Screamer hands-on preview: One key feature makes this reboot incredibly unique

Arcade racing games have a lot of scope to be highly creative and innovative and there's one aspect in particular Milestone has absolutely nailed with Screamer.

Screamer is an upcoming high-octane arcade racer that's a reboot of the 1995 classic but has been completely overhauled 31 years on.

The 2026 entry has a narrative mode and features an anime aesthetic off-track and a more hybrid approach between that art style and a more realistic look on-track, a bit like Need for Speed Unbound.

But after being hands-on with it for 90 minutes or so, the one thing I can't get enough of is its unique take on car handling.

Screamer's unique twin-stick handling is an absolute triumph / Milestone

Going into the preview, I was intrigued to see how twin-stick handling on a controller would work. By this, I mean the left operates as you'd expect, controlling the steering input in a traditional manner, but the right-stick basically acts as a drift stick.

Each stick therefore feels like you're controlling the front and rear axels of the car separately instead of having to manipulate other controls, especially the brake, to successfully drift.

And this gives a feeling I've never experienced in a racing game before.

For context (sorry if you've heard me go on about this already) but I'm a huge fan of racing games with the first ever game I played being Colin McRae Rally with my dad when we got our first console, the PS1, back in 1998 when I was three-years-old.

I've been hooked on racing games ever since, both sim racers and arcade ones. Traditionally, I've always preferred sim racing games out of the two if I had to pick, it takes a lot for me to be hooked by an arcade racer.

But because of this new control system, Screamer has completely hooked me and I felt like I had to be dragged away from my preview slot once my time was up.

Screamer's story tells the tale of a number of different teams competing in The Tournament / Milestone

It takes a bit of getting used to at first - in the beginning, usual steering actually feels quite stiff and the right stick feels like it's too sensitive.

But once you get used to it, and you will do quickly in the way that the story mode gradually introduces you to each component of how the game races, you use each stick in tandem with each other and can precisely control the car around corners exactly the way you want to.

I never found my car doing something I didn't want to because of this layout. Although it's an arcade racer, it gave me such an unexpected deep level of control.

If I want to prioritise pace on more straight sections, I can fine tune that control with the left stick and use the right if there's a slightly tighter corner. If I'm in a much twistier section, I can use the right stick to perform a drift and then the left stick to fine tune the angle around each corner and to set me up for the next one.

And my word, when you get into a rhythm with it, it's addictive. With an upbeat soundtrack, predominantly of drum and bass which is a genre I like a lot, I couldn't stop grinning from ear-to-ear. I must have looked like a Cheshire Cat to those around me.

Speaking more about the control scheme, Screamer development and creative director Michele Caletti told me: "Having that precision really kelps to get those little advantages. We also wanted to minimise the effect of 'I didn't want to do that'."

Mastering the ECHO's toolbox is key to succeed / Milestone

The other key gameplay element is the ECHO system. Sync is the main resource that powers this and is generated passively and by shifting up gears when your RPM is in the perfect window, so looking for visual cues and listening to engine notes is key.

This builds the ability to perform a power boost or shield from those looking to attack you. You can take out other racers using strike, which acts like a focused boost, when a separate gauge fills.

An Overdrive can be enacted which acts like a more permanent strike but if you hit a barrier before it runs out, you KO yourself and the Overdrive ends. When you're KOd, you respawn immediately though, helping to give that flow feeling.

This quickly becomes crucial as taking someone else out, or being taken out, can be the difference between finishing first or last.

For those old enough to remember, this reminds me a bit of XGIII: Extreme G Racing (although that was on motorbikes, plus it has one of the best gaming soundtracks of all time from Ministry of Sound) where you have to build up attacks, shields and speed boosts to gain pace advantages, as well as taking out rivals and defending from those around you.

Screamer's story is told through anime cinematics / Milestone

Also, during the preview, I checked out the first six missions of the main storyline The Tournament and played across a few modes in Race and Team Race.

The Tournament features a host of characters from different teams and you play as drivers, or Screamers, and learn about their different perspectives.

The first handful of missions act like a tutorial to get used to the gameplay before ramping it up. Intriguing storylines start to establish about why certain teams are entering, what they want to get out of it and some of the mystery behind the competition.

Each racer has a unique perk and they genuinely alter the approach you need to take in races to get the best out of them. You quickly work out what styles work best for you too.

The Tournament is fully voice acted through a mix of cutscenes and text boxes with character animations.

Caletti told me The Tournament can take up to 15 hours if you choose to complete a "secondary event" alongside the main storyline.

"We wanted to create something that's intentionally disrupting the tropes of the racing genre, go away from the things you see all the time and go in a much bolder direction," he added.

"Many of the best games I remember have strong mechanics, gameplay and a strong story so that's important to us. A story in driving games is very hard as characters usually only talk about winning or losing which is why the characters are not like drivers at a first glance."

In Race, you can customise a race to your liking using rules unlocked from the story mode and in Team Race, final race standings are the main source of points but so are KOs.

These are fun modes away from the main storyline and it'll be thrilling competing against others online.

Smaller dialogue scenes are played out through on-screen text boxes with voice acting / Milestone

I'll be honest, this Screamer reboot was initially something I'd seen and thought "that looks cool" but didn't give too much further thought.

But now after playing it for 90 minutes or so, I genuinely can't stop thinking about it and will be jumping at the next chance to play it.

Given how much focus The Tournament has been given by developers, I'm praying this storyline can match how good the gameplay is because if it does, Screamer has the potential to stand among the very best arcade racers.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Old School Rally review: The essential rallying nostalgia hit
• Project Motor Racing review: Superb driving but AI racers need work

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