Big Moon Studios are finally striking out on their own with Dakar 18.

The developers cut their teeth working alongside studios like Milestone on MotoGP 13 and WRC 3, plus Kt Games on WRC 5 and arcade titles like Flatout 4. Now, they're aiming to bring all the drama and spectacle of the Dakar rally to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, bringing treacherous obstacles to a vast open world.

Have they succeeded? After a hands-on session with the game and a chat with the game's director, here's everything we've learned so far.

1. It’s surprisingly faithful

One of the most surprising things about Dakar 18 is just how faithful it is. It would have been very easy for Big Moon Studios to dilute the experience of Dakar to try and make it more accessible to casual racing fans, but instead they’ve gone all in on making it an accurate simulation.

The game puts an incredible emphasis on navigation, featuring authentic recreations of the driver guidebooks to help you navigate through the tough courses. At the top of the screen, you will see diagrams of upcoming landmarks, kilometres, and caps, while a co-pilot will also bark orders at you from the passenger seat, interpreting your notes to help you stay on course.

So, if you are find yourself veering off course, you will have to quickly consult your guidebook and listen to your co-pilot’s advice to reach your waypoint. It’s a unique mechanic and one that clearly distinguishes it from other racing titles.

“We want to make sure that people who really want to train for the rally raid have a game in their home and test it like a simulator game,” says the game’s director, Paolo J. Gomes. “We [also] want to make sure that we not only [appeal to] the community of Dakar fans, but we start explaining what Dakar is to everybody.”

You can see for miles in Dakar 18 © Big Moon Studios

2. The open world is huge

As you'd expect from a Dakar rally game, the open world is absolutely huge, boasting one of the largest maps of any racer. The sense of scale and scope is truly tremendous, with the draw distances in races creating spectacular moments as you see a convoy of other vehicles snake up dunes ahead of you.

As well as this, there is also a ton of variation in the courses themselves to keep the exploration fresh. You will encounter dunes, soft sand, rivers, in addition to new environments which feature better roads, beaches, and small rural communities.

“We want to recreate the pure cartography, geography, vegetation, including wildlife,” Gomes explains. “In certain areas you can find llamas or you can find rabbits. It depends on what exists there.”

3. There’s a treasure hunt mode

As well as standard races, there will also be the option to freely explore environments in search of Easter eggs. The treasure hunt is a free mode where you – in multiplayer or single player – can get into a vehicle of your choosing and test your navigation skills even further.

Paolo J. Gomes explained: “Basically, we asked each country’s tourist area to select four items for each one. So, we have four items for Peru, four items for Bolivia, and four items for Argentina, and they are hidden in some interesting points as Easter eggs. So, it [allows] you to discover the culture of these countries.”

This is a clever addition and one that exploits the potential of the overworld in a more laidback setting. While the main races are preoccupied with simulation, it’s great to see the developers taking liberties elsewhere to produce more content, as well as new reasons to explore the map.

4. Vehicle types will change how you approach stages

There are number of different vehicle types in the game. You can race in trucks, 4x4s, cars, quads, and bikes, with each vehicle fundamentally changing how you approach a course. For instance, trucks are obviously heavier and more cumbersome to manoeuvre through some of the obstacles, so it’s often wise to deviate from your roadmap and try to find an alternative route around steeper dunes or risk ruining your vehicle or getting stuck.

Meanwhile, bikes are a lot more fragile, flightier and will have a hard time in water, as well as throw you off if you hit an obstacle at a high enough speed.

This variety gives a lot of replayability to the individual stages and heightens the tension of certain scenarios depending on what you choose to race with. To give an example, getting out of soft sand in a car might be a much easier experience than in a truck where it will naturally sink further in due to its weight.

You can drive a variety of vehicles in Dakar 18 © Big Moon Studios

5. There are plenty of ways to fail

Dakar 18 is not easy. During my time with the game, I misjudged my speed going over a dune and ended up stuck in the soft sand on top. I also got lost and forfeited. And I crashed a couple of bikes beyond repair.

The team at Big Moon Studios are clearly designing the game as a learning experience for players, fully aware that many may not be able to immediately pick up the competitor mode and ace it first time. That’s why they have incorporated a rookie mode that will allow players to learn the courses ahead of time, enabling them to anticipate turns and formulate new strategies, before taking on the full simulation.

“Of course, we know the early adopters will be the Dakar fans,” says Gomes. “The people that were really waiting for that for 20 years. But then, we started working on the rookie mode, in which you have access to tools that can guide you. Of course, it is not an arrow course and it is not a spotlight, because that will destroy the game, but there are some tools that allow you to [get around easier].”

Additionally, to help out new players, they’ve also worked closely with team members at Honda to create five important lessons that are based on their own training regimes for new drivers. Players will be able to work their way through these before starting the game, picking up the basics as they go.

It’s hoped that this approach will foster a love of Dakar and rally raids in casual players and replicate the endurance aspect and difficulty for those who want to embrace it.

Bikes will struggle in the water in Dakar 18 © Big Moon Studios

6. Earn Dakar points to repair your vehicle

Another aspect worth touching upon are Dakar points. These are the currency in game, which are earned through hitting waypoints and performing tasks like towing other players. They are essential for repairing vehicles and will ensure that you can last the duration of each course.

You can bring up a menu and see an assessment of your vehicle’s condition, before selecting each component and spending a certain amount of Dakar points to fix the areas that may have been damaged, like your suspension, tyres, or brakes.