While I am more than happy with the type of games I play, I've always fancied a go at being a digital truck driver. Some of the bigger enthusiasts take it quite seriously, setting up realistic cabins in their gaming dens with authentic CB Radios and the obligatory substantial beverage holder. Earlier this year a game popped up in the Steam Nextfest, seemingly about being a truck driver in space: I installed the demo of Star Trucker without even hesitating.
Space Race
So you start out sitting in your broken-down truck. You must use your space suit (EMU) to leave via the airlock and patch a few holes in the hull. As you point at the various door controls and levers they all highlight showing they can be used. Welding the holes on your hull is just a case of thrusting into place and holding left click until the hole is sealed. These first few tasks act as a decent tutorial, but jetting around outside your ship also helps emphasise the massive scale of the space around you.
The meat and potatoes of this game is picking up hauling jobs from starports, collecting the cargo and getting it to the destination before the time expires. Each playable area consists of various services (but not always the same configuration) like repair stations or supply shops. Space lanes offer a clear route to other areas of that region but there's nothing to stop you going as the crow flies. That is apart from a whole manner of space rocks and ship debris waiting to nobble your new paint job. Unless you fly well, driving into these debris fields will leave your ship with more holes than a Yorkshire tea bag.
Once you have the haul you must then make various warp jumps to other sectors before arriving at the drop point. Drive the cargo into the bright box, disengage the mag lock and job done. You will get a report based on damage to cargo, driving infractions (speeding etc) and speed of delivery (and cash). As you start to unlock new cargo types, such as fragile or perishable, these add extra risks but with better rewards. The bigger challenge is when you start to venture into new zones. Having to deal with solar flares is a lot more intense than I expected, but also incredibly atmospheric. You need to bring down the heat-proof shutters, whack the AC up full and steer the ship via your external camera system: not very easy when there is debris and other truckers scooting around.
Pork Chop Express
So the ‘truck’ you start the game with is effectively a small spaceship that has the aesthetics of a classic truck cab grafted onto the front. There is no rhyme or reason for the ship to look like a classic road-faring truck, but it lets you know the vibe the developers are going for. Obviously defunct wheels would have been a bit too silly and in their place, you have two massive thrusters for forward motion. In addition, the ships main body has various secondary boosters that allow you to manoeuvre the rig in different directions
Not that I've ever been a long-distance HGV driver (although my Dad was), but I do have a little bit of knowledge about the life these travellers live. They usually work very long hours and have an increasingly stressful workload placed on them. I always liked the idea that the cab would also act as a home away from home and many truckers make these spaces as cosy as possible.
So while the team has nailed many aspects of trucking life, I would like to see a few more additions if we get any updates in the future. A large cup containing a warm beverage is something that keeps many truckers going through those long nights, the devs could even make it a gameplay feature like Deep Rock Galactic did. Maybe give players the option to add their own postcards and images onto the dash? And of course, giving players a say on the interior of the rig would be awesome. You can rock up at a body shop and change various exterior aesthetics like paint, hood ornament or exhaust funnels. There is also an upgrade shop which offers tangible improvements to the rig such as acceleration and fuel efficiency.
System Shock
While they are two very different games, Star Trucker really reminds me of playing Subnautica. Obviously the setting couldn't be different, but the bold interface and method of navigating your ship seems like it was cut from the same cloth.
One of the most engaging aspects of this game is the faithful systems running under the hood. So as you fly around you use fuel, so when getting low find a system that sells fuel at a low price and fill her up. You can carry a few fuel cans for emergencies. You also have power to consider and here I have my biggest issue with the game. I love that you need to keep the various systems like gravity and life support powered. However, these batteries run out so damn fast and there is no way to charge them. No solar sails or panels soaking up that free energy, no alternative power source: just keep buying batteries. I almost never tinker with individual difficulty settings as I want to experience the vanilla game, but on this occasion, I reduced power consumption and started a new game.
This minor gripe aside, the attention to detail is very impressive. If you rip out fuses without powering that system down the whole ship will short out. If artificial gravity shuts off your items (and you) will be floating all over the shop. If you put your space suit on in the ship, O2 consumption ceases: this level of immersion gives me confidence that the game is solid to the very core. I also love how many different dials and switches there are. Even ten hours in I was finding systems I'd missed, like the cruise control which is a god sent.
Star Man
So in addition to making dollar, you will also start gaining XP which leads to jumping up in levels. Each level point allows you to choose upgrades to your trucking experience, such as the ability to carry higher stakes loads (breakable, perishable etc). Most of these choices either open up new aspects of the game or make a decent improvement to your systems.
It is one of these systems where I came across another big issue with the game and it essentially forced me to restart. If you go left on the skills panel you will open up ‘Just in Time’ jobs where you need to drop off a delivery at a specific time. After bleeding cash to replace four batteries and two filters I needed a quick job so I took a just-in-time haul. Each time you jump between systems a certain amount of time is accelerated forward to represent the trip (less for express routes but they cost more). So I arrived in the right system but was an hour early, it only then dawned on me that time passes realistically. I couldn't do another trip to push time forward because that would have taken me way past my delivery time. I also couldn't afford the five grand fine to abandon the job. So I was effectively stuck for an hour unable to play
The bizarre thing is, your rig does have two bunk beds in the lower deck. So why these aren't available to accelerate time forward for situations like this is beyond me. Needless to say, I didn't wait an hour and instead opted to restart with a fresh new game. I am now unlocking the other side of the upgrade tree which covers heavy or long-distance loads. Hopefully, the devs will add this much-requested feature and allow us hard-working truckers to get some shut-eye.
Is it PC?
So within a few hours of the game being released, there was already a large number of players giving it a thumbs down on Steam. Why? Because there is currently no way to rebind keys to your own preference. While I understand it's a frustrating omission, a full downvote seems a bit trigger-happy. There is, however, full controller support so those who wish to play in this way are covered.
On my 3080ti at 1440p with all settings maxed out I am getting decent performance. In the smaller systems, I am hitting 100 fps but when in the very busy ports this can drop to the mid-fifties. While space games very often get a good deal on performance, titles that render a lot of debris and ships (like Everspace 2 for example) can grind to a halt. Considering the complexity and size of the bigger systems, I'd say the game performs very well.
When not doing standard missions you can also progress jobs for some of the characters you come across over the radio. Each has a set of missions which will send you further into the game's map and unlock various upgrades to keep you alive. Installing Shock Pods help absorb charge from electrical storms for example and can be replaced when blown. The voice acting in this game is decent enough, as long as you can stand all the Texan accents. The overall sound quality for the game is fantastic, helping inform the player about what is happening in and out of the ship.
Conclusion
Despite a few design flaws I was heading for a big recommendation for Star Trucker. Unfortunately, this morning I ran into a problem for the third time and it's a deal breaker. Once you have come to a halt at a warp gate the lights turn to green and you press the warp lever. At that point you have no control over the ship until you arrive in the next system and this is when something smashed into my rig. It was at the end of a long haul mission so nearly an hour of play. All my trailers were gone and my ship wrecked: I was not happy. The cherry on top was the game's autosave did its thing seconds after, leaving me with no path forward other than the loss of most of my cash. As this seems to keep happening I am, for now, putting the game down.
Monster Monster have crafted an amazing game here that really does have a truckload of potential. I will keep my radio open for a sign things have been fixed and endeavour to return for another shot at those open space lanes.
