Nordic Recovery for parents: what the game is like
Nordic Recovery is a calm 3D driving game in the browser for kids from about 8 to 12. The player drives a tow truck on snowy roads, helps drivers whose cars have broken down or slid off the road, and tows the cars to a workshop. There is no fighting, no blood and no game over, and there are no ads. This page lists the facts a grown-up may want before their child plays.
What does the player do?
- Answers radio calls from "Base", the recovery firm's dispatcher, and chooses to take or skip each job.
- Drives a tow truck through light winter traffic to the accident site.
- Makes the spot safe: hazard lights, a warning triangle and a short chat with the driver.
- Does the hands-on work in simple steps: winching a car onto the truck, changing a tyre, jump-starting a battery, opening a locked car or bringing fuel.
- Delivers the car to the workshop and earns game money, which buys bigger tow trucks.
There are 15 kinds of job; the full list is on Call-outs and jobs. The game rewards care more than speed: being safe and parking neatly earns bonuses, and bumping into cars costs game money.
Content notes
- Accidents without injuries on screen. The jobs are about cars that crashed, slid into a ditch, ended up on their roof or broke through the ice on a pond. The radio and the drivers usually say that nobody is hurt.
- The player's own crashes. If the player crashes hard into a car, the radio says the driver is shaken, or, after a very serious crash, that an ambulance and the police are on their way. Nobody is shown hurt. The cost is game money. After a very serious crash, the player is also taken off that job.
- Drivers with feelings. Drivers may be shaken, grumpy, cheerful or chatty. In one job the driver's dog is still inside the locked car; the dog is calm and the car is warm.
- Moose. Two jobs start with a car that swerved for a moose. The moose is seen grazing by the forest, unharmed.
- Darkness and weather. Night shifts, fog and blizzards are dark and snowy, but nothing jumps out to scare the player.
- No real brands. The cars and trucks have made-up names.
How much reading is there?
All radio calls, chats and help texts are written, with no voice acting. Sentences are short and use everyday words. A younger child may need help reading the radio calls at first. The panel on screen always shows the next button to press, and a short tutorial teaches the controls by doing.
How long is a session?
The game is played in shifts. One shift is eight hours on the game clock and takes about half an hour of real time. At the end of a shift there is a summary with Save and quit, which makes a natural stopping point. The game can be paused at any time.
Where is progress saved?
The game saves by itself in the browser on the device being used. There are three separate save slots, so siblings can each have their own career. If the browser blocks saving, the game says so.
Ads, purchases and data
- There are no ads in the game.
- There is nothing to buy with real money inside the game. The money in the game is pretend money earned by doing jobs.
- The game's fonts and graphics are part of the game, and it does not load anything from other websites.
- The game sends a few play events to the Contenta Games portal's own statistics (for example that the demo was started, or an error happened).
Devices, controls and languages
- Plays in a web browser on computers, phones and tablets, with no download. It needs a browser that can show 3D (WebGL), such as a recent Chrome, Edge or Firefox.
- Keyboard, game controller or touch buttons. On phones and tablets the game is played in landscape.
- Nine languages: English, Swedish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
- Settings include volume, music and sound effects, a sound on/off switch, controller vibration and Moving effects. Set Moving effects to Calm for no camera shake and calmer flashing lights.
All controls and settings are listed on the controls page.
Built-in helpers
Six assists are always on, including a button that puts the truck back on the road, calm steering at speed, skippable radio calls and an on-screen hint for the next button. They are listed on the controls page.
How to get the game
Nordic Recovery can be tried in a demo. The full game is part of the Contenta Games membership, which opens every game on the portal. See what a membership includes, or browse the guides to all our games.
See also
- The guide's front page: what the game is about.
- FAQ: quick answers to common questions.
- Your first shift, step by step: what the first ten minutes look like.
- Play Nordic Recovery together.
