In this guide, we compare SnowRunner Year 1 Pass and Year 2 Pass to see which DLC pack is best. We look at all of the seasons and extra content included to help you make a decision.
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SnowRunner has been a fan favourite for gamers who like to take life slowly, and don’t mind getting a little dirty. Despite Snowrunner being released back in 2020, it has been incredibly well supported since its launch with a tonne of new content.
With the Year 3 Pack on the horizon, we thought we would take a detailed look at all of the content you can currently get your hands on. We’ll show you exactly what is included in both the SnowRunner Year 1 and Year 2 Passes, and show you which DLC pack we think is best.
And for those who just can’t decide on which pack to get, there is the Year 1 and Year 2 Pack which feature all content from both DLC.
So before we look at which Year Pass offers the best content, we thought we’d take a look at just how SnowRunner’s DLC works.
Unlike many games that have a single season pass, SnowRunner DLC is broken down into yearly DLC packs. Each year gets a new season pass, and each season pass to date has included four brand new regions. Each region has at least two maps, and features a range of new trucks.
To ensure you have the latest content, you’ll need to purchase each yearly season pass as it comes out. Currently, you can buy the Year 3 Pass, although not all content has been announced or released yet.
So moving on to the SnowRunner Year 1 Pass. This was the first full season pass available to players, and it includes a range of content from new regions and maps, to new trucks, and even brand new game mechanics.
SnowRunner Year 1 Pass includes;
You’ll get access to four individual seasons, with each containing a new region. Each region includes a variety of new maps, and there are new trucks to be found or buy in each region.
Season 1: Search & Recover was the very first full season included in the Year 1 pass. It includes two new maps, Lake Kovd and Imandra which are set in Russia. These two maps, Imandra in particular, are still considered to this day to be among the toughest maps that are in SnowRunner.
There was a brand new game mechanic introduced in these maps, which returns in a few later maps, breakable ice. Both Lake Kovd and Imandra feature large expanses of frozen lake, with Lake Kovd having a large chunk of its map taken up by a frozen lake.
Certain parts of the lake and other areas around this new Russian region feature ice that could break if driven over. In some scenarios, this could leave your truck completely stuck in the water below the ice, requiring a sometimes lengthy rescue operation to free it.
This new game mechanic ensured that you be prepared to tackle the challenges that each map provided, especially when considering frozen river crossings. In some areas around both of these maps, there is breakable ice in more inconspicuous areas such as over deep mud or hidden amongst snow.
Imandra in particular taught us to always travel prepared and often take multiple trucks in case you need to tow a truck out of deep mud, snow or water.
As well as the new maps, which we really enjoyed, you get access to a few new trucks. There is the TUZ 16 “Actaeon”, the TUZ 108 “Warthog” and the Ford F750 scout vehicle.
Of the three new trucks, the Ford F750 is without a doubt the best. It’s a large and very capable scout, especially once you have unlocked the tuned custom suspension and the Het/10V 6.6 litre engine upgrade. It’s capable of carrying a lot of extra fuel and spare tyres making it a brilliant support vehicle for longer expeditions. Its major flaw is the limitation on tires with no mud tires available.
Overall, Search & Recover is a really nice opening pack for the Year 1 Pass.
Overall rating: 9/10
Season 2: Explore & Expand has you heading back over to North America and into Yukon, Canada. Again, there are two maps included within this region, the first being Flooded Foothills, and the second is Big Salmon Peak.
These maps hark back to the first North American region in SnowRunner, Michigan USA, with a mixture of paved roads, mud and water. But there is the addition of snow which creeps in making for a reasonably tough challenge.
Flooded Foothills divides the map into a few different segments thanks to a large and fast moving river that runs from north to south through the center of the map. This can prove to be a challenge if crossing it in a smaller scout vehicle. We completely lost our Ford F750 in one particularly fast moving part of the river!
Big Salmon Peak is a big difference to the Flooded Foothills as it swaps mud and water for much greater quantities of snow. Both maps see you taking part in multi-stage adventures and introduces another new mechanic to the game, crafting.
Across the two Yukon maps are a range of different part-built structures. These can be disassembled to collect resources such as wood and bricks. You can then use these resources to craft more complex components such as cabins, pipes and concrete slabs. This is a nice mechanic and add an additional variable to the large multi-part objectives.
Again, there are three new trucks made available in this season. You get the KRS 58 “Bandit” which is a really nice offroad truck. Then you get two Caterpillar trucks, a large CAT 770G which has huge 74″ mudtires as standard. And a much smaller CAT TH357. This small scout features a telehandler allowing you to pick up and pack cargo.
Overall, Explore & Expand is another decent addition to the Year 1 Pass.
Overall rating: 8/10
Then we can move onto season 3. This season takes us back to North America, and into Wisconsin. Gone is all of the snow from Imandra and Big Salmon Peak, and in its place is a lot of mud and offroad terrain.
There are another two maps available as part of this region. Black Badger Lake once again features a huge lake at its center, with a lot of shallow and deep mud running around it. And Grainwoods River features a much skinnier river running down its right hand side.
Both maps place an emphasis on logging, and there are a tonne of trees and forests around for you to get stuck in. There are some big missions here with some rather unique and heavy cargo, all with the main purpose of constructing a paper factory.
Season 3 is a nice return to the original Mudrunner with its mid-summer maps, mud and trees. And it is a nice break away from snow and ice.
In this pack, you’ll get access to three more trucks. You’ll find the Boar 45318 which is a heavy truck that is compatible with the seismic vibrator module, has switchable AWD and is capable of having differential lock.
Next, you have the International Paystar 5600TS, which is an evolution of the original Paystar in the base game. This heavy truck looks and performs reasonably similar, with its larger footprint lending itself more towards hauling.
Finally, there is the Pacific P512 PF. This 70s truck is another heavy Pacific following in the footsteps of the P12 and P16. The P512 PF is much lighter than both other Pacific trucks, and doesn’t feature AWD which is a big miss.
Ultimately, Locate & Deliver is a nice addition that harks back to the series’ roots, and it’s a nice change from all of the snow!
Overall rating: 7/10
The final season in the Year 1 Pass is New Frontiers. And if you thought that Imandra was tricky, this Russian region ups the ante. Unlike the other three regions, this Russian region includes four individual maps, Urska River, Comsodrome, Northern Aegis Installation and Chernokamensk.
All of these maps feature a lot of snow, as to be expected, combined with rivers in every map. This makes for some rather tricky water crossings, and some even trickier rescue operations if something goes wrong.
There is a lot of content on offer with this final season, and this region features some of the toughest challenges in the game. There are only three garages across the four maps, making Northern Aegis Installation one of the very toughest maps in the whole game.
You certainly need to be prepared when you tackle some of the contracts here, with the heart of this season having you rebuilding an old Soviet rocket launchpad.
On a happier note, there are two new trucks included, the ZiKZ 605-R and the Khan 317 Sentinel.
The Khan 317 is a rather forgettable scout. It feels a lot like a lighter, less capable Ford F750. But the ZiKZ 605-R on the other hand is easily one of the better trucks in SnowRunner. It’s a heavy truck that features a raised chassis that is capable of tackling even the toughest challenges around Amur.
Overall, Season 4 ends on a strong note, really challenging SnowRunner players who had thought they’d mastered the trickiest of scenarios.
Overall rating: 8/10
As well as the four seasons mentioned above, you also get a few additional content packs. Each of these content packs includes extra customisation items for your trucks.
The High Roller Pack includes a new vehicle, the Khan 39 Scout. This is a nimble Russian scout vehicle that includes mud tires, all-wheel drive and differential lock.
The three remaining pieces of content, Loaded Dice Vinyl Wrap, Scorched Vinyl Wrap and True Colors Vinyl Wrap unlock three unique liveries for specific trucks. You’ll also gain access to a new livery for the Derry Longhorn 4520.
The SnowRunner Year 1 Pass has some good highlights. Each region in itself complements the base game well, with a few new mechanics added. Breakable ice can really ruin your day, but the addition of crafting in Season 2 can really help during longer contracts.
There are also some good truck additions in the Year 1 Pass. The Ford F750 has quickly become one of our favourite scouts in SnowRunner thanks to its sheer power and capacity to hold a heck of a lot of spare fuel. And the ZiKZ 605-R is easily one of the best trucks in the entire game.
Overall, the Year 1 Pass did a solid job of adding more of what SnowRunner players enjoyed, and has some good variety. Just be prepared for a challenge, as the games toughest challenges lay within its Year 1 Pass content.
SnowRunner Year 2 Pass continues right where the first season pass left off. It jumps right back into offering you new regions, maps and trucks.
SnowRunner Year 2 Pass includes;
The first season in the Year 2 Pass is Build and Dispatch. This sees you trying to re-build a Tatra factory in Don, Russia. There are two maps, Factory Grounds and Antonovskiy Nature Reserve.
Both maps have an incredibly lovely autumnal feel to them. And both feature large bodies of water at their centre, with Factory Grounds, in particular, requiring bridge repairs to make the map fully accessible.
These two maps are smaller and more compact than we’re used to in SnowRunner, especially coming off the back of the monster region of Amur in Season 4. This region is rather refreshing, featuring a much lower difficulty curve than some of the new regions in the Year 1 Pass.
The smaller maps also make for a slower pace, allowing you to really enjoy the gorgeous orange and yellow scenery, rather than attempting long multi-stage hauls.
As usual, there are new trucks included in season 5, but only two. These are both Tatra trucks, which fits nicely with the overall theme of this map, and the main goal of restoring a Tatra factory.
The first truck is the Tatra Force T815-7 which is a capable heavy truck. The angled front bumper combined with the mudtires and switchable AWD make for a competent, if not over spectacular truck.
The second new truck is the Tatra Phoenix which is a more traditional offroad truck. The Phoenix is probably the better of the two trucks in this pack, with AWD and diff lock available, and a good power to weight ratio.
Season 5 is a nice gentle start to the Year 2 Pass. It doesn’t introduce anything groundbreaking, and the contracts and challenges aren’t too tricky. This makes for a nice return to SnowRunner for those who stepped away for a little while after the Year 1 Pass.
Overall rating: 7/10
After the first season in the SnowRunner Year 2 Pass taking us to Russia, season 6 takes us back across the water to the US, and to Maine to be precise.
SnowRunner must have been listening to those who commented on Don’s small map sizes, as the two maps included in season 6 are on the larger side. You get the Lowland which features a lot of water splitting the two sides of the map.
There is the usual combination of deep mud and snow that combine to make this map tricky for those who underestimate it. The large body of water in the center of the map makes for some really tricky crossings, especially when carrying large cargo as there isn’t all that much room to manoeuvre during some areas of the map.
The second map, Yellowrock National Forest re-introduces a lot more snow, much more than there is in the Lowland. There is once again the usual body of water splitting the map, making it a priority to fix up a fallen bridge to make the whole map accessible.
As you can tell from the name, season 6 is full of hauling contracts with a lot of logging to be done. These contracts are fun and can be challenging, especially if you don’t bring the right machinery. This is easily one of our favourite regions in SnowRunner.
The two new trucks in this season are the Tayga 6455B and the Aramatsu Forester. The Tayga 6455B is a rather traditional hauler that is listed as an offroad truck. It’s great for heavier hauls, but the real gem in this season is the Aramatsu Forester.
The Forester is an articulated truck, in a similar vein to the Caterpillar 745C. It provides for a slow ride from A to B, but is designed for logging, thanks to its crane attachment.
Overall rating: 9/10
Season 7 is a bit of a curve ball in the grand scheme of everything. The focus with Compete and Conquer isn’t necessarily the normal hauling contracts, but instead it introduces offroad racing for the first time in SnowRunner.
This season’s only map, Burning Mill in Tennessee, wouldn’t look out of place in a Forza Horizon game. It features a main racecourse where a lot of racing and time trial contracts take place. Then throughout the rest of the map are other offroad challenges and the usual spattering of bridge repairs and hauling contracts.
Season 7 is a complete change of pace from the usual slow and steady gameplay that characterises SnowRunner, and the fast-paced races don’t necessarily lend themselves overly well to the game’s physics engine. The trucks can feel a bit floaty, slidey and unpredictable at any considerable speed.
With that said, some of the contracts and challenges such as hill climbs can be fun, and break up the usual grind.
It’s no surprise that the two new trucks included in season 7 are two offroad race trucks. You have the large Azov 43-191 “Sprinter” which is an offroad, Dakar style truck. It is very limited for almost all tasks outside of racing, and can actually be out paced by some other trucks already in SnowRunner.
The second is a much more enjoyable small scout, the Gor BY-4. This small scout is a bit faster, and can be enjoyable when racing through Tennessee, but on other maps it really isn’t overly useful.
The Best F1 24 Racing WheelsThe lack of additional maps, and the two not-overly-good trucks make season 7 a rare misstep by Saber Interactive.
Overall rating: 6/10
The final season that makes up the Year 2 Pass is Grand Harvest. And this doesn’t exactly take players back to the core SnowRunner experience. Instead, it introduces farming contracts for the first time.
Grand Harvest features four maps that are all set in the Belozersk Glades in Central Asia. This is the first time that a region has been set outside of North America and Russia, and is a very welcome addition.
Each map is on the smaller side, but that isn’t an overly big surprise given the emphasis on farming, which generally tends to be done at a slower pace. All of the maps feature fields where you can sow and harvest crops, and there is very little offroading to be done.
But when you do venture away from the roads and fields, things can get a little tricky. There are some longer hauls to be made, and some rather annoyingly placed tree stumps scattered throughout the wilderness.
The farming however takes center stage and is where the core of this season lies. Farming tasks have you growing and harvesting crops, which requires you driving up and down designated fields with different attachments on the back of your trailer.
Tasks certainly aren’t as involved as those found in games such as Farming Simulator, but SnowRunner’s physics engine really shines above other farming titles.
Again, like most of the seasons, there are two new trucks, or tractors in this case, included in season 8. There is the retro Kirovets K-700 which is an old tractor from the 60s. This isn’t overly useful but will certainly get you by until you pick up the much newer Kirovets K-7M.
Outside of season 8, both of these tractors are relatively useless, but they are required for you to complete all of the contracts and tasks in season 8.
Overall, season 8 is one of the stronger additions to SnowRunner due to its game-changing tasks and change of pace.
Overall rating: 9/10
On top of the new seasons that are included in the Year 2 Pass, you also get the TATRA Dual Pack and the Burning Bright Vinyl Wrap Pack.
The Burning Bright Vinyl Wrap Pack gives you four new liveries for the Azov 5319, Azov 73210, YAR 87 and Voron AE-4380. While the TATRA Dual Pack brings two new trucks to SnowRunner. Included in the TATRA Dual Pack are the Heavy TATRA 813 and Offroad TATRA 805.
The Year 2 Pass for SnowRunner adds some quirky and unusual content, but none of the seasons reach the levels of difficulty that are present in the Year 1 Pass. While seasons 1-4 offer players very traditional maps and challenges, season 5-8 really mix things up with some more interesting content.
Both season 7 and 8 may not tickle everyone’s fancy, but there will be those out there that love these seasons. For us, season 8 was a real gem and season 6 has to be one of our favourites due to its large and detailed maps and enjoyable contracts.
However season 6 was a bit of a misstep, and season 5 was more of the same. The Year 2 Pass is a much tougher decision on whether to buy or not, but the stand-out seasons outweigh the less impressive additions.
You would think that by buying either or both of the SnowRunner season passes, you would own all the content, but that unfortunately isn’t the case. There are a range of additional DLC packs that are not included in either Year 1 or Year 2 Passes.
All content that isn’t included in either season pass includes;
These additional DLC packs feature a range of new trucks, with some being quite good. However, none of these additional pieces of content are required to get you through any of the challenges in either the Year 1 or Year 2 Passes.
As mentioned above, you can buy each SnowRunner Year Pass separately. And if you do, each pass will cost you £19.99. That will net you all of the content for that individual Year Pass, which is four different seasons including the new maps, trucks and other bonus content.
You can also purchase the Year 1 and Year 2 Pass together which would cost you £36.74. This would save you just over £3 off of the price of purchasing both passes individually.
Finally, you can purchase the Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 Pass which will unlock all of the first two Year Pass content and will unlock the third Year Pass content as it is released. This would cost you £53.74, saving you around £6 off the individual price.
That brings us to the tricky decision of which Year Pass in SnowRunner is best, Year 1 or Year 2. There is no competition when it comes to which season pass is the toughest, with two of the regions in the Year 1 Pass being considered among the toughest challenges in SnowRunner.
The Year 2 Pass mixes things up with a lot more variety, and that is to its detriment in some places. I believe that the first season pass offers players a lot more challenge, and core content that fans of the series love. And for this reason, I would have to recommend the Year 1 Pass over the Year 2 Pass.
But that doesn’t count out the Year 2 Pass, as both seasons 6 and 8 are among our favourites across the entire game. There is always the option of purchasing both years together for a slight discount, and you can always buy all three years for an even bigger discount. Although not all Year 3 Pass content is playable yet.
But whichever yearly pass you opt for, you will find hundreds of hours of incredibly enjoyable content. That’s as long as you enjoy travelling slowly and getting stuck a lot!
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The Year 2 Pass for SnowRunner is a separate DLC from Year 1, and therefore does not include the Year 1 Pass. You can purchase both together in the SnowRunner DLC called Year 1 and Year 2 Pass.
The SnowRunner Year 2 Pass includes some of the best seasons to come to SnowRunner. These include the popular Season 8: Grand Harvest which introduces farming, and Season 6: Haul and Hustle.
SnowRunner Year 1 Pass was a very strong start to SnowRunner’s DLC. It features one of the hardest maps which included breakable ice for the very first time, Season 1: Search and Recover. You also get some very unique vehicles such as the CAT TH357 telehandler.
Rich is the co-founder, and one of the main F1 setup creators and content writers for SimRacingSetups. With over a decade of experience as a graphic designer, marketing director, competitive sim racer and avid motorsport fan, Rich founded SimRacingSetup.com to share his passion and knowledge of sim racing and Formula 1 with other sim racers.
View all articles written by Rich
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