''Bus Simulator 21'' is a bus simulator game developed by Stillalive Studios and published by

Astragon Entertainment Astragon Entertainment GmbH is a German video game publisher based in Düsseldorf, Germany. Originally a subsidiary of the German video game distributor Astragon Sales & Services GmbH (formerly Rondomedia Marketing & Vertriebs GmbH), the compan ...

. It is developed on the

Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is the fourth version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. UE4 began development in 2003 and was released in March 2014, with the first game using UE4 being released in April 2014. UE4 introduced support for Physically ...

. It is the sixth in the ''

Bus Simulator ''Bus Simulator'' is a Vehicle simulation game, vehicle-simulation video game series developed by Icebytes, Contendo Media, TML Studios and Stillalive Studios, and published by Astragon, Astragon Entertainment. The franchise was introduced in 200 ...

'' series, and is the direct sequel to ''

Bus Simulator 18 ''Bus Simulator 18'' (also known as ''Bus Simulator'' on consoles) is a bus simulator game developed by Stillalive Studios and published by Astragon Entertainment. It is powered by Unreal Engine 4 and was released in June 2018 for Windows and in ...

''. The game has been released on 7 September 2021 for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Gameplay

''Bus Simulator 21'' takes place in "Angel Shores", a new fictional modern city located in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

which is based on the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. The game features a coastline and districts like

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

. In addition to the California map, the game will have a revised "Seaside Valley" map from its predecessor ''

''. Vehicle-wise, the game introduces a

double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They app ...

, such as the officially-licensed

Alexander Dennis Alexander Dennis is a British bus manufacturing company based in Larbert, Scotland. The largest bus and coach manufacturer in the United Kingdom, with a 50% market share in 2019, it has manufacturing plants and partnerships in Canada, China, ...

Enviro500, as well as

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

es to the series. Further licensed bus brands include

Blue Bird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous passerine birds in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. Bluebirds lay an ...

BYD BYD or Byd may refer to: Companies * BYD Company, an automobile and rechargeable battery producer in China ** BYD Auto, a subsidiary automobile manufacturer in China * Boyd Gaming, a gaming and hospitality company (NYSE ticker symbol: BYD) Other ...

, Grande West,

Iveco Iveco S.p.A., an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company with headquarters in Turin, Italy. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy Commercial vehicle, commercial veh ...

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

Setra Setra is a German bus brand of Daimler Buses, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG. The name "Setra" comes from "selbsttragend" (self-supporting). This refers to the integral nature of the construction of the vehicles back in ...

and

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

. The game also offers a cooperative multiplayer mode. A career mode would be available following the ''Next Stop'' major update.

Development and release

Stillalive Studios and Astragon Entertainment will remain as the series developer and publisher respectively. The game was targeted for a 2021 release for

and

. The release date was later confirmed on 7 September 2021.

Next Stop DLC

The Next Stop DLC is an expansion to Bus Simulator 21. It was released on 16 May 2023, one week earlier than expected, bringing dedicated versions of the game to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The Next Stop DLC also includes new features, including: *

Ebusco Ebusco is a Dutch manufacturer of electric buses and accompanying charging infrastructure. History Ebusco was founded in 2012 in Helmond. However, the vehicle workshop and the office were located in two different neighbourhoods of the city ab ...

Bus Pack (Available on release) * Angel Shores Map Extensions (Available on release) * School Bus Extension (Available August 31, 2023) *

Thomas Built Buses Thomas Built Buses, Inc. (commonly known as Thomas) is an American bus manufacturer. Best known for its production of the first ever rear engine Type C school bus, Thomas produces other bus designs for a variety of usages. Currently, its productio ...

Bus Pack (Available September 22, 2023) * Tram Extension (Available Q4 2023) The Angel Shores map extension is available to all players for free, while all the other new features can either be bought separately as they release, or as a season pass bundle at a discounted price. On top of the new content players can take advantage of, the game includes new NPVs (non-player vehicles) to add to the realism of the game, including planes, trains, and trucks.

Reception

''Bus Simulator 21'' received "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

References

External links

* {{in lang, en 2021 video games Bus simulation video games Bus Simulator Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Unreal Engine 4 games Video games developed in Austria Video games set in the United States Video game sequels Windows games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games Stillalive studios games