As predictably as an eye-watering tax return landing in my inbox every January,I’m loving Steam Next Fest. I’ve already waxed lyrical about Harold Halibut (which you should all check out), but part of the beauty of this demo-laden event is being introduced to games by word of mouth.
Dark & Darker-like Dungeonborne was the breakaway hit as Next Fest kicked off, simply with the playable premise of: what if that game you loved last year wasn’t mired in legal issues? As time went on, I heard positive whisperings about Mullet Mad Jack, so added it to my list. On the other hand, the distinct flavour of Pepper Grinder presented in its demo was enough to sell me on its concept better thanany preview to date.
I wrote my list of Next Fest games to check out knowing more would crop up and deserve a place, albeit sadly too late. That game is Star Trucker. Luckily for it, it’s such a fun game that it’s getting its own feature.
Star Trucker is a trucking simulator set in space. You haul cargo along cosmic highways, obey interplanetary speed limits, and float through intergalactic space portals. The core of the game is much like American Truck Simulator or any other in the genre – take your cargo from Point A to Point B – but that concept is brilliantly taken to the stars.
The concept is simple, but effective. I’m a big fan of using Truck Simulators to relax, setting up the old pedals, gearstick, and steering wheel to unwind after a long day or a particularly intense gaming session. The relaxing roads are the perfect antidote to the antithetical Apex Legends ranked grind, the deep tissue massage after a hard day at the gym.
However, I’ve no interest in American highways. They’re long and boring, which is sometimes what you need, but it can get old before you’ve even completed a job. Europe fares better, perhaps because it’s closer to home, but it’s still just house, house, field, field. The thrill is the open road, but sometimes I wish the earth was a little more exciting.
Star Trucker has the opposite problem. While its stylised visions of the universe never fail to feel exciting as you cruise past a supernova or sprawling space station, it’s sometimes too busy. Who’d have thought there’d be traffic jams on space highways when you’re surrounded by billions of miles of nothing? Of course, this is a gameplay mechanic, because what would a truck sim be without other drivers cutting you off, but occasionally the genres clash a little.
If you want to avoid the traffic, you can easily turn off the highway and head through uncharted space to reach your destination. Just watch out for the extraterrestrial debris that damages your vehicle, and make sure the zero-gravity doesn’t fling your spare fuel cells into one another, busting them. Make sure that those busted cells aren’t your only means of refuelling in the vast emptiness so you aren’t stranded in nothingness, late delivery strapped to your cabin and client growing angrier by the minute. Not that I’m bitter or anything.
The demo is a little temperamental, but that’s to be expected when the full game is still a while off, but I’d like to see Star Trucker go harder on the simulation elements in the full game. More gear changes, more technical levers to pull (although the docking procedure is excellent), more gritty reality of driving an intergalactic delivery vehicle to contrast the spectacular vistas rolling past your windscreen and disappearing in the rearview mirror.
Star Trucker is a clever iteration on the trucking sim genre, and I’m surprised more games don’t take this approach to development. We know Power Wash Simulator is getting Warhammer 40,000 DLC (eventually), but why aren’t we mowing lawns on Mars or carefully building the PC components of an alien spacecraft? Until those are options, you can find me trucking through the stars.
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