I fought my Rust Mobile PR rep for their horse at Gamescom, and it was glorious

Rust is responsible for giving me one of my favorite gaming clips of all time. Posted by ‘CS Pavel’ to YouTube nine years ago, it encapsulates everything the game aspires to be. Ruthless betrayals, dry humor, and top-tier acting that Daniel Day-Lewis can only dream of. I was skeptical that Rust Mobile could replicate this on the go, but Facepunch’s small-screen adventure keeps the spirit of its PC counterpart alive.

You may have never set foot into the barren wastelands of Rust before, but I guarantee you’ve seen it across your TikTok and YouTube Shorts feeds before. Players drop into a procedurally generated map, brave the wilderness from rival scavengers and wildlife, while looting resources and attempting to make a life for themselves. Life usually consists of making the existence of rival players as annoying as possible, with often hilarious outcomes. Rust Mobile isn’t setting out to be a separate experience, but rather a unification of everything that has led up to this point.

Rust began its life in 2013. I can remember playing it on a rubbish Sony Vaio laptop, barely reaching a stable framerate. Despite that, Facepunch’s challenging open-world game continued to charm me. Loading into the map, the familiar site of the greatest tool mankind will ever need greets me: a rock. Yes, a rock is all you need to get started. Bash rivals over the head with it, or knock down tree trunks for wood. It’s the swiss-army knife of mother nature.

Controlling Rust Mobile is fairly easy, with automatic sprinting taking the pressure off of continuously running forward. Crafting menus and my inventory are just a tap away, and aren’t too much of a hindrance to sort through. What is a struggle for my eyes is the exceptionally small size of the overall user interface. I couldn’t find a toggle for this in the mobile game‘s settings, either. There can be a decent amount of text on-screen in Rust Mobile, with challenges indicating goals I can complete amid the chaos.

Sure, I’m game to collect some rewards in return for dressing myself in a burlap sack. I just wish I could read what Rust Mobile is trying to tell me. The Gamescom demo is played on a Samsung Galaxy S25, so it is noticeably smaller than my preferred Android device, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro. After 15 minutes, the handset starts to feel a little toasty, and an in-game notification warns me that certain settings will be reduced to cope with the strain. It largely affects the game’s fidelity, but it isn’t enough to make it unplayable.

These issues aside, the fun factor of Rust Mobile still manages to come across. After crafting a wooden spear and enough clothing to cover my bare cheeks from the cool forest air, I noticed another player galloping on a horse. An on-site PR rep declares this is their horse, and the hunt among the other journalists heats up. With my spear in hand, I chase them down on foot to an abandoned gas station, catching them off guard. This is my horse now, buddy.

As their corpse flops to the ground and precious loot becomes mine, my transformation into a villain is complete. This is pure Rust goodness. For some, the gruelling nature of starting over can be tiresome. Rust has always encouraged players to embrace the feeling of creating their own adventures, and to do that, a fresh start is the best way. I take this to heart when my recently crafted base is reduced to smithereens, ending my time as a cunning bad guy. Maybe the villain’s life isn’t for me after all, but I’m glad Facepunch lets me try it out.

There isn’t a Rust Mobile release date yet, but the developer is still deploying various playtests to be a part of it. Whether you’re playing on an iPhone or an Android device, you can be part of it soon.

Looking for more Gamescom coverage? Dive into my hands-on impressions of the Xbox Ally or my chat with PUBG: Mobile producer Rick Li. I’ve also got plenty of thoughts to share in my Arknights: Endfield preview, too.