We’ll forgive you if you’ve never heard of Screamer, a 1995 racing game for the long-obsolete MS-DOS operating system. I hadn’t. Turns out, though, it was developed by an Italian company called Graffiti, which later became Milestone, the developer behind the officially licensed MotoGP games, as well as the WRC franchise before that was taken over by EA.
Milestone’s also put out more arcade-ish titles of late – the Hot Wheels Unleashed games and Monster Jam Showdown to name a couple. It’s heading further down that route with an unexpected revival of Screamer, due to launch in 2026 and taking on a very different aesthetic to the original.
We can best describe that aesthetic of a cross between Cyberpunk 2077 and Need for Speed Unbound, as the game’s set to have players race around a futuristic, neon-lit cityscape in heavily modified cars. Like Unbound, it looks like it’ll blend more realistic car models and maps with cartoon-style animations for the characters, and there’s a definite anime influence to the short teaser trailer released so far.
Indeed, the game will be story-driven, with animated cutscenes from Polygon Pictures, a Japanese studio that’s worked on countless anime series and animated films. A “pivotal character” will be voiced by Troy Baker, a highly-utilised video game voice actor with credits including protagonist Joel Miller in The Last Of Us.
That teaser also gives us a look at a couple of the cars featured. They’re unlicensed but are clearly inspired by some real cars, namely the original Honda NSX and the Mercedes 300SL (or if we’re being proper anoraks, the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe).
The actual racing seems to be quite contact-heavy, and another clue to the game’s tone is that it’s already picked up a PEGI 16 rating, so it seems it won’t be shying away from more adult-oriented elements.
The only other info we have at the moment is that Milestone is targeting a 2026 release for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S and X, so there’s plenty of time for more details to come out. We’ll be keeping a close eye on what looks to be a unique racing title.