Just days after announcing that Hot Wheels Unleashed had crashed through two million copies sold to become Milestone’s best-selling game ever, it’s been accidentally revealed that a sequel is in the works — on a diecast model of one of the game’s hero cars.
It was first mooted earlier in the week when an image of a vehicle, purporting to be a toy exclusive to the GameStop chain, leaked on Instagram. Although not entirely clear due to the angles, the special Twin Mill model appeared to sport the Hot Wheels Unleashed branding, with an additional “2”.
A better shot of the logo appeared today, also on Instagram, courtesy of diecast enthusiast Ajib Nobi, showing it almost dead on and revealing the name: Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged.
Given the nature of the leak, there’s precious little else to go on at this time. Indeed we don’t know who’s developing the game; although we’d fully expect Milestone to remain at the helm, Mattel likes to spread its IP around a bit — including appearances in Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 in 2022, and the recently launched Hot Wheels Rift Rally from Velan.
The title suggests evolution, so we can expect more of the same fun that HWU offered, with the dinky diecast cars ripping around a variety of orange tracks laid out in some weird locations, but turned up a notch. That will hopefully go for the livery editor and track creator too, which were a great part of the appeal of the first title.
One thing we’re hoping to see a good deal less of is cars that are locked behind season passes, pre-order bonuses, and the random-chance in-game boxes — and the multiplayer could do with a bit of an overhaul too. However, HWU was a lot of fun, so it’ll be interesting to see where the next game goes.
Hopefully, now the diecast is out of the box, Mattel and its development partner will reveal more soon — so watch this space!
Thanks to FT-1 for the initial tip-off!
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