Long before the era of open-world dominance, one franchise dared to be the bad boy of the racing world. Carmageddon wasn’t just about crossing the finish line; it was about the carnage you left in your wake.
Now, with Carmageddon: Rogue Shift, the series is making a high-octane comeback by trading its traditional roots for a brutal, tactical roguelite loop.
We sat down with Giuseppe Enrico Franchi, Studio Head and Game Director at 34BigThings, to discuss how they are reinventing this infamous legacy for a new generation, the challenges of balancing tactical builds with mindless destruction, and why the “Wasted” are your new best friends (and worst enemies) on the road to the spaceport.
Hi, could you please introduce yourself. What has been your role on Carmageddon: Rogue Shift, and at 34BigThings in general?
I’m Giuseppe Enrico Franchi, one of the three co-founders of 34BigThings back in 2013. I am the Game Director for Carmageddon: Rogue Shift. Having handled game design since our inception, I moved into the role of Head of Design as we scaled, and I’ve recently assumed the position of Studio Head.
So sell it – in a sentence or two, why should players be interested in hitting the post-apocalyptic world of Carmageddon: Rogue Shift?
The best compliment we’ve received so far is: “It plays exactly like those classic PS2 combat racers.” We’ve built an unconventional blend of tactical roguelite and spectacular vehicular combat to honor a franchise that deserves to live on. We promise adrenaline, high speeds, and plenty of things going splat and boom.
Carmageddon has always carried a slightly infamous reputation. How did development of this latest iteration come about and have you ever felt pressure balancing the legacy with ensuring that Rogue Shift is totally accessible to a modern audience?
We began exploring external IPs during the late stages of Redout 2, and Carmageddon was at the top of the list. After experimenting with various concepts during pre-production, we agreed on our current direction alongside Saber Interactive, our referent at the time.
Of course, there was pressure: balancing the expectations of stakeholders and longtime fans is a massive task. To quote Billie Jean King, “Pressure is a privilege.” The original Carmageddon was technically brilliant and dared to be controversial. However, we felt from the start that the original formula needed to evolve to capture a modern audience. We approached the license with that same spirit of courage, focusing on what we do best as a studio.
Each vehicle in Rogue Shift feels meaningfully different, not just a stat swap. How much time went into tuning handling and weight so players could really feel those differences during a run?
The answer is a lot.
We iterated constantly, seeking validation from both newcomers and veteran racing players from pre-alpha through the late beta stages. I believe that nailing the handling is the make-or-break for any vehicular game, even more so in this case since we wanted to bridge the gap between Carmageddon fans, combat racing enthusiasts, and roguelite players. Finding common ground was not easy, but basically each vehicle has one of these specific player archetypes in mind.
And similarly, with dozens of perks and a wide range of weapons, build-crafting becomes a big part of the experience. How did you approach the upgrades and weapons?
Our philosophy was essentially, “Throw it against the wall and see what sticks.”
To sustain a meaningful roguelite system we needed massive variety, so we began prototyping upgrades as soon as we could. Our designers generated infinite lists of every perk imaginable; if it was even remotely feasible to build, we tried it. At one point, the system became so complex that we had to pause and use enormous spreadsheets just to track the overlapping effects.
For weapons, we were more surgical: the “feel” of firing must be polished and satisfying. That didn’t stop us from getting creative, though. Like the Needler, which fires projectiles that detonate only once enough are attached to a target, or the Spinfusor, a slow-moving missile that gains explosive damage the further it travels.
And further to that, how have you gone about preventing dominant or must-pick builds to ensure players experiment with the tools to hand?
With so many variables, preventing a meta is nearly impossible. We’ve used caps and diminishing returns, but ultimately, we embrace the fact that players will find ways to break the game. We hope they surprise us! I originally wanted the final boss to be beatable only by finding a broken build, but the team eventually talked some sense into me. Still, you still can’t expect to roll into the endgame with a basic loadout and emerge victorious.
Do you have a personal favourite vehicle or build in Rogue Shift – the one you always gravitate back to when testing or just playing for fun?
I have a major soft spot for the Hawk. Its rowdy, rear-wheel-drive handling is a real challenge to master, but the kick you get when you finally tame that power is intoxicating. Plus, the engine sound is just so crunchy, I love hearing it scream.
Could you tell us more about The Wasted, their types, and how they populate the racing world.
A Wasted is your average Joe who succumbed to the mutation. These fine folks roam the streets trying to find something to eat, and if you run them over you’ll receive Credits and Boost. They will try to surround your car and wreck it, but they are not particularly dangerous. Streams of wasted, we call them Hordes, will emerge and run onto the track more and more often as you progress in the Campaign: these are bigger, heavier, numerous and more dangerous.
Special mutations generate different kinds of Wasted that are particularly nasty: the Boomer, which explodes in proximity and on contact; the Spitter, which fires long range artillery shots; the Broodmother, which releases explosive eggs on the track when killed, and a couple more. These will spawn in slightly different locations each race, so you better watch the road.
And how about that branching, node-based route through Rogue Shift? Was there a particular philosophy guiding how punishing or forgiving the game should be when players decide to gamble with various routes?
We wanted to create space for interesting choices by balancing the presence of shops and repairs, the type and difficulty of events presented, and the length of each path, to create simple tradeoffs. Generally, shortest paths are harder, but that is not a hard rule. Some builds excel on specific tracks or in certain game modes but struggle on others, so players must constantly assess their current situation.
To keep things fresh, we played around with different ways to pregenerate structures and mix things up with each new game.
The Beatcoin and Credit split feels very well judged in terms of progression and failure not feeling wasted. How difficult was it to strike that balance between tension and long-term reward?
We iterated on a forecast model and used playtest data to balance progression. As long as you have items left to unlock, we want every run to feel rewarding. Failure is a core part of the roguelite loop, but it shouldn’t feel like wasted time. We want you to feel excited to check out your new unlocks, no matter the length of the run just ended, and jump into another run right away.
From a technical standpoint, Rogue Shift holds up remarkably well even during extreme on-screen chaos. What were the biggest performance challenges when everything is exploding at once?
Thank you, we have been working hard on this. We wanted the environment to feel alive in all its post-apocalyptic decadence, which meant high detail and tons of physics-enabled objects. Explosions, VFX and lighting, the hundreds of Wasted roaming the track at once needing animations and navigation, all combined is computationally heavy if not approached in a smart way.
Dedicated performance patches are ready for all platforms and will roll out on release or just shortly after.
Carmageddon feels like a series that naturally lends itself to multiplayer chaos, yet Rogue Shift is strictly solo. Was multiplayer ever considered, or was the focus always on this being a single-player experience?
It was indeed considered, but it’s not that easy. Our physics, handling, damage models, the systems used to animate hundreds of enemies, just to make a few examples: these were all built for a single-player experience.
As a roguelite, we decided the solo experience had to be the priority; we’d rather release a great single-player game than two half-baked ones.
And finally, how do you see the future of Carmageddon evolving from here – more Rogue Shift, or further reinvention?
For now, we’re focused on the future of Carmageddon Rogue Shift. We have some boxes we’d love to tick, like harder challenges and modded runs for those players who complete the Campaign, more cameras, more… stuff.
Regarding the Carmageddon brand, my hope is that a new generation of players will discover the franchise through Rogue Shift, grow curious, and go back to play the classics. A legacy cannot survive on nostalgia alone; it needs fresh faces, new ideas, and a bit of courage.
With its blend of classic PS2-era combat and modern roguelite depth, Carmageddon: Rogue Shift looks to be a daring evolution for a franchise that has never been afraid to break the rules.
Whether you’re mastery-tuning a vehicle, or experimenting with game-breaking weapon synergies, it’s clear that the team at 34BigThings has poured all their racing expertise into this post-apocalyptic revival.
As the finish line approaches on February 6th 2026, one thing is certain: the streets are about to get a lot redder.
Huge thanks go out to Giuseppe and 34BigThings for their time in the lead-up to launch of Carmageddon: Rogue Shift on Xbox (through the Xbox Store), PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Our full review of the game is now live and available. Give it a read.
