Screamer

Screamer is a racing game from Milestone, which both developed and published it. It came out on March 26, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. The game reboots Milestone’s 1995 MS-DOS racer of the same name, released back when the studio went by Graffiti, and it is the first entry in the series since Screamer 4x4 in 2000.

The story takes place in Neo Rey, a futuristic city drawn from cyberpunk anime, where a figure named Mr. Apollo runs an underground racing tournament called the Screamer. Every car in the event carries an Echo device that brings both the vehicle and its driver back after a fatal crash. Teams with their own motives enter the contest, among them the Jupiter Stormers, the masked Green Reapers, Anaconda Corp, the idol group Strike Force Romanda, and the late-arriving Kagawa-Kai. Tracks run through towering cityscapes, scorched deserts, and lush woodlands.

Racing mixes speed with combat through the ECHO system built into each car. Shifts and takedowns generate a resource called Sync, which can be spent on Boost for a burst of acceleration or on Shield for a brief window of invulnerability. Spending Sync charges Entropy, an offensive resource used for Strikes that can knock out rivals. A full Entropy bar triggers Overdrive, which grants high speed, temporary invincibility, and the ability to KO opponents on contact. The Twin Stick system assigns steering to the left stick and drifting to the right, while Active Shift rewards changing gear at the right RPM with extra Sync.

Modes include Race, Checkpoint, Team Race, Time Attack, Score Challenge, and Overdrive Challenge, with online, offline, and split-screen play. A Ranked Team Race mode was added to the online modes in a June 2026 patch. Cars can be personalized with liveries and custom parts unlocked through play, and the game includes accessibility features such as auditory and visual options.

Screamer was revealed at The Game Awards 2024, along with the news that Troy Baker would voice a pivotal character, and its first gameplay trailer arrived in June 2025. Its look draws on anime and manga from the 1980s and 1990s, and Japanese studio Polygon Pictures worked on its animated cutscenes. On Metacritic, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions received generally favorable reviews and the Windows version received mixed or average reviews, while OpenCritic reported that 70% of critics recommended it.