Pocket Wheels Preview: Tiny But Mighty! (Switch)

Driving onto multiple platforms comes 3D Indie action game Pocket Wheels, developed by Florian Wolf and published by Deck 13. Pocket Wheels sets out to be more than just a 3D racing game; it is an objective-based adventure that sees you drive, race, fly, and smash robots in a toy-sized car in a collection of everyday environments. From bedrooms to attics and more. Seek out batteries to unlock new levels, and coins to unlock new vehicles to drive.

When I first saw the demo on the Nintendo Switch store, it caught my eye. It looked like a bright, fun, and colourful little adventure. And I was right. The game is already shaping up with some sweet gameplay, decent controls, and a great soundtrack to boot. And whilst the Pocket Wheels demo had a couple of glitches here and there, it made for a great game to preview. With that said, let’s get down to the finer details.

Pocket Wheels is set to release in 2026 on PC via Steam, GOG, and Itch.io, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch 1 & 2.

Story – Toy Story

Pocket Wheels, like many previews I’ve done here on KeenGamer, doesn’t really have a story. There are allusions to one during the game’s tutorial. Though in fairness, it feels like it just exists to contextualise the objectives in the levels. Your job is to find batteries to open portals to different rooms. It is a simple idea. And, with the game being light on story, whether this is just a matter for the demo or not is fine by me. This is a fun little game; it doesn’t need a grander narrative.

Pocket Wheels’ Tutorial is short but effective.

There is a tutorial, one that feels more efficient than recent games I’ve previewed. You do get NPCs telling you what to do. As well as in-game text giving you button prompts. The text is short and effective for what it needs to do. And the tutorial offers a nice, controlled environment for learning the moves.

Beyond this, the text is, again, short but effective. I could easily see a scenario where an emphasis was put on ensuring the robots had more jokes and personality. But they get the right amount needed. Short and efficient dialogue that works well.

Gameplay – Drive On

As mentioned towards the start of this preview, in Pocket Wheels, you’ll race small, pocket-sized cars and vehicles across a series of everyday locations. In the demo build, you’ll be racing around a parent’s bedroom and an attic space. Racing across desks, boxes, and small toy towns. Basically, imagine if those games you used to play with your toy cars were real. Along the way, you’ll gather batteries to unlock new levels. As well as coins that can be exchanged for new vehicles.

In Pocket Wheels, you complete a range of different objectives to get batteries.

Each vehicle is cute and fun to use. It isn’t clear if there is anything different about them in terms of stats. However, some do feel slightly faster. And the smaller ones seem to turn more quickly. But that just might be my imagination. And all of them can fly and swing using a grappling hook. This helps to add to the whimsical feeling of it. And the seemingly shared stats mean that you can pick and choose whatever vehicle you like the looks of. Rather than worrying about which is faster or has better handling.

Yesterday

Something that did stick out to me when I played the preview of Pocket Wheels was the vibe it gave me. It has this feeling of almost childhood daydreams come to life. Given how you can race around and explore rather normal locations.

Yes, there are some more fantastical elements, like a shrink ray and robots you’ll need to fight now and then. But there is a light spirit to this game I enjoy. There is no grand quest. No meta commentary. Just racing around and having fun. And all with a game with tight and responsive controls, which make it even more enjoyable.

One Magic School Bus.

The combat feels a tad unnecessary. Whilst it is a neat addition, it really is just ramming into robots, and that is it. Sure, you need to avoid their rather obnoxious attack to do so. But it feels like something that needs more work and balancing if it is to be kept in. Though it only comes up in a couple of challenges, thankfully isn’t a frequent occurrence.

Beyond this, the other challenges are fair. Balanced between offering trials that are tough but not too tough. And thus far don’t seem too demanding. Which fits the chill feeling the developer seems to be going for.

Graphics & Audio – Drive & Thrive

As you can tell by the screenshots in this preview, Pocket Wheels features bright and colourful graphics. Which feel as though they have an almost cel-shaded look to them. I say “Almost” as frankly, if I’m wrong, that isn’t a hill I’m going to die on. Jokes aside, everything has a very crisp look and feel to it. This makes traversing the game environments pleasing to the eye.

The game features nice creations/recreations of real environments, which adds to the feeling of driving through a real home. And the inner-child wish fulfilment of seeing a toy car race around in ways you never could have dreamed of.

Music throughout is good. Personally, I’m keen on the Neon City track. Whilst the soundtrack is rather gameic I do enjoy it. And it does fit the vibe of the game; at times sounding nostalgic and other times feeling fresh and new.

However, there is an issue at present where the soundtrack just stops after a track ends. But this is soon sorted by skipping to the next track one via the D-Pad. I wish there were more tracks, as it doesn’t take long till you’ve heard them all. But it all creates a promising future gaming experience.

Pocket Wheels was previewed on Switch 2.