Okay, okay. I get it. Maybe trucking up and down the highway isn’t your cup of tea. It’s not the most exciting or engaging thing in the world. There are already a lot of really terrific games out this year. XCOM 2 is giving you some great turn-based strategy options. Rise of the Tomb Raider is an awesome, tightly paced adventure. The PC folks just got the best version of the unique, wonderful RPG epic, Dragon’s Dogma. Plus you’ve got great, daring narrative experiments in the forms of Firewatch and That Dragon, Cancer. It’s an embarrassment of riches!
But hear me out: Trucking. I… You guys, I can’t stop playing American Truck Simulator. The roar of the engines, the endless highways, the public access country music over internet radio… It’s so good. It’s so good! I understand you’re probably skeptical. But hey, now you can try it risk free! There’s a demo! A free demo of a game in 2016! No, I didn’t know they still made those, either!
The demo’s available on Steam right now. It’s limited by the number of jobs you can take, but includes the full state of California, which is over half of the game’s current landmass. Saves from the demo are compatible with the full game, so all your trucking progress will carry over.
Give it a shot. What have you got to lose? It’s so relaxing. So… cathartic. The full game will be getting a third state, Arizona, for free down the line. And the Kenworth W900–one of the two truck models that matters–will be officially added to the game very soon. Once we get a Peterbilt 379 in there, I can finally stop relying on mods for the proper American trucking experience.
