I made it to Paris on time, but was fined for my sloppy driving.
I was only on the road for a few minutes, but at the time it felt like I'd never make it back to the highway. It's one of the most intense, nerve-racking experiences I've ever had in a video game, which isn't something that's often said about a mundane simulator. So not only do I have to navigate this unwieldy vehicle and its oversized load along the road like I'm threading a giant, gas-guzzling needle, but I have to intermittently do it without any idea of when the next turn is coming. When it does, the headlights blink out, and I'm suddenly plunged into an inky black darkness. I learn this the hard way as I'm dragging this immense trailer filled with dangerous chemicals down the tightest, narrowest country road, and my knackered engine decides to repeatedly shut itself off. This is one of the few video games where the night time is as dark as it should be, rather than just a very heavy shade of blue. When it gets dark in ETS2, it gets really dark. But a bad engine is a very different story when you're on any other kind of road-especially the narrow, twisting country lanes that litter the French countryside. You can usually just restart your engine and keep driving till you reach the next service station. Because you spend so much of your time in the game on long, straight, brightly lit highways, it's never that big of a deal. When your truck takes severe damage in Euro Truck Simulator 2, there's a chance your engine will randomly cut out. I think I was trying to simultaneously watch an episode of something on Netflix, which is a very bad idea for anyone in command of a large, dangerous heavy goods vehicle. But before I'd even reached France, my truck was badly damaged due to some careless driving on my part. Just a short hop over the border and back in time for tea. I was hired to deliver this volatile, oversized cargo from Dresden to Paris, which should have been an easy job. It all started with a few tonnes of chemicals. Related: If I Could Live Anywhere In A Video Game, It Would Be The Citadel From Mass Effect It's rare, but there is danger in the game-and it can creep up on you when you least expect it. But that doesn't mean things can't go wrong. People often talk about cosy games, and ETS2 is the epitome of that concept for me. Behind the virtual wheel of my truck, safe in my warmly lit cabin, the troubles of the world seem very far away. When I'm driving at night in the rain, watching the wipers swish back and forth, it's hypnotic like nothing else I've played.
You'll be amazed at how enjoyable these long, largely uneventful cross-country drives can be.
Even if you don't care about trucks, trust me: make time to play it, even if it's just the free demo on Steam. Niche subject matter aside, it's just an exceptional driving game, with a vast and seamless open world to explore, weighty, nuanced handling, and a laid-back pace that is utterly transfixing. Discover a new kind of driving simulator thanks to this game.Euro Truck Simulator 2 is one of the greatest video games ever made, and I say that without a trace of irony. The difficulty of the game doesn't only lie on arriving on time to each destination to deliver our goods, but also on making sure that the truck arrives without any damage, something somewhat difficult for those users that are used to games where you never have to lift your foot off the accelerator. This is the European version of the popular 18 Wheels of Steel, where we'll have the chance to drive the most popular truck models of the old continentÄuring the game, we'll travel through many of the best-known cities, like Berlin, London or Barcelona, where we will have the opportunity to enjoy many of the nicest views of Europe. Transport your goods around more than 60 European cities. The great majority of driving simulators that currently monopolize the market are focused on the most popular motorsports such as Formula 1, high range or powerful vehicles or street races, but there are other alternatives that will allow us to prove our skill when it comes to driving, like Euro Truck Simulator 2.