I am pretty much always looking for games that are relaxing, yet engaging. Well folks, I found it. THE relaxing and engaging game. Oh, and one that doesn’t involve bubbles or jewels or well, you get the idea.
I just love it…yes, there are challenges, things like challenging parking/backing, but you can skip those if you want. Mostly, it’s just driving around. And I like driving games, but again, many of them are challenging and you’re pressure to go fast all the time. In ATS, if you half-ass think ahead you just get to drive.
And the scenery is fantastic, even if the engine is a little dated. Love the American West? Go drive through it! Drop off a load, check the load board and decide where you want to go; fuel or sleep if you need to, and cruise out again through some beautiful countryside.
I’ve got it, and I played the first run but haven’t had time to really get into it yet. I know there are lots of people who are absolute fanatics for it, though.
I bought American and Euro Truck Simulator a couple of years ago, and they were good fun. Something started glitching for a while where I couldn’t seem to get to the top speed limit anymore, it refused to acknowledge my gear changes, and I got frustrated and lost interest. Also the DLCs are all paid, which I didn’t want to shell out for.
However, it’s true that they are relaxing games of gentle journeys across some peaceful landscape, and broadly accurate for the locations without sacrificing gameplay (it’s like 1% of real distances, but proportions are good, and landmarks remain).
I’ve got both American and Euro Truck Simulators as well. I played the hell out of them when I first got them. I have a couple of DLC’s I believe, but I have to admit, I’m not that jazzed to play much more of it unless I get some further DLC’s. Especially the American version. Without the DLC’s it’s pretty limited. The Euro version seems the opposite. I played that more than American just because it was more diverse, but then there’s the Road to Serbia or whatever that adds a lot of nothing. On the other hand, as with America, more DLC’s (Italy and France) are needed to re-ignite my interest. I do have those games installed (I tend to ration what games I have installed at any given time due to memory restraints) so I can fire them up anytime I want.
That all said, I never played the multi-player version of it; I’m not even sure what that all entails. Mostly, like the OP, I just wanted a relaxing game, so I modded the fucker up so I can’t lose. I’m not into management; I’m into looking around cool computer environments.
Been playing that and ETS2 a long time. My long-time ATS save got corrupted and I lost it (this happens; backup your saves!), and I didn’t feel like starting all the way over so I haven’t played it in a while, but it was always fun just to drive around. In earlier versions of the game the scale was different, but fairly recently they re-scaled everything to match ETS2, going from 1:35 to 1:20 so driving times are now a little more realistic.
Sometimes I’ll go on a rampage and just start smashing cars in traffic for fun.
Learning to back up is challenging and often frustrating, but satisfying once you figure it out. Helpful tip: the trailer goes in the same direction as 6 o’clock on your steering wheel.
The damage thing can often really suck, but there are mods you can download to reduce or even eliminate that aspect of the game.
What was the last time you checked DLC’s? Currently California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Idaho are available. And they’re working on Colorado. Actually I just realized that I don’t think I have New Mexico??
I don’t have any mods, the only thing I did similar was turn off traffic violations. I got tired of BS tickets for a few MPH over or for being juuuust barely over the line at a stop light. Or when some stupid MFer would stop on an entrance ramp and I’d bash them.
I did log on the multiplayer version last night, but I didn’t notice much of a difference in anything.
The first few weeks of the pandemic were pretty miserable for me (as they were for a lot of people, many far worse off than me at that). I was furloughed from my job, alone in my house, nowhere to go, scared, lonely, and depressed. I was looking for a new game to play to keep me occupied, and browsing through the unplayed games in my Steam library, I found ATS. I don’t even recall buying it, but obviously I did at some point. Thinking maybe I got it as part of a Humble Bundle package at some point or something, because this really isn’t the type of game I’d normally buy.
Anyway, I decided to give it a try since I already had it, and quickly discovered this was the perfect game for me at the time. A great distraction, a reasonable substitute for my love of roadtrips, a way to relax, see some scenery, and keep my mind off of things. A game of order and neatly following the rules in a time of chaos. I played the hell out of it those first few weeks, and found myself loving it way more than I thought I would. Got all the DLC, and have been really enjoying driving all through the States. Backing up is a challenge, and one I’m still working on.
I’ve since been un-furloughed, and started fostering a dog (who is getting me out of the house a lot more), and have taken up other hobbies, so I haven’t been playing nearly as much as I did that first month or so, but I still do enjoy it. And it really did help me through that rough period.
A friend of mine is big on it. It’s kind of funny.
I have casually mentioned before that I have a small group of friends that get together for regular sim racing. He used to participate in iRacing with us, using a flight stick. He participated in our Project Cars outings using that flight stick and later a keyboard. Wreckfest was pure keyboard action.
But ATS? That made him get a steering wheel/pedals/gearshift combo. Not the agonizingly detailed sim racing, but casual, leisurely pretend trucks.
I will secretely admit that it might be a bit fun to drive pretend trucks and chat in Discord with a buddy. It looks like it sort of scratches the same itch as the Test Drive Unlimiteds/The Crew games did, where I spent most of my time tooling around the countryside looking at the looks with a friend or two. Except, y’know, much more chill. Driving a freight truck instead of wrestling a 500 HP TVR around that wants to eat my face.
If I’m pressed publically on this topic, I will deny it vigorously.
I realized after posting this that I didn’t ever actually get New Mexico. Got it last night but haven’t been yet.
I also got the heavy haul DLC and did a couple of those runs. That’s pretty fun, they’re pretty short trips but you can only go 40 mph. Bonus is that you get a highway patrol escort!
The variety of landscapes you get in Euro is a lot wider than American, which tends to be a lot of empty desert. I don’t have any of the DLC, so I can’t speak to any of them, but the States in the default game are all the dusty dry ones.
Yeah, I saw that they were all on sale for reasonable prices this summer, but I haven’t been putting a lot of time into those games - not enough to justify another $30-$40 (if I want all the DLCs). Or rather I’ve been putting in so much time into other games, one of which was Car Mechanic Simulator, which also has a ton of DLCs for reasonable prices (a few of which I’ve snagged). Then I picked up The Golf Club 2019, which has no DLCs but a robust designing community.
Long story short, I’ve been spending way too much money on video games this year, so I thought I’d pump the brakes (pun intended) on tooling the America southwest.
I’m really looking forward to the Colorado DLC. I’ve wanted to drive through Glenwood Canyon ever since reading about it in Smithsonian magazine. I can’t find that article online so here’s this:
