The Steam Next Fest demo for Nidhogg creator's beautiful, new open-world biking game is slight, but I'm geared up for moreWheel World talk.Image credit: Eurogamer/Annapurna Interactive Feature by Tom Orry Editorial Director, Gamer Network Published on Feb. 28, 2025 Bikes. Pelt them down a hill faster than the speed of sound, brake late, then skid the back wheel round to take a corner and narrowly avoid a poodle out doing its morning ablutions. Weave in and out of the wheelie bins round the back of the garages because you thought it looked cool on Ski Sunday. This is what I hoped for in Wheel World, Messhof's new open-world bike riding adventure/racing game that also happens to be about a ghost bike (Ghost Bike being its original, and probably better, name). The Steam Next Fest demo delivers on bike-feel (that's a term people use, OK!) but I'm left wondering how the supernatural flavour will shine through.Wheel WorldDeveloper: MesshofPublisher: Annapurna InteractiveRelease: Summer 2025Download the demo on: SteamThe end of Wheel World's demo left me a little deflated, if I'm being honest. I love the look of the game and have done since its reveal trailer back in 2023. But 20 minutes in a small part of the map with only a few tasks to complete perhaps doesn't sell this quirky effort that convincingly. I quit back to desktop and immediately took to the Eurogamer Slack to declare something along the lines of: "Hmm Wheel World not sure I'm feeling it. It's like a budget Forza Horizon without cars but with added chip tunes." It's not that I don't like it, I'm just not sold on it yet.Watch on YouTubePart of my uncertainty is directly tied to the supernatural element of the setup here. At the very start, you meet Skully, a self-described immortal bike daemon. His bike, now your bike, is tatty and in need of new parts, so you set off to build a better bike that can tackle the terrain in different areas. You'll also need Rep, which as in almost every racing game ever, is earned by being cool and winning things. So, you take part in races and do cool jumps from ramps. But why exactly does this have a bike daemon in it? At this point, I really can't say. There's some cursory exposition about couriers who ride between the world of the living and the world of the dead, but the demo doesn't build on this concept in any meaningful way in this short sample.This is just a demo, after all, so perhaps I'm being a little harsh. But imagine this for a moment: you've sat down to watch the brilliant and Oscar-winning movie Coda. It's a thoroughly grounded film, but right at the start you are told that main character Ruby is actually a music witch. There's no mention of this again, but at one point you see a building that's shaped like a piano. You might get to the end of Coda and wonder why they bothered with the whole witch thing. That's where I am with Wheel World. I enjoyed the demo, but I don't get the game yet. But yes, there are buildings shaped like bike bells. Image credit: Annapurna InteractiveThe biking around is great, with the feel of the wheels as they grip and skid being just right. It's not simulation-level or anything, but it does have a tactile connection to the ground. The world also looks wonderful, the little I've seen being the kind of thing you'd see on a postcard if you went to visit an indie game village for a little holiday: "Having a lovely time. The views are spectacular, the colours are warm. Objects lack detail and there are a lot of hills, but we might stay here forever. Don't forget to feed the fish!"Wheel World, then It looks great, feels lovely, and sounds all right (not sure I personally love the chip tunes, but they fit well enough with its overall vibe). But I want to see what the point of it all is. As a straight-up biking game, it will undoubtedly be cool enough as a kind of mini cycling version of Forza Horizon, but I feel there's a lot here waiting to be revealed. Or at least I hope there is.