element
Available in: Xbox Series X, Windows PC, PlayStation 5
Price: $19.99
Play Xbox anywhere: ❌
Xbox Game Pass: ✔️
Within minutes of starting the game, I was neck-deep in pure, unfiltered chaos. The Orks illuminated the battlefield with miniguns, rockets, charged electroshots, and predator-type guided missiles. Was so incredibly wrong about being a kart racer; went up in smoke.
Look, I went into the preview for this game like a card-carrying Warhammer junkie, but I barely read the surface. So you can imagine my jaw hitting the ground as I was dropped straight into an open world. It’s not a linear race track.
Here’s the deal: you control some sort of Ork vehicles, from normal four-wheeled Mad Max-looking psycho cars to tanks and even helicopters. Each comes equipped with some type of primary and secondary weapon, with some type of boost or other ability that repairs friends, damages enemies, or allows you to stay alive a little longer.
I started with the basic vehicle, a nice, dirty Boomdakka Snazzwagon. This little convertible splashes the enemy twice. Through primary fire from a Dakka machine gun and secondary fire with live fire through a “burn bottle”. Can I just say that I love the Ork language in Warhammer?
You’re locked out of most other vehicles, but don’t worry, they all unlock pretty quickly. Before I could even figure out what one vehicle was decent at, I had another one on my list of selectable vehicles taunting me for a test drive. And the test I did.
With these vehicles, players can choose between two standard game modes. One focuses on pushing a large Stompa around the world map, with each team trying to get their Stompa to the end first. Teams can try to collect respawn bombs on the map that can be “hand-delivered” to the enemy Stompa team to slow their progression. Deaths also slow progression, but in much smaller increments than dropping a bomb.
Before moving on to the second main game mode, I need a moment to pause. At a time when gamers pay between $60 and $80 for new games, or even $100 if the Take-Two people got their way, Caged Element and Wired Productions are here doing the impossible.
For the same price as a double meal combo at McDonald’s (it’s actually a lot less), you can get Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks for $19.99. Not only is that an incredible price in itself, but they didn’t even increase it to $25 like most would. Heck, it seems like the standard price these days for smaller titles is now $30 to $40, but Wired Productions (the publisher) is here giving us dimes for the price of two large lattes.
Second is the “Deff Rally” game mode, which pits two teams against each other in a more race-like environment. Beacons will appear on the map which each team can run to and claim first. From there, about 30 seconds later, a race will begin with a dozen or more checkpoints for players to reach.
The first player to cross the line gets a good amount of points for his team, and the top five players get points with values relative to their place. Once again, killing enemy players also counts your team’s score.
Both modes run in 8v8 chaos, which may seem small next to online giants like Battlefield 6, but trust me, when it comes to vehicle carnage, 16 is the magic number. Any more and I’d probably just stick myself inside a tank and pray.
Each mode is different enough that I had a lot of fun switching between the two before noticing a full community map creator that players can access. I encountered giant, physically bending metal monstrosities, storied landscapes, and a recreation of the best Counter-Strike map ever created, Dust 2.
You can immerse yourself in all of these wild creations in the public lobbies, most of which are rally races from start to finish. So yeah, I guess there’s a little bit of kart racing DNA hiding in there after all. But even when you’ve finally played the main maps, there are still four free battle passes waiting to be conquered.
Yes, the game also comes with its own variation of free battle passes called Waaagh Path! Each has between 70 and 100 levels to complete, and offers various cosmetics for your vehicles. Players earn levels for their selected Waaagh Path by earning scraps by completing public and private matches.
Needless to say, for $20, I can’t believe how much gameplay comes in Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks. I think I just found my Saturday night friends game for next month.
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