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| GeoGuessr has a handy replay function where you can view your footage or your opponent's |
| Quick Info | |
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| Reviewed by: | Mark Goninon |
| Developer: | GeoGuessr |
| Publisher: | GeoGuessr |
| Release Date: | 8 May 2025 |
| Time played: | 20 hours |
This is one of those games I just downloaded on a whim, despite knowing about the game for quite some time now. The original game was released in 2013 by Swedish developer Anton Wallén and was originally a browser game. The premise is quite simple really: what happens if you were plonked somewhere and only had Google's Street View to determine where you were? Pretty cool concept right? Especially for those of us who have travelled the world or just love geography in general. The game eventually made its way onto mobile devices and has even become an esports title with the start of the GeoGuessr World Championships in 2023. It finally made its way onto Steam last year but the game is still in Early Access with more features promised in the future. If you're playing the Free-to-Play version (like I am) this gives you access to only three game modes: Daily Challenge, Quickplay Solo Duels and Quickplay Team Duels. In order to participate in ranked competitive play and unlock more cosmetics (besides a ridiculous looking goat hat at the start), you'll need to pay an annual Steam pass of $30 USD (although Australians get charged $50 AUD - gotta love the "Australia Tax").
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| Completing the Daily Challenge will offer you clues that will give you an edge in future challenges |
Daily Challenge
Each day you'll be offered a challenge where you'll be dropped into Google Street View at five different locations around the world. At each of the locations, you're given 3 minutes to navigate your immediate vicinity and zoom in on potential clues. Clues can be almost anything, such as road markings, road signs, posters, billboards, flags, flora, fauna, even the direction the traffic is heading. Provided time hasn't run out, when you're ready to make a guess, you do so by zooming in on the minimap in the bottom right corner, placing a pin on it and submitting your answer. Your score will range from 0-5,000, with 5,000 only being awarded if you're within metres of the correct location. This means the maximum score for the Daily Challenge is 25,000 points which I've never been able to achieve, although I've managed to get over 20,000 a few times.
Over time, I've come to appreciate the Daily Challenge mode and it's the only mode I regularly play for two reasons: firstly, despite there being a time limit, there is less pressure as you're not competing against a human player who can put a stop to your search for clues (more on that later) and the Daily Challenge is actually educational since after guessing a location, it will give you hints for the future such as what is unique about a country's road signage or which colour a country uses for its car registration plates.
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| Sometimes forcing an opponent's hand can backfire spectacularly |
Multiplayer
If playing solo is not your thing and you want to compete against humans, you can in the Quickplay Solo Duel (1v1) and Quickplay Team Duel modes (2v2). I didn't end up trying the Team Duel mode but I have plenty of experience with the Solo Duel, and it plays a bit like a fighting game in that both you and another random player start off with 5,000 points that represent your health bars. Both you and the other player will be given the same location to determine where it is in the world. Unlike the Daily Challenge, there doesn't appear to be any time limit but once one player submits their guess, it will start a 15s countdown timer for the other player to hurry up and submit their own guess. The distance between the guesses and the correct location are then measured and whoever is closest is the winner. Then the distance between the winning guess and the losing guess is measured and this will determine how much health is deducted from the loser's health bar. The winner of the round also receives a points multiplier meaning the next time they win, it's going to cause even more damage to their opponent. Multiple rounds are then played until one player's health bar reaches 0 and when that occurs, the other player is declared the winner of the game.
Communication between other players is limited to emojis although unfortunately, despite what I can only assume was a conscious choice to reduce toxicity in the game (people can say mean stuff to each other online after all), some players obviously didn't get the memo: my experiences with Quickplay Solo Duels have generally been good but a few times I have come across players that tend to spam the emojis as soon as they complete a guess (often with "GG" or "laughing" emojis), probably in an attempt to distract their opponent.
The game is fun for Geography nerds or for those that are well travelled. It can make you feel really smart at times and it's exciting being dropped in familiar places. I made very close guesses when I was dropped on the Champs Elysees overlooking the Arc de Triomphe and Patong Beach, places I've visited which made them instantly recognisable. But often the game isn't going to be that easy and will more often than not plonk you on a long highway in the middle of the desert with very little in the way of clues.
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| Sometimes it can be quite obvious that somebody is cheating |
Cheating
Playing against random strangers across the Internet obviously means there is the potential for cheating. The game warns against cheating and threatens bans if cheaters are discovered but that usually requires proof. The game has a replay and report feature that allows you to review your last game from your opponent's view and report them if you suspect them of cheating. But it's hard to determine if your opponent is potentially searching for a place name on their phone or whether they're just familiar with the town.
One of the most egregious examples I came across that has just about put me off the multiplayer mode of this game altogether is one player I spectated who didn't even look around for clues. They stayed in the same spot on the map, immediately started zooming onto the correct location and scored 5,000 points each time. Perhaps they're using AI tools to examine the starting image in order to determine the location. I'm not entirely sure, but I ended up reporting them for what looked like obvious cheating. I didn't receive any response from GeoGuessr so I'm still unsure how effective the developer is at banning cheaters.
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7
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Good casual fun for geography nerds and the well travelled if you're content playing the Daily Challenge. Multiplayer can be fun most of the time, although sadly cheaters do exist in this game and despite the devs warning that cheaters will be banned, I've seen no evidence of them receiving their comeuppance. |
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