Fumes is a post-apocalyptic driving combat game. Read on to learn everything we know, our review of the demo, and more.
Everything We Know About Fumes
Fumes Plot
Fumes features a minimal narrative setup. The game is set in a world where vehicular combat has become the primary means of survival. Players take control of a lone driver scavenging for upgrades and delivering cargo through dangerous zones controlled by anomalies and hostile enemies.
While the current version does not include a full narrative campaign, the developers have confirmed that a proper story and deeper world lore are in development and planned for future updates, as outlined in the official roadmap.
Fumes Gameplay
Fumes is a single-player vehicular combat game. Players operate a customizable car equipped with weapons and upgrades, navigating a large open environment filled with hazards and enemies.
Fumes Release Date
Fumes was released in Early Access on July 28, 2025. As of now, there is no confirmed full release date.
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 Steam |
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| Price | $14.99 | ||||
Fumes Review (Early Access)
Mad Maxing
The world collapses and now the new civilization is all about grit and gears. No laws. Just rusted metal and survival of the fastest. So you gear up your car, strap a gun to the hood, and drive straight into the dust storm with a tank full of vengeance. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s the plot of Mad Max. If you’ve ever watched any of the films in that franchise and thought, "I’d survive that, actually," then Fumes is exactly the kind of reckless, sand-blasted fantasy you’ve been waiting for.
Fumes is a single-player car combat action game where you never stop moving. Literally. The second you get behind the wheel, it’s go time—poaching enemy vehicles, scavenging scrap, delivering cargo, and slapping on upgrades like your life depends on it. Because it kind of does.
Combat Is Chaotic And I Love It
You don’t ease into combat in Fumes. You’re thrown into it like a wrench into an engine. From the moment your tires hit the ground, you’re moving, drifting, and unloading lead—and the beauty of it is that you never stop. Every skirmish is a momentum-driven ballet of destruction, with your guns blazing and your ride barely holding together as you chase down enemy vehicles like prey.
The game’s skirmish system ramps up cleverly. The longer you play, the harder the fights get. Pirates become more aggressive. Ambushes come more frequently. What was once a simple point-A-to-point-B run turns into a convoy siege you didn’t sign up for. You can’t be complacent. Even delivering a single piece of cargo becomes a decision soaked in risk.
And yet, it’s addicting. There’s something deeply satisfying about the loop. Get into a skirmish, drive like hell, scrap the fools who get in your way, grab their loot, and roll into the anomaly station like a dusty champion.
You can even intercept other deliveries, because in this world, morality is just another rusted-out bumper. You are the chaos. And it feels good.
Your Car Is Your Character
If you’re expecting a cozy garage to fine-tune your ride in peace, forget it. Fumes doesn’t let you breathe for long, but when you do finally get a moment between high-speed shootouts, you’ll find that the heart of this game beats under the hood. This isn’t just a vehicle, it’s your identity, your armor, your mobile murder machine.
There’s already a solid spread of customization options available, which is impressive for an early access launch. You can tweak the body, fine-tune your suspension, slap on new guns, and even deck out your car’s frame just for the aesthetics. Some players are here to survive, others are here to roll into battle looking like a dieselpunk god. I respect both.
But these aren’t just for show, the upgrades matter. You earn them by either completing missions or delivering cargo to anomaly stations, both act as your progression checkpoints. There are only three of the anomaly stations for now, and each one requires you to complete delivery missions in exchange for stronger parts. It’s a loop that sounds simple, but when cargo pirates and environmental hazards enter the picture, you start realizing this isn’t just a delivery job, it’s a death wish in motion. And because the enemies scale alongside your progress, each delivery becomes a little more tense, a little more fragile.
You will start to want more, though. After a few hours, you’ll have upgraded most things, completed the existing mission and progress chains, and wonder, "Is that it?" For now, kind of, but the bones are strong, and the tuning is tight. There’s a foundation here that’s itching for more layers.
Grit, Gas, And Guns
The world of Fumes is out to kill you. Not with boss fights or cutscenes but with the road itself. The world itself is an active threat. A shifting, dusty wasteland of anomaly traps, sneaky pirates, and enough rusted debris to make your suspension cry. And it’s beautiful in a rustpunk sort of way.
There’s a real sense of scale when you’re driving through these biomes. One moment, you’re weaving through jagged rocks in what feels like a dead canyon, the next you’re cresting over dunes at sunset, headlights piercing the red haze of a drystorm. There’s a full day and night cycle, and it’s not just for looks because nighttime driving becomes its own kind of challenge. Limited vision, harder ambushes, and an atmosphere that feels just unsafe enough to keep you on edge.
But the best part? The traps aren’t random. I noticed early on that pirates tend to camp around these anomaly traps, waiting for poor fools like me to drive through, thinking it’s just another anomaly station in the terrain. Suddenly, I’m being asked to surrender my cargo or honk continuously if I'm willing to die on this hill.
Sometimes, discovering a new biome feels like stepping into a wide-open world, the kind that stretches far beyond the horizon and dares you to keep exploring. Other times, though, the illusion thins. You start to notice familiar terrain, recycled shapes, and paths that loop back into themselves. Especially once you're deep into the upgrade cycle, it's hard to shake the feeling that you’ve driven this road before. Maybe twice. Maybe more.
It’s not unexpected as the game’s still in early access, but it does underline the need for stronger landmarks, more variation, or even just a broader map. The foundation is there. It just needs more room to breathe.
Needs More Oil In The Gears
For all the fuel-injected chaos and solid moment-to-moment gameplay, Fumes does hit a wall. After a few hours, you’ll likely have completed most of what the current build offers, delivered cargo to all three anomaly stations, maxed out your car’s performance, intercepted your fair share of convoys, and figured out the world’s ambush patterns. Then the loop starts to tighten, not in difficulty, but in variety.
The core gameplay is solid, I feel like I have to say that up front. The combat feels great, the driving handles well, and the systems already in place—from customization to progression—show a strong understanding of what this genre demands. But Early Access means just that, it’s early, and it shows.
With only a handful of stations, limited mission types, and a world that starts to blur together the longer you stay in it, there’s only so much meat on the bone for now. You will want more. More locations, more types of skirmishes, more tools to shake up the delivery gameplay. Maybe even more factions, more dynamic events, or risk systems that evolve the longer you’re out in the field.
None of this breaks the game, but they do put a cap on how long it’ll hold your attention in its current state. The good news? The fundamentals are already enjoyable. Which means the only thing between Fumes and greatness is time… and maybe a few hundred liters of fuel.
Worth Revving Up For
Fumes doesn’t need to convince me it has potential, it already does. What it needs is time to finish building the monstrous, grease-slicked beast it clearly wants to be. And if what’s here is any indication, it’s well on its way.
The devs have laid down the groundwork with a smart, self-assured design. The driving is tight. The combat is aggressive in all the right ways. The world, even in its current limited form, already understands how to create tension with terrain, time of day, and unpredictable encounters. You can tell they’re not just making a game about cars, they’re making a game about surviving inside one.
Personally? I’m already imagining what a co-op mode would feel like, barreling across the dunes with a friend in the passenger seat, yelling at them to shoot while you drift past an ambush. But what I really want, if I’m allowed to dream a little, is a full-scale MMO version. Convoys. Clans. Trading hubs in ruined cities. Massive skirmishes over fuel-rich territory. Mad Max meets EVE Online. Give me that, and I’m not logging out.
But even if it never goes that far, what’s here is already worth your attention, and frankly, your support. So if you’ve got a bit of road rage simmering under your skin, or just want a game that lets you be a complete menace behind the wheel, Fumes might just be the outlet you didn’t know you needed.
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Fumes Product Information
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| Title | FUMES |
|---|---|
| Release Date | Early Access July 28, 2025 |
| Developer | FUMES team |
| Publisher | FUMES team |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam) |
| Genre | Vehicular Combat, Boomer Shooter |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| ESRB Rating | N/A |
| Official Website | Fumes Official Website |
