FUMES plays like the car combat adventure I never knew I wanted

I usually dislike using "cool" as a descriptor in professional writing, but after playing the FUMES demo during February 2025's Steam Next Fest, the only thing I can really say is: FUMES is cool. Really cool, even when its physics are annoying and send you off the edge of a giant car-spewing, laser-firing robot so you have to climb it again.

I didn't really get a handle on what FUMES is about during the demo. I think you're a Mad Max-style mercenary – the Max inspirations are evident in everything from the decked-out death cars to the license plate that reads "Not M4x" – and trying to take on some kind of big desert bully. Most people are afraid to challenge this opponent, but you, with your car-mounted machine gun and shotgun, are apparently made of braver material.

The FUMES demo, and presumably the full game as well, is divided into two parts. There's an exploration segment, where you drive around procedurally generated wastelands and battle squads of enemies in their own specially modified cars. These moments are absolutely brilliant. There's a sense of frantic energy when driving in FUMES, like your car might flip at any second – and it usually does, if you turn too hard – as you go too fast without much regard for anything else around you. It's good, then, that you only take damage if an opponent blasts your car or rams into you with a buzzsaw and not when you run into stuff. 

Battles play out like dogfights on the ground, as you search for ways to split your target from the pack, pursue, retreat, and make desperate bids for victory before your car gets blasted to scrap. Despite having just a few basic maneuvers, including a dash, a primary attack, and a secondary attack, combat in FUMES feels riotously fun, thanks in no small part to the chaos of half a dozen cars crashing into each other and setting off explosions at once. After you get some extra parts, you can customize pretty much every aspect of your car, from the suspension to which outlandish weapons you want to take into your next fight.

Fun and important as weapons are, tuning your car's more practical parts ends up being just as useful. The second part of FUMES involves sending you into giant, usually mobile structures on a sabotage mission. You're finding entry points, navigating traps and tight walkways, using elevators, and getting stuck in arenas full of opponents – all the stuff you'd expect from a traditional action game, except you're a car. It's a clever twist that makes old design ideas feel fresh, basic things like pressing switches and avoiding deadly traps while you travel the wrong way up a conveyer belt. The downside to this creative setup is that your default car handles horribly, so it's easy to overcorrect and throw yourself into a trap or slide after braking and fall off a ledge. Still, the drive (ha…) to make your car run better is good incentive for doing everything else in FUMES.

The FUMES demo is available on Steam for free, and the game is planned for early access "soon."

Josh Broadwell

Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.