Meet the factions who rule the vehicular combat wasteland of Crossout

In Crossout, the Mad-Maxian vehicle apocalypse is packed with lunatics. Literally: there’s a group called the Lunatics. Across the wasteland, factions have sprung up with their own sense of style and taste for combat. As a player in this new free-to-play MMO, you’re clear to join any faction and change your allegiance often. Where should you start? Let’s meet the cast of characters.

Engineers

Welcome, noobs, to Noobtown. Population: You. You are the mayor of Noobtown. Everybody starts as an Engineer, and everyone in the game gets access to basic parts in the Engineer skill tree. No matter what factions you join later, you always gain reputation and experience as an Engineer.

Lunatics

Despite the name, the Lunatics are well-mannered and tend to arrive at business meetings wearing nice suits and expensive pens. Just kidding, the Lunatics are as close as you can get to the Warboys from Mad Max. They’re fast and light, looking to drive in close and stick a bomb right to your forehead. If you like close-combat and strapping chainsaws to your tires, scream “Witness me!” and join the Lunatics, you lunatic.

Nomads

In the classic children’s story The Engineer and the Three Bears, the Nomads are not too small, not too big, but just right. These guys like using old aircraft parts on their vehicles, so they’ve got a rusty aluminum style like a retired airplane museum. The Nomads favor medium-range autocannons, so their style might be a good fit for you if you’re somewhere between cautious and reckless.

Scavengers

Who’s got the heaviest armor and cannons big enough to shoot smaller, lesser cars? These guys. The scavengers love big trucks, old restored tanks, and cannons big enough to transport by rail car. They’re slow, heavy-hitters, and you might like them if you tend toward the Sniper class in other shooters.

Steppenwolves

If you’re into strict organization and well-oiled machines like a German train conductor, the Steppenwolves might get your motor running. The Steppenwolves have a distinctly modern flair—and by “modern”, we mean gear that looks like it was “made by a professional in a factory,“ back before all the factories burned and got looted. The Steppenwolves take some high-tech options with them when they head out on the highway, like long-range artillery guns and automatic turrets. They’ve even got many-legged walkers if you’re sick of tires and looking for adventure.

In every faction, the heart of Crossout is experimentation, building and customizing your rig, and testing it on the PvP battlefields. Crossout is free to download and play, so you earn gear and experience by investing your time. Winning fights earns you parts and resources that you can use yourself to upgrade your vehicle. If you’ve got everything you need, head to the in-game marketplace. The marketplace is always busy: more than three million players downloaded Crossout when it launched in June, so you’ll have no shortage of customers—no matter what faction they’re with at the moment.

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