Twisted Metal is known for its gratuitous violence, over-the-top characters like Sweet Tooth, and deadly demolition derby car arena battles.
While there hasn’t been a new entry since the PS3-era, we’re hopeful one of Sony’s studios will revive the franchise and inject it with some fresh new ideas.
Until that happens, we’re happy to recommend the best games like Twisted Metal for PC and console, including car combat games similar to Twisted Metal.
For more combat racing suggestions, make sure to check out our other curated gaming lists, and comment below with your favorite Twisted Metal game!
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Motor Assailant
Platform: Windows
Motor Assailant is a car combat racing game like Twisted Metal that features swift battles against AI drivers and enormous bosses.
In it, players step into the driver’s seat of six unique vehicles before racing their way across 18 levels to unveil a gloomy corporate secret involving extraterrestrials.
Similar to Twisted Metal, each car has a unique weapon that determines its playstyle and can be upgraded and customized at the garage.
On top of this, levels are littered with power-ups like mines, homing missiles, and airstrikes that allow for even more destruction.
Nightwolf: Survive the Megadome
Platform: Windows
We all could use a bit more cyber-powered vehicular combat in our lives so its pleasant to a game like Nightwolf doing its part.
Set in a dystopian future where the most popular sport is car arena battles, the game tasks players with surviving an onslaught of motorized enemies in the “Megadome.”
Gameplay draws inspirations from classics like Twisted Metal while leaning into the neon stylings of the 1980s.
To this point, players’ vehicles are outfitted with rapid-firing machine guns and targeting lasers capable of making quick work of opponents.
Phaseshift
Platform: Windows
Phaseshift is a car combat racing game currently in Steam Early Access that features Tron-like vehicles and cutting-edge tracks.
While the game draws most of its inspiration from series like Extreme-G, Rollcage, and Wipeout, there’s still a lot for Twisted Metal enthusiasts to relish.
For one, vehicles can be equipped with up to four abilities at any time, allowing you to switch up your tactics and explore different playstyles.
Secondly, many of the incorporated abilities are reminiscent of Twisted Metal weapons, including homing missiles, plasma launchers, laser cannons, proximity mines, etc.
Turbo Golf Racing
Platforms: Windows, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One
Reminiscent of games like Rocket League, Turbo Golf Racing is an arcade-style sports racer with a competitive twist that will appeal to enthusiasts of Twisted Metal.
In it, up to 8 players compete to slam massive golf balls into a hole before their adversaries.
To do so, they’ll have to use a blend of speed and aggression by racing down varied courses, ramming into other players, and wielding explosive power-ups.
The game also features car customization and an upgrade system that sees you unlocking “cores” to add unique abilities to your vehicle.
Desert Pirates
Platform: Windows
Next up is Desert Pirates, a driving shooter game inspired by the Mad Max films that incorporates some Twisted Metal-like features.
Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world, the game has up to 12 vehicles fighting over scarce resources in harsh desert arenas.
Much like Twisted Metal, each vehicle is distinct and driven by unusual characters with their own backstory and playstyle.
Over time, players can expand their convoy with more drivers and take on the desert in roguelike-inspired journeys.
Death Skid Marks
Platform: Windows
A concealed jewel by all acounts, Death Skid Marks is a top-down arcade car combat game with roguelike RPG elements.
The premise sees you traveling to a “kickass” music concert when your vehicle is attacked by waves of enemies on Route 666.
To survive, you’ll have to bash, ram, and shoot your way against progressively stacked odds with help from a variety of weapons and special items.
Over time, players can upgrade their car with better parts for improved survivability as well as purchase new weapons.
Carmageddon: Max Damage
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One
Carmageddon has been around for roughly the same amount of time as Twisted Metal but never had the luxury of being backed by a big publisher like Sony.
The latest installment, Carmageddon: Max Damage debuted in 2016 and is a reboot of Carmageddon: Reincarnation for PS4 and Xbox One.
In it, players compete in a variety of racing events focused on causing as much destruction as possible by smashing into pedestrians, other drivers, and animals.
The game features an array of upgradeable vehicles altered to wield various spikes, chains, saws, battering rams, and incendiary devices.
Wreckfest
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One
If Carmageddon is a bit too frenzied for your taste, Wreckfest is another option that adheres to the conventional demolition derby formula.
Released in 2018, the game is a spiritual successor to the FlatOut series that uses soft-body damage modeling to take vehicular combat to unprecedented levels.
In it, you crush, smash, and ram your way to the finish line in various modes where the goal is to come in 1st place or be the last car standing.
This often calls for a careful balance of offensive and defensive plays, including destroying your opponents’ vehicles while guarding your own.
GRIP: Combat Racing
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
GRIP, a swift-paced combat racing game with a sci-fi theme, was also launched in 2018. It replaces Twisted Metal’s 90s atmosphere with a modern setting.
This makes sense when you factor in the game’s driving mechanics, which see you driving inverted on walls, ceilings, and just about anywhere else your tires can go.
While there aren’t any colorful cars or big personalities, GRIP features 30 vehicles of all shapes and sizes, many of which are inspired by antigrav vehicles from Wipeout and F-Zero.
Just like those in Twisted Metal, cars in GRIP have ballistic and projectile weapons, including homing missiles and rapid-firing machine guns.
Cel Damage HD
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Despite its animated graphics, Cel Damage is directly inspired by the Twisted Metal series in terms of both story and gameplay.
In it, you play as one of 10 different characters who have been cast for an in-universe cartoon car competition show called “Cel Damage.”
The cartoon theme spills over to combat, with some vehicles sporting wacky weapons like vacuum nozzles and portable holes, chainsaws, and guns.
Additionally, arenas are littered with power-ups that grant temporary use items such as freeze rays, giant springs, and atomic bombs.
Diesel Guns
Platform: Windows
Diesel Guns is another fast-paced vehicular combat game whose creation was influenced by the Twisted Metal series.
In it, you control a variety of high-powered death machines with unique stats and weaponry.
The game places emphasis on vehicle and weapon diversity by introducing specific rules; for example, the higher a vehicle’s speed, the more lethal its weapons become.
Additionally, each weapon in the game features an alternate firing mode that players can freely switch between.
Road Redemption
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Road Redemption is a spiritual successor to the Road Rash series that introduces a couple of changes, most notably a roguelike-structured single-player campaign.
Combat is a blend of both close and long-range, with the player able to grab, kick, and counterattack as well as shoot SMGs, shotguns, and rifles.
The game also features dozens of melee weapons, including pipes, baseball bats, pool cues, and the occasional wrench.
Every hit in Road Redemption feels meaty and tactile, resulting in gameplay that feels as visceral and addictive as Twisted Metal.
Rocket League
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
If you’re looking for a distinctive arena-style game with tons of replayability, Rocket League is an excellent choice that boasts simple controls, car customization, and a thriving online community.
As one of the few online games to offer cross-play support across all platforms, the vehicular soccer game has acquired an enormous following.
This is wonderful news for fans of Twisted Metal who might have never played it or assumed from its visuals that it was just for kids.
You can even pick up a special Sweet Tooth vehicle if you’re playing on PS4.
Bloody Rally Show
Platform: Windows
Switching from 3D to 2D, Bloody Rally Show looks to combine top-down arcade racing with the extreme violence of reality TV.
In it, you play as a driver for a show called “Bloody Rally Show,” a racing program set in a grim world.
Your goal is to keep viewers coming back by drifting, boosting, and blasting away the competition.
Like Twisted Metal, there’s plenty of excessive violence and over-the-top dialogue thrown in to really sell this idea of it being a show.
Crashday: Redline Edition
Platform: Windows
Developed by Redline Studios and published by Atari, Crashday: Redline Edition is a re-release of the original 2006 PC racing game Crashday.
It features a fresh UI and a host of graphical improvements that make the now 14-year-old game feel much more modern.
At its core, the game still plays like the original, with players picking their vehicle and entering one of 30 tracks to compete in a variety of races, stunt shows, and wreck matches.
There are seven game modes in total, each focusing on vehicular combat using missiles, machine guns, and straight-up car crashes.
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Platform: Windows
Gas Guzzlers Extreme is another combat racing game that takes a few cues from the Twisted Metal series.
In it, players start out with underpowered heaps of metal, slowly working their way up to powerful sports cars by winning races and surviving hellish arena battles.
In terms of combat, each vehicle has two weapons that it can swap between to fire either small or massive rockets.
Gas Guzzlers Extreme may not have all the bells and whistles you expect in a contemporary game, but that only adds to its classic arcade combat racing appeal.
Mad Max
Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One
Despite being a narrative-driven open-world game, 2015’s Mad Max actually has a lot in common with Twisted Metal when it comes to its automotive combat.
When you’re not busy completing story missions, you can just cruise around the game’s irradiated open-world picking fights with rival gangs.
The car combat consists of hooking onto enemy vehicles using a harpoon gun, blowing them up with explosives, and ramming into the driver’s seat at high speeds.
The game also boasts the ability to customize just about every inch of your murder machine through unlockable upgrades and cosmetics.
Destruction AllStars
Platform: PS5
Considering fans of Twisted Metal don’t have much to hold on to these days, it’s nice to see a game like Destruction AllStars release.
In it, you play as one of many “dangerous drivers” who compete in explosive car-based battles in arenas throughout the world.
There’s the typical fare of turbo boosts, fatal collisions, and enormous explosions, but the ability to exit your vehicle and cause havoc on foot is what sets AllStars apart.
Just pray you don’t get yourself run over before you can make it back to the operator’s seat.