Euro Truck Simulator 2

Story:

There is no story. Well, there is no story in the usual sense. You're starting as a newbie driver without a truck. What you gotta do? Work for a company that will provide a truck for you. Keep working, get money, and buy your own truck. After that, the world is your oyster. Do you want to be a simple trucker making long hauls across the continent? You can do that. Do you want to build your own trucking empire? You can do that too.

I'd even go as far as saying that almost every hauling job is its own little story. Maybe you snoozed behind a wheel and wrecked your truck along with the valuable cargo on your way to Sweden and had to pay a lot of money for your mistake. Maybe you had to make a huge detour because someone had a crash and police closed the road and then you ran out of gas right outside Birmingham and then had to resort to towing your truck, losing money and time.

Graphics:

The game originally came out in 2012 so graphics can seem a bit old 13 years later and there's no support for Direct X 12/Vulkan, at least for now. But the game still looks nice and besides, graphics is not the selling point of this game.

The effects of rain and snow look realistic, textures are fine, truck models and especially the interiors are amazing. You can almost imagine yourself being in the cabin of your favorite working horse. The day/night cycle can sometimes create a beautiful atmosphere.

But there's always "but". Despite the game being updated up to Direct X 11, there's one lingering issue. I'm talking about the draw distance and LOD of certain objects like traffic cars, trees, and road signs. While buildings, bridges, and all other big stuff look okay, upcoming traffic change models right before your eyes. And I'm not talking about it happening a half kilometer away, it happens where you can see it. Sadly, no amount of settings tweaking or mods can fix this. Usually, you're so focused on the road that you won't notice these things but when you see it once, it can start being immersion-breaking.

If you can get over this one issue, you'll be fine.

Audio:

Let me start with the fact that I didn't spend my entire life around trucks to the point that I can identify how accurate each truck sounds to its real-life counterpart. But for my amateur ear, it sounds realistic enough to be passable.

Engine noises, changing gears, all the chimes, bells, and whistles inside the cabin sound good to me. Also, the sound changes inside and outside the cabin too, so you can imagine what's gonna happen if you open a window while driving on a highway.

The in-game music is inoffensive and mostly is there to provide background noise so you won't drive listening only to the mechanical sounds of your truck.

However, the true star of the show is real radio stations that can be streamed in-game. That's where immersion is at its peak. I can't count how many times I drove into a new country and immediately changed radio stations accordingly. Even if I don't know the language, I just enjoy the music. 

Gameplay:

On the surface everything is pretty simple: get the truck, get the job, drive. That's it, right?

Like you drive to the destination, abiding by the law, stopping at red lights and stop signs, and avoiding all the other cars. Nope, it's so much more.

First of all, there are different jobs from different companies.

Type of cargo, time to complete, distance to your destination, everything is varied from job to job. Let's say you picked a job to deliver a bunch of tractors from Kassel, Germany to Luxembourg.

First, you pull up to the company's loading dock, manually park your truck, hitch the cargo bed, and drive out of the dock then you realize that your truck is not that powerful, but you decide to drive anyway.

Then you get less gas mileage, you have to pull up to a gas station more often and then a slight change in elevation stops you dead in your tracks. In the end, you're late to make your delivery and get a lot less money and exp. On top of that, your driver needs to sleep, so you have to factor in that too. (Or if you want more arcade experience, you can turn off that and pull an all-nighter.) 

When you finally arrive at your destination, you have to park your truck accordingly in the loading dock. Which requires skill too. (Or you can let the computer park the truck for you in exchange for getting less exp).

And believe me, you do need that extra exp, because each time you level up, you get a point you can spend on upgrading your driver. Want to get more gas mileage? Want to be able to get longer hauls? Want to be able to haul more types of cargo? Put a skill point in the skill you need. On top of that, leveling up unlocks more upgrades for your truck that you can buy.

Let's say you played a bit, saved a bit of cash, and bought your dream truck. What's next? Add a bit of personality to your ride. You can upgrade it and not just stats-wise. You can change paint jobs, rims, tires, mirrors, grills, lights, and a bunch of interior elements.

And if after that you still have a lot of cash left, you can buy a garage and create your own trucking company. Hire drivers, provide them with trucks and they'll passively add to your daily income and earn exp, just like you. In the end, you'll be a trucking company with an office in every town.

Since you'll be doing a lot of driving, how's everything on the game physics side of things?

Despite some minor hiccups, everything else is smooth. Trucks behave as trucks should on roads, like a force to be reckoned with. Like a heavy machine that may take some time to start and stop but when you get them moving, it's a smooth glide along a highway.

Mods:

Game supports mods that can be installed from Steam workshop and other sources.

There's mods for almost everything: in-game economy, physics, passengers, more trucks, different maps, more truck customization.