Milestone’s Screamer is making a surprise comeback as a futuristic racer

Milestone is best known for its annual officially licensed MotoGP games and the Hot Wheels Unleashed arcade racing series. However, the Italian studio made a name for itself in the 1990s with the iconic Screamer series.

Released in 1995 back when Milestone was known as Graffiti, Screamer was a 3D polygonal racer for MS-DOS, effectively making it the PC’s equivalent of Ridge Racer for the time. It was popular enough to spawn several sequels, including the popular Screamer Rally in 1997 before the series was retired.

Now, 30 years later, Screamer is making a surprise comeback.

Announced during The Game Awards 2024 to coincide with the first game’s 30^th anniversary, Screamer’s surprise return was announced in a teaser trailer. Milestone has “re-envisioned” Screamer as a futuristic racer, with a stylised look inspired by anime and manga from the 1980s and 1990s. The neon art style also reminds us of the underrated Inertial Drift.  

There will also be a “deep storyline” with “interwoven character arcs” centering on a street racing tournament organised by a “mysterious figure.”

Screamer’s story will be told in animated cutscenes created in collaboration with Japanese animation studio Polygon Pictures, with Troy Baker, one of the most prolific video game voice actors best known for playing Joel in The Last of Us, voicing a “pivotal character.”

Little else is known about Screamer’s return, with Milestone penning a 2026 release window for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S platforms.

If Screamer can deliver fast-paced arcade-style racing with satisfying controls and drifting, it could fill the void of a new Ridge Racer.

Are you excited to see Milestone’s Screamer series return? Let us know in the comments below.