Trailmakers 2.0 Pioneers Review – Building A Good Time

If you can think it, and dream it, you can surely build it with Trailmakers. Well, if you’re not me, that is. I’m still experimenting with different creations in this game. Since this is my first experience with the Trailmakers franchise, there’s no telling what I might discover in my journey—whether it’s getting people off the island, out of the races, or deep into space. Hopefully, some space pirates will need to pick a proper fight with me before I set them straight with my very own ship!

Game Name: Trailmakers 2.0 Pioneers
Platform(s):  PC
Publisher(s): Flashbulb Games
Developer(s): Flashbulb Games
Release Date: March 6, 2025

There’s a calmness to Trailblazers that’s almost serene. The colors are typically warm, and the music ramps up only to a certain extent, maintaining a relaxed atmosphere. The UI is well-organized, and there are options to reset your progress if you’re about to see your creation go up in flames—or if things just aren’t working out. Templates are easily accessible to help you get started, whether you’re building race cars, tanks, or other creations. The game features a day and night cycle, with some modes leaning more toward the former. More templates are available for additional inspiration. If you let the intro screen run without pressing a key, you can even see some impressive creations made by other users.

There’s a calmness to Trailblazers that’s almost serene. The colors are typically warm, and the music ramps up only to a certain extent, maintaining a relaxed atmosphere. The UI is well-organized, and there are options to reset your progress if you’re about to see your creation go up in flames—or if things just aren’t working out. Templates are easily accessible to help you get started, whether you’re building race cars, tanks, or other creations. The game features a day and night cycle, with some modes leaning more toward the former. More templates are available for additional inspiration. If you let the intro screen run without pressing a key, you can even see some impressive creations made by other users.

Brick By Brick Thinking In Trailmakers

Creating and building vehicles is the name of the Trailmakers game, from motorbikes to Gundam-level mech suits with various weaponry. The game itself ties you to reality, as each creation requires a beating heart to bring it to life—engines and other inner workings to make them functional. And if you do get them going, piloting each creation can be just as challenging, especially if it’s not built correctly.

For me, my rocket-powered buggy go-kart was having none of it and spun out every time due to a lack of stability to handle the G-forces from its rear. Even when I went up against a classic Mustang drag racer, my heart was in the right place, but my ability to tame the beast and win surely was not—causing me to crash whenever I hit top speed. Sure, Trailmakers is as Lego as you can get, but it’s Lego Technic at its core, and it isn’t afraid to remind you of that.

I mastered land and sea racing through its various modes, but that’s just the beginning. Trailmakers recently released the 2.0 Pioneers expansion. Helping the frog-like Froggits fight off an alien force looking to invade and take over their planet’s resources is a major shift from the original stranded story. The Botnoks are pretty nasty foes who seem to get a kick out of making the frog folk’s lives difficult. Helping the Froggits in their fight for survival has other benefits, like powering their city and more.

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Some aspects of Trailmakers detract from the bigger picture. The racing portion, for example, doesn’t have enough players to support actual races in the lobbies, so you’re left relying on Ghost Battles to quench your thirst for competition. The most I’ve seen at once is four players. Some levels in sandbox mode also feel a bit too vast for solo NPC-versus-play. The space level, for instance, barely had me interact with anything or anyone.

There isn’t much of a sense of danger within Trailmakers‘ campaign. Since respawning and repairing come with no consequences, the game becomes practically effortless—just run around, nearly damage your creation, and reset. There’s no real “game over” if that happens, and there are no resources that prevent you from continuously resetting your progress.

One minor gripe I had with playing in Steam Deck desktop mode is the need for a keyboard to chat—though that’s a pretty small nitpick.

The Final Verdict of Trailmakers

For what it’s worth, Trailmakers does a lot of good for the building genre and challenges players to step into the galaxy of flux with open arms. For those like me, Trailmakers is a great entry point, offering a variety of modes that give this building simulator the depth it needs to stand on its own. It’s definitely worth checking out for anyone looking to scratch that tinker itch straight out of the box.

Trailmakers 2.0 Pioneers is available on PlayStation 4 | 5, Xbox Series X | S, and Steam.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Trailmakers was provided to us by Flashbulb Games for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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