Screamer, the return of the historic Italian racing game

The year is 1995, the first PlayStation is released, Forrest Gump triumphs at the Oscars, and Windows 95 is introduced, but it's also the year in which an Italian video game developed by an Italian studio called Graffiti shows PC users a fast, adrenaline-filled, colorful racing game, just like those found in arcades or on consoles. A new, different game, eagerly awaited by an audience that can count on many excellent simulations but few arcade titles: Screamer .

Thirty years have passed, and Graffiti is now called Milestone , a name that is a guarantee in racing games; the heart is still Italian and we are ready for a new Screamer , which fortunately will not be a nostalgia operation like so many others but a completely new title with a lot of interesting ideas.

The only thing that's remained intact is the DNA: Screamer aims to be an arcade title, one of those racing games where tire grip, lift, and the rules of physics are only vague guidelines and the main focus is on having fun on the track. Be warned, though, that doesn't mean it's an easy title, because mastering the cars and the rules of these competitions will gradually require more and more effort if you want to triumph. Sure, the driving model is obviously forgiving in the early races, with a bit of "rubber band" that keeps the challenge balanced, but without opponents blatantly overtaking you even when you're going flat out or braking to let you catch up.

The heart of the game is a control system based on two analog sticks: the left one allows you to simply turn the car, while the right one sends it into an immediate drift. It doesn't matter how fast you're going, whether you're braking or not, or whether you've activated the turbo, with the right stick you drift, period. It takes a bit to get used to the system devised by Milestone , because normally to drift you have to play with the brake, accelerator, and steering to smooth out the curve, and we won't deny that the first few races were decidedly unsettling. However, once you get the hang of it, a game full of nuances opens up before you, with guardrails to skim over, avoiding being rammed.

Yes, because Screamer is a racing game, but it's also a 60-mile-per-hour battle based on the so-called "Echo System." By driving smoothly, timing your gear changes, and performing drifts, you can build up a charging bar called "Sync," which you can use to activate the turbo. Once used, Sync converts into "Entropy," which you can use to launch yourself at opponents and explode them or activate a temporary shield. Each character in the game will handle certain details of this system differently—for example, they'll have a more powerful turbo or a stronger attack—and it's up to you to find the character that best suits your needs.

Each race won't simply be a race to cross the finish line first, but a fierce battle where you'll have to be wary of opponents' attacks, understand when it's the right time to push your team forward, identify the space to unleash the turbo, and when it's best to stay behind to surprise an opponent at the last moment.

And this is the heart of Screamer , a title that aims to remind us that “arcade” does not mean easy, but simply a game that does not follow the rules of the real world and prefers to invent its own, and that knows how to show you its teeth after having taught you how to drive.

And all of this unfolds across countless tracks and a host of colorful characters that unfold throughout a story that takes players from the basics to the most complex races, with a visual style heavily influenced by '80s and '90s anime and the world of Japan, but also by the neon lights and speed of Fast & Furious . This style, it must be said, is another of the game's great strengths, capable of conveying a fabulous sense of speed in every race, without forgetting a bit of style, with headlight streaks, explosions, car bumps, and, of course, a bit of background music.

We'll see how it performs upon release, scheduled for 2026, but Screamer seems to have found an interesting balance between an atmosphere tied to video games and the look of the past and updated mechanics for a modern audience, who perhaps have already seen many similar titles and are looking for new thrills and new excuses to burn some rubber.