''Fernbus Simulator'' is a bus simulator game developed by TML-Studios and published by Aerosoft 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 ...

. The game was released on 25 August 2016 worldwide.

Gameplay

''Fernbus Simulator'' is set in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, offering a route network of approximately 20,000 kilometres and 40 German cities that is built in a scale of 1:10. More city routes were released as DLCs, expanding the map to the following countries:

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The game features quite the same gameplay of the similar-genre video game ''

Euro Truck Simulator 2 ''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' is a truck simulator game developed and published by SCS Software for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS and was initially released as open development on 18 October 2012. The game is a direct sequel to the 2008 gam ...

'', which includes

construction sites Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

, police patrols and

traffic collision A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

, with dynamic weather and day-night cycle are available in the game. The game also provides various licensed buses from

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 ...

, VDL,

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 ...

, and

Neoplan Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It became a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE in 2001. History Early days The company was founded by (1903–1993) in Stuttgart in 19 ...

that

Flixbus FlixBus (; styled FLiXBUS) is a German brand that offers low-cost Intercity bus service, intercity coach services in Europe, North America, South America and Asia. It is owned by , which also operates FlixTrain, FlixCar, , and Greyhound Lines. F ...

uses for their fleet, allowing players to drive on highly detailed German motorways.

Downloadable content

Map expansions

TML has released several map expansion DLC packs that include new countries.

Vehicle add-ons

Football Team Bus DLC

This game expansion/mode has been released on August 30, 2018. In this mode, which is unlockable by purchasing ''Fußball Mannschaftsbus'' DLC, players have choose one of 18

football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

based on the

German football league The German Football League (GFL) is a professional American football league in Germany. The league was formed in 1979. In 1999, the league changed to its current name from American-Football-Bundesliga.

and drive its players to their guest matches. All of the stadiums were recreated to the smallest details, and there is also a repaint for

MAN Lion's Coach The MAN Lion's Coach is an integral coach (vehicle), coach manufactured by MAN Truck & Bus, and assembled by its subsidiary MANAŞ. Introduced in 1996, the coach was originally intended as a low-cost alternative to the MAN Lion's Star. In July 2 ...

bus. Player's job is to manage the allocated budget wisely until the end of the season so that the team bus can be maintained, cleaned, and the team can be supplied with sufficient snacks and beverages.

Development and release

''Fernbus Simulator'' is developed by a German-based game studio TML-Studios, the developers of the '' City Bus Simulator'' series and the ''

World of Subways World of Subways is a series of subway simulations created by TML-Studios. There are currently four volumes. All volumes are standalone programs and cannot be modified. Each volume has only one route included with no other routes available, with t ...

'' franchise. It is powered by

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 ...

Epic Games Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...

. The game was released on 25 August 2016 for

Reception

The game is well-sold on the

digital distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital ...

platform

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

, but often comes in criticism and gets a mixed rating. The game is often used to compare with ''

'' and ''

American Truck Simulator ''American Truck Simulator'' is a truck simulator game developed and published by SCS Software. It was first announced as being in development in September 2013 and unveiled at the E3 2015. It was released on 2 February 2016 for Microsoft Wind ...

'', and gets praised on the design of the game in terms of atmosphere, motorways, residential areas and detailed bus cockpit. However, bugs, missing textures, insufficient to reality and a lack of long-term motivation makes the game widely criticised.

References

External links

* {{FlixBus 2016 video games Bus simulation video games Open-world video games Single-player video games TML-Studios games Unreal Engine 4 games Video games developed in Germany Video games set in Germany Video games set in Austria Video games set in Switzerland Video games set in France Video games set in the Netherlands Video games set in Belgium Video games set in the Czech Republic Video games set in Luxembourg Video games set in Denmark Windows games Xbox Series X and Series S games PlayStation 5 games Aerosoft games