Have you always dreamed of hauling containers around in space with a truck? Yes? Great, then Star Trucker is just the game for you
Gnashingly, the angular piece of space junk tears a hole in our engine block. Alarms shrill, warning lights flash – and we have a lot to do before we can head for the station in the distance. Because oxygen is escaping from our home among the stars on the space highway: the Star Truck.
(We took a look at the Steam demo of Star Trucker) and are impressed, because what on the surface sounds like a rather silly idea to heave a primeval subculture into space, turns out to be a serious simulation.
Complex at second glance
At first glance, Star Trucker looks like an idea created with the help of drugs: various star systems are connected by jump gates in which separate space highways, marked with American speed signs, mark out individual routes.
Space junk buzzes around and endangers trucks that pull up to half a dozen or more classic containers behind them via magnetic connections. Meanwhile, the truckers chatter with each other in real time via CB radios within a system while transporting all kinds of freight from point A to B, for which they are rewarded with money and experience.
And what can we say: It’s fun and, for all its intended silliness, takes itself surprisingly seriously. Because Star Trucker is a simulation with an arcade twist and role-playing elements.
A lot to do and then it’s dangerous
You are transported to a comfortable pilot’s seat in a spacious cockpit equipped with all kinds of switches, displays and levers. However, this is no spaceship. Although there are various high-tech devices such as gravity generators, magnetic locks and the necessary energy cells to manage, but this is a space truck. And you are a trucker who gets to work.
So, as the video above shows, if there’s a leak, you simply get into your suit, march into the airlock and weld a steel plate to the leak from the outside, done. Back in the driver’s cab, the next chat with your colleagues awaits
And if you don’t honor the wrench between your freight trips, you can face a lot of trouble on the highways due to poor maintenance. In the following video, this is exactly what happens to us at the end of an everyday journey with a container in the back
The daily routine: The usual procedure for every tour begins at the order board. Here you choose one of the missions, which become increasingly complex and take longer routes as time goes by and your skill points are distributed. You then undock and collect the container(s) at a nearby drop-off point.
Then it’s off to the gate: You’ll roar along the cleared highway or across the road (watch out for space debris!) to the next jump gate, where you’ll finally flip a thrust lever as soon as a traffic light gives you the go-ahead with three green lights. Once you arrive at the destination system, you maneuver your cargo to the drop-off point, where you uncouple and collect money and experience
On to the next tour! But in between, you also need to refuel, upgrade or customize the design of the truck inside and out.
Newtonian physics
However, inertia plays a role in all movements, whether in a spacesuit or with your truck. A vehicle like this needs time to change course and once it has accelerated, it needs some distance to stop. Staying true to these principles, the game punishes collisions mercilessly – at least by deducting points and money.
Precision is required: On top of that, docking maneuvers backwards and cautiously must be flown One hand on the thruster control, the other on the release lever and at least one eye on the screen for the rear camera
All in all, this multitude of systems creates a depth that needs to be learned and mastered in a playful way. Ultimately, as far as we know today, it is not just the accumulation of skill points and the value of the truck that will be decisive for success.
The skills and patience of the player in the driver’s cab are also needed to complete jobs smoothly.
Conclusion and outlook
Star Trucker is a really exciting approach to weaving a crude-sounding idea into a coherent game concept that, at least in the demo, works. The sound, visuals, atmosphere and controls all come together and carry the idea through to the finish line – at least for a few hours.
In the end, it will depend heavily on the galaxy, the upgrade paths and the general variety offered in the mid- and late-game whether the title can conquer an exotic place among casual traffic simulations. Or whether it only flares up briefly and then disappears into space again
