American Truck Simulator

American Truck Simulator
Developer(s)	SCS Software
Publisher(s)	SCS Software
Distributor(s)	Excalibur Publishing
Series	Truck Simulator
Platforms	Linux Microsoft Windows OS X
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Vehicle simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player

American Truck Simulator (ATS) is a 2016 vehicle simulation game developed by the Czech company SCS Software and is the parallel video game sequel to Euro Truck Simulator 2. It was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 (E3 2015), although it was first announced as being in development in September 2013. The game was released on 2 February 2016 and has sold over 280,000 copies as of April 2016.

Development

SCS Software first announced the game on 6 September 2013. It was revealed at E3 in 2015.

On 11 April 2014, SCS Software announced that there will be more than 100 cities in the game and released screenshots of the game. Truck brands included on American Truck Simulator so far are Kenworth and Peterbilt, but more will follow.

SCS plans to eventually include the entire North American continent. On 26 January 2015, SCS Software published a 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.

Gameplay

American Truck Simulator is a truck-driving simulator as well as a business management simulator. In the game, players drive trucks and deliver trailer-moved goods to a designated location in order to be compensated with money and experience points. The payload must be delivered to the location 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 depends on the length of the delivery in miles traveled and 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 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 yet a bigger reward when completed successfully.

In addition to driving and delivering goods, the player can also 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.

The game started off at launch with the U.S. states of California and Nevada, and expanded from there, with Arizona being added in May 2016 as part of a free open beta. More U.S. states are expected to be added by the developer in the future.

Trucks

SCS Software confirmed in a blog post 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 that they are in licensing talks with PACCAR, which, when complete, should add the Peterbilt 389. The Volvo VNL 780 is expected to be added in the future, along with some conventional-style American tractor trailers. Peterbilt and Kenworth are official and Volvo will most likely to be the third official brand in the game after release, along with a few new trucks, which SCS posted pictures of, but did not name, on their blog post.

Setting

The game is set in an abridged scale version of the contiguous United States and currently features depictions of the western U.S. states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. Arizona was released for free in May 2016 as part of an open beta version of the game, along with the Californian city of Ukiah. Pavel Sebor, the CEO of SCS Software, has hinted that the next DLC states might be New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, or Washington. SCS have stated that most future map expansions will be chargeable.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 76/100 Review scores Publication Score Polygon 8/10 Hardcore Gamer 4/5 PC Gamer 80/100

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

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." 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."

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.