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American Truck Simulator

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American Truck Simulator is a truck simulator game developed and published by the Czech company SCS Software. It was announced as being in development in September 2013[1] and unveiled at the E3 2015. It was released on 2 February 2016 for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS.[2] The game is the parallel sequel to Euro Truck Simulator 2, the spiritual successor of 18 Wheels of Steel, and the third installment in the Truck Simulator series. Set in a condensed depiction of United States, the player can drive one of a choice of American-style conventional trucks, visiting various locations across the U.S., picking up a variety of cargos, and delivering them to its destination. Since its release, the game has sold over 2 million copies on Steam.

American Truck Simulator
Cover art featuring a Peterbilt 579 carrying a trailer.
Developer(s)SCS Software
Publisher(s)SCS Software
SeriesTruck Simulator
EnginePrism3D
Platform(s)
Release2 February 2016
Genre(s)Vehicle simulation
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

American Truck Simulator is a truck driving simulator with business management elements. Players drive trailer-hooked trucks and deliver loads to a designated location in order to be compensated with money and experience points. The payload must be delivered to the destination speedily within a given amount of time, and with the least amount of damage to the goods as possible, in order to net the most money and experience points possible.

In-game money, after being earned, can be used to purchase more trucks and associated aesthetic, mechanical, and structural upgrades, purchase fuel and repairs for those trucks, take out and repay loans from a bank, as well as hire drivers and purchase garages to house and base them in. The amount of money and experience points earned is commensurate on the length of the delivery in distance traveled as well as the type of goods being transported. When delivering goods, players can use their own personally-purchased truck or use one provided by an in-game company. When delivering goods using a fleet-provided truck, repairs and other costs are paid for by the company rather than out of the player's in-game fund pool. Experience points can be accumulated and used to obtain perks, which improve the player's driving ability and what kinds of payloads they can deliver, such as chemicals and explosives, which net a bigger reward when completed successfully.

In addition to driving and delivering goods, the player can manage a trucking business with hired drivers and owned properties. Hired drivers will perform deliveries on their own, netting the player money. The longer the drivers are hired, the more skillful they will become, thus increasing the amount of money they earn from each delivery. The player can train each driver to focus on a specific area of their driving that can be improved upon. Unlike in Euro Truck Simulator 2, the game features weigh stations, where players must stop at a designated weigh station in order to determine the weight of the cargo before proceeding through (though the game will sometimes allow them to bypass the station but avoiding it deliberately will result in receiving a fine).

States

 
Map of the USA. Green - available, amber – in production, red – not available

The game started off at launch with the U.S. states of California and Nevada, and expanded from there, with Arizona being added in June 2016 as a free update.[3] A number of other states have now been added as paid DLC:

State Release date
   California 2 February 2016
   Nevada 2 February 2016
   Arizona 6 June 2016[4]
   New Mexico 9 November 2017[5]
   Oregon 4 October 2018[6]
   Washington 11 June 2019[7]
   Utah 7 November 2019[8]
   Idaho 16 July 2020[9]
   Colorado 12 November 2020[10]
   Wyoming 2021[11]
   Texas TBA[12]

Trucks

SCS Software confirmed in a blog post on 15 February 2016 that the Kenworth W900 has been launched and added to the game. SCS Software confirmed in a blog post that the Peterbilt 579 and the Kenworth T680 will ship with the sim on release day. They also confirmed the Peterbilt 389 on 3 November 2016.[13]

Two years later, SCS Software included the Volvo VNL into the game on 5 November 2018.[14] Another three months later, the CEO of SCS Software confirmed that the International LoneStar would be coming to the game. The developer would love to include many more trucks, but has ruled out adding fictional trucks, and the biggest obstacle for including real trucks remains securing licensing rights. The International LoneStar was released into the game on 12 December 2019. On 28 April 2020, the Mack Anthem was added to the game. On 30 September 2020, the Western Star 49X was added to the game, about 1 day later after its real-world unveiling. On 2 December 2020, the Freightliner Cascadia was added to the game.

Setting

The game is set in a condensed 1:20-scaled version of the western contiguous United States, expanded periodically by the developer through downloadable content. It currently features depictions of the western U.S. states of California, Nevada, Arizona, with New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho, and Colorado available as DLCs.[15] The game features 126 visitable cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boise, Denver and many thousands of miles worth of in-game roads.[15] Currently, the player may travel as far north as Bellingham, Washington, as far south as Nogales, Arizona, as far west as Eureka, California, and as far east as Burlington, Colorado, assuming the player has all the states available to them. SCS have stated that most future map expansions, if not all, will be at additional cost.[15] The modding community for American Truck Simulator have also created their own map extensions. The most popular of these extensions include cities in each state, Mexico, and Canada, though the majority of these maps, with some exceptions, are generally not as dense with roads as the base game nor regarded by the community as high quality or detailed. Some modded maps redo older sections of the map with their own areas, regarded as higher quality than the vanilla game. These old areas are generally considered to be out-of-date by the community, with lower design standards than SCS Software's map content today.[16]

Development

SCS Software announced the game on 6 September 2013.[17] It was revealed at E3 in 2015.[18]

On 11 April 2014, SCS Software announced that there will be 100+ cities in the game once completed (not initially), and SCS released screenshots of the game. Truck brands included on American Truck Simulator so far are Kenworth, Peterbilt, Volvo, International Trucks, Western Star, Mack and Freightliner. More will follow; the only setback remains the licensing of trucks from their manufacturers. SCS plans to eventually include the entire contiguous United States, as long as the game continues to do well. On 26 January 2015, SCS Software published a 1-hour video to YouTube of footage from early alpha of the game. On 18 December 2015, SCS Software announced the official release date for American Truck Simulator, 3 February 2016, on their blog. The game was released 1 day earlier instead.[19]

The game was released for PC-DVD on 14 December 2017.[20][21][better source needed]

Reception

American Truck Simulator has received mostly positive reviews from critics, scoring 76/100 on Metacritic.[22]

James Cunningham of Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4 out of 5 saying, "While a little more realism would make American Truck Simulator more fun, paradoxical as that may sound, there’s no escaping how fantastically playable it is."[27] Laura Dale from Polygon rated the game a 8/10 saying, "As someone who sunk countless hours into Euro Truck Simulator 2, a fresh coat of paint, an unfamiliar set of sights and the challenge of driving on the wrong opposite side of the road left me confident that I'll be sinking just as many hours into American Truck Simulator."[26]

Andy Kelly of PC Gamer commended the game and noted that it shared the strengths and shortcomings of its predecessor due to the two games' similarities, though advised that it was not finished on launch and urged more cautious gamers to wait until it was more completed before purchasing the game.[28]

American Truck Simulator won Best technological solution at the 2016 Czech Game of the Year Awards, and was also nominated for Best Game, Best PC/Console Game, and Best Audio.[29]

References

  1. ^ "American Truck Simulator Details - Excalibur Publishing". Excalibur Publishing. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  2. ^ "American Truck Simulator Releasing Today". Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  3. ^ Meer, Alec (25 May 2016). "American Truck Simulator's Free Arizona DLC Makes The Game The Size It Always Should Have Been". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Arizona map expansion for American Truck Simulator released!". SCS Software Blog. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  5. ^ Wales, Matt (2 November 2017). "American Truck Simulator's big New Mexico update is out next week". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  6. ^ Senior, Tom (28 September 2018). "American Truck Simulator Oregon expansion due next week". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  7. ^ O'Connor, Alice (11 June 2019). "American Truck Simulator now rolling through forests and mountains of Washington". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  8. ^ O'Connor, Alice (2 November 2019). "American Truck Simulator honks into Utah next week". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  9. ^ Parlock, Joe (9 July 2020). "American Truck Simulator's next DLC wants you to really explore Idaho". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Colorado Release". SCS Software's blog. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Introducing Wyoming". SCS Software's blog. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Introducing Texas". SCS Software's blog. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  13. ^ "SCS Software's blog". blog.scssoft.com. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  14. ^ "Volvo VNL coming to American Truck Simulator". blog.scssoft.com. SCS Software. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  15. ^ a b c "American Truck Simulator Map DLC Clarifications". SCS Software Blog. SCS Software. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  16. ^ "Maps - SCS Software". forum.scssoft.com. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Change of Topic (and Continent!)". SCS Software. 6 September 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  18. ^ Dyer, Mitch (16 June 2015). "E3 2015: American Truck Simulator Announced". IGN. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  19. ^ "American Truck Simulator Release Date". SCS Software's Blog. SCS Software. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  20. ^ "American Truck Simulator". www.facebook.com.
  21. ^ s.r.o, web revolution. "American Truck Simulator Enchanted Edition - SCS SOFTWARE". eshop.scssoft.com.
  22. ^ a b "American Truck Simulator". Metacritic. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  23. ^ https://www.destructoid.com/review-american-truck-simulator-337137.phtml
  24. ^ http://www.eurogamer.pl/articles/2016-02-06-american-truck-simulator-recenzja
  25. ^ "American Truck Simulator - Recension". Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  26. ^ a b Laura Dale (4 February 2016). "American Truck Simulator Review". Polygon. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  27. ^ a b Cunningham, James (21 February 2016). "Review: American Truck Simulator". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  28. ^ a b Kelly, Andy (20 January 2016). "American Truck Simulator Review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  29. ^ "Nominace - ČESKÁ HRA ROKU 2016". ČESKÁ HRA ROKU 2016 (in Czech). Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
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