The bumper sticker plastered to the rear of the pickup in front of me reads ‘please let me merge before I start crying’. Behind me, an angry mob are starting to sharpen their pitchforks and light their torches. The next stop beckons, and I’m not going to make it on time. There’s nothing I can do. For I am Bus Bound in this Steam Next Fest demo, and that bus is too large to slice through gridlock like a hooligan.
Up until this point, the few thumbs down I’ve earned from stillalive studios’ latest bout of bus simulation have been due to my own carelessness. I’ve mounted the occasional curb, forgotten to stop at stop signs, and occasionally engaged in a bit of touring car-esque paint trading with my fellow road users. This time, I don’t think it’s my fault. There are cars strewn across the junction, blocking any ability myself and the distressed merger before me might have to obey the green light being pointed our way.
I sound the horn. Come on, its pathetic call tells everyone else stuck in the gridlock, I’ve got a timetable to keep. No one moves. I look at the list of stops left on the route I’ve drawn up by connecting various stops around the suburban American city of Emberville. Next up is 99th Street. Get us there, urge the disgruntled passengers. I’d tell them to eff off because there’s nothing I can do. I’d tell them to eff off because they haven’t paid. I can’t though, because in order to circumvent simulating the art of giving someone a dirty look when they try to pay for a £3 bus fare with a £20 note, the method by which my bussing success is measured is likes and dislikes.
The myriad whims of public opinion are the be-all-and-end-all in this cashless corner of the world’s most openly capitalism-loving nation. It’s a utopia in which local councils actually get funding and dedicate it to getting strong public transport links up and running. It’s an uber-utopia in which that investment’s followed up by renovation of city neighbourhoods once you’ve bussed through them regularly enough and earned the approval of their citizens. The works to improve these areas aren’t farmed out to a third-party contractor corporation who respond to getting lucrative government contracts because they’ve agreed to appoint a cabinet minister to their board by taking a millenium to do the work.
It’s beautiful, and far too good to be true. It also dilutes the sim’s appeal a bit in my mind. In opting to specifically simulate bus driving, you’re putting all of your eggs in that basket. Were Bus Bound more of a generalist sim, or even a bus-centric add-on to an existing one as with the coaches SCS Software are working on adding to their truck sims, I’d be more forgiving of it not getting as into the nitty gritty of commuting capital. As it is, Bus Bound’s more of a straightforward city driving sim whose routes happen to run between bus stops. That does make it a lot easier to get the hang of, and there is plenty of challenge in resisting the urge to drive like an idiot, disregarding the rules of the road like they’re nothing.
Generally speaking, the AI traffic do a convincing job of simulating the real thing, even down to being receptive of your indicators. It’s hard to have an accident that isn’t your fault, usually because you didn’t check after stopping at a junction or forgot the buses don’t have the same stopping distance as your average circuit racer. The city’s a vibrant enough backdrop that repeated runs through the same streets didn’t get too stale, at least through the end of the demo hour. The few real-world buses on offer for Next Fest have a decent amount of paint customisation on offer. I’ll have to wait until the full thing’s out to be allowed behind the wheel of a double decker, but that’s fair.
Having tried the demo, which you can find on Bus Bound’s Steam page, I’ve enjoyed its laid back vibes. On the other hand, I’m not sure at this point whether it’ll have the sim depth to keep folks around in the long run and carve out a place among the genre’s leaders, especially if they’re offering coach trips with a bit of real world tourism mixed in. We’ll have to see when its 2026 release rolls around.
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