Today, we are taking a look at Speed Freeks, a Warhammer 40K-themed vehicular combat game focused entirely on the Ork faction. In Speed Freeks, players drive through massive arenas while controlling teams of Orks fueled by gunpowder, scrap metal, and an unrelenting desire to make things go boom.
Originally a free-to-play title, Speed Freeks has left behind its premium cosmetics and paid battle passes, instead turning into a one-time purchase where players gain access to all of the game’s content simply by completing challenges and playing matches.
Have these pro-consumer practices truly made a difference? Is the content available worth paying for? Is there such a thing as too much dakka? Read our full review for Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks and find out!
Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks
Developer: Caged Element
Publisher: Wired Productions
Platforms: Microsoft Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: May 22, 2025
Players: 1-16
Price: $19.99
Speed Freeks is as straight to the point as a game can be, featuring no story mode or single-player content, going as far as to not even have an in-game tutorial, instead linking players to a YouTube channel where they can learn how to play. This is not that great of a first impression, but the philosophy of putting nothing between the player and the gameplay is respectable.
When joining a match, players can pick between nine different vehicles, some of which are initially locked behind challenge completion. Each vehicle has its own weapons and Ork crew on board, as well as a unique set of skills that give them slightly different roles during matches.
The vehicles all have a decent amount of weight to them, and they control really well on mouse and keyboard. Playing on a controller feels a little stiffer, especially since all driving is handled by the left stick, as the triggers are taken up by the weapons.
The weapons are very satisfying to use, each matching the vehicle they are attached to quite well. The sniper-esque weapon is mounted on a fast-moving car that can easily reposition itself, while the big shotgun weapon is attached to a slow-moving vehicle that looks like a military boat forcing its way through land, which is a very Orkish thing to see.
Combat mostly revolves around sticking close to your team, since it feels really easy to die when you are alone, yet 1v1 fights take forever due to the weapons just not dealing that much damage. This is not a usual PvP game where a regular fight ends in seconds; it takes a while to destroy enemy vehicles, so you have to rely on teammate damage to help you out.
Certain cars also have skills that benefit group play, like the one that shoots healing projectiles as their alt fire, but that’s something the game barely flirts with, as most vehicles just serve as different flavors of damage.
Speed Freeks describes itself as a combat racing game, although the racing content it features is slim. Deff Rally, one of the three game modes present in the game, slightly incorporates elements of racing by having players rush to the arena so they can get extra points for making it there first, although those moments are few and far between.
The Deff Rally game mode also has a secondary mission system where you drive around collecting waypoints, which is just a waste of time. Not only do these waypoint objectives award a negligible amount of points, but they also don’t offer an equally fun alternative to shooting enemy cars, making anything but fighting feel useless.
The other game mode, Kill Konvoy, has players picking up bombs so they can slam themselves against giant mechs, stopping the enemy Stompa from reaching the objective. The mechs are racing-themed, crossing a finish line at the end of the match, but this is a payload mission more than anything else.
Speed Freeks currently has two battle passes, which the player can freely switch between to grind through. The battle passes are entirely free, and their rewards are fully cosmetic, giving access to different vehicle kits and parts, as well as taunts and victory animations.
One part that Speed Freeks absolutely nails is its customization. Not only can you paint each and every part of your vehicles, but also customize your Ork, which taunts players whenever you destroy their car. The system does its best to emulate the freedom you would have when customizing a real Warhammer figure, which is very neat to see.
There is also a little bit of skill expression when it comes to the vehicles themselves. Players can unlock alternate abilities to switch between, creating significant alterations in your gameplay, even going as far as making some vehicles you originally might not have enjoyed more fun to play as.
With an average of 100 players online, Speed Freeks is fated to be yet another abandoned online-only title. The idea behind it is incredibly neat, but the lack of content and general repetitiveness make the entertainment it provides short-lived.
For now, most games are filled with bots, although it is not that uncommon to find a match with almost all player slots filled by real people. It’s clear that even though the game is losing steam, there are still enough people willing to stick around, not only because of the niche that Speed Freeks fills, but also because Warhammer fans love Orks.
One unfortunate decision is that the developers have chosen to move from dedicated servers to a P2P system, making it so one player hosts the entire match on their own internet connection. Due to that choice, the game is prone to having massive lag spikes, creating long periods of time where you can’t damage enemy players or interact with objectives, which is frustrating.
Speed Freeks seeks to fill the Twisted Metal-shaped hole in the current gaming landscape, providing players with massive arenas and plenty of explosive weaponry to destroy each other with, but unfortunately fails to follow through when it comes to making things interesting.
The game gains a lot of sympathy from me for its pro-consumer stance and a genuine effort from the developers to do good by the Warhammer 40K license, especially avoiding pay-to-win practices and microtransactions after its 1.0 release. As a game, however, it is difficult to rate it highly, featuring a measly three game modes, one of which is a free roam with no objectives.
Speed Freeks is bleeding out players fast, and it doesn’t feel like it’ll be long before all matches are filled with bots. The game has some great characters and environment designs, as well as a very fun customization system, but the bot-filled online-only matches make it a difficult title to recommend.
Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks was reviewed on Microsoft Windows using a game code provided by Wired Productions. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is available on Microsoft Windows (through Steam).
