''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' is a truck simulator game developed and published by SCS Software 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 ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

, and

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and was initially released as open development on 18 October 2012. The game is a direct sequel to the 2008 game '' Euro Truck Simulator'' and it is the fourth video game in the '' Truck Simulator'' series. The game is non-linear and, like its predecessor, is set in Europe. Featuring articulated trucks across a condensed depiction of the continent, players drive their truck (or a quick job truck, if they don’t have their own truck) and pick up cargo from various locations and deliver it to their destination. As the game progresses, it is possible for them to buy more vehicles and depots, as well as hire other drivers to work for them. In August 2023, SCS Software announced that it would be creating a new generation of their current game engine, , in order to provide graphical and performance bonuses to PC players, while also preparing for the eventual release of console versions of the game for the Xbox Series X/S and the Playstation 5. The game had sold over 9 million units as of March 2021, according to a press release by Renault Trucks.

Gameplay

''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' is a truck driving simulator with elements of a business simulation game. Players drive articulated trucks in an open world 19:1 scale rendition of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, delivering loads to a designated location in order to be compensated with money and experience points. The payload must be delivered to the destination within a given amount of time, and with the least amount of damage to the goods as possible, in order to get the most money and experience points possible. Players will have to spend money on refuelling, toll costs in certain countries, and maintenance costs if damage is incurred. When starting out, players choose the location of their

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

in any of the game map's cities. At first, the player can only take what are known as 'quick jobs', effectively working as freelance drivers for other companies, with a truck provided and fuel + toll costs covered. As the player earns money and/or takes bank loans, they can eventually afford to buy themselves a truck, acquire additional garages, hire additional AI drivers and start accepting better-paying jobs by using their own truck instead of being a driver for hire with equipment being provided. Money earned in the game can be spent on upgrading or purchasing new customizable trucks and ownable trailers, hiring AI (NPC/Non-player character) drivers to take on deliveries, buying more garages and expanding them to accommodate more trucks and drivers. The skills of the drivers hired by the player also grow with experience and the player can create a huge fleet of the trucks, each with the option of having their own trailer, and drivers to drive them, in turn, expanding the business across Europe. The player gains experience points after each delivery. A skill point is awarded after each level-up. Skill points can be used to unlock deliveries that require different ADR classes, longer distance deliveries, valuable cargo loads, fragile cargo loads, deliveries that are urgent and eco-driving. This progression allows the player to take on better-paying jobs. The base game features 71 cities in twelve countries, over twenty types of cargo and over fifteen fictional European companies. The gameplay was expanded with free updates; those brought in several new features into the game, such as the Used Truck Dealer in Update 1.49 or map reworks from over the years.

Map updates

The base game features

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 ...

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 ...

, the

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 ...

, north-eastern

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 ...

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 ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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 ...

, western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

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 ...

, and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

(the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, excluding

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and smaller islands). Part of SCS Software's recent development philosophy for ''Euro Truck Simulator 2'', amongst releasing paid DLC map expansions, is to improve old areas of the map through free map updates. As the initial game areas were mainly ported from older SCS Software games, these older areas did not stand up to the quality of recent expansion packs. Early updates included cities like

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and Klagenfurt. Several updates were released to prepare the 'base map' for downloadable content. Update 1.26 included reworked parts of France, parts outside of the ''Vive la France!'' DLC. Update 1.30 prepared existing Italian areas for the ''Italia'' DLC. Update 1.48.5 included the addition of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

and reworked the cities of

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

and

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

to better prepare the game for the ''West Balkans'' DLC release. Germany was rebuilt in stages with Travemünde being added in version 1.33, with overall improvements visible in versions 1.32, 1.35, 1.40 with

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

rebuilt in 1.45. Several French cities received free updates. Update 1.45 of the game added the German town of Werlte as part of the '' Krone Trailer Pack'' DLC, which features Krone's

and main factory. Update 1.48 added new reworked roads and cities in the northern part of Germany, including updated cities of Travemünde,

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, with the addition of Winsen as a new town. Update 1.37 brought changes to the French cities of

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

, with a reskin of

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

arriving in version 1.38, a rebuild of

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a French port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Calais is the largest city in Pas-de-Calais. The population of the city proper is 67,544; that of the urban area is 144,6 ...

in version 1.39, and the rebuild of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in version 1.43. An overhaul of

was released as part of the version 1.44 update in May 2022. Two years later, an overhaul of

along with the Rhine Region (

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

and

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

) in the western part in

and debut of the Scania Demo Centre in

Södertälje Södertälje ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. It is also a part of Stockholm urban area, Greater Stockholm Metropolitan Area. As of 2020, it has 73,872 inhabitants. Södert� ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

was released as part of the version 1.50 update in May 2024. The final rebuild of Germany (which also includes

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) was completely rebuilt as part of the version 1.53 i
November 2024
marking the completion of a base country.

Downloadable content

SCS Software has released several other minor expansion packs. ''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' can be enhanced with several paint job packs for trucks, ranging from seasonal repaints to nation-themed repaints. Other expansion packs expand the game with licensed content from real-life manufacturers: ''Feldbinder Trailer Pack'', '' Krone Trailer Pack'', '' Schwarzmüller Trailer Pack'', '' Wielton Trailer Pack,'' ''Tirsan Trailer Pack'', with additional tire, wheel and truck parts modifications from Goodyear, HS-Schoch and

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

. In addition, special tuning packs are available for each truck manufacturer besides Iveco and MAN. These packs add more tuning options, ranging from bull bars to branded mugs to all trucks of the selected brand, except for the Renault tuning pack, which only features new tuning parts for the Renault Range T truck. There are several expansion packs that expand the functionality of the game, including Cabin Accessories DLC (which allows players to personalize their truck interiors), and two DLCs that allow transport of heavy cargo: the ''Heavy Cargo'' DLC and the ''Special Transport'' DLC. With the ''Special Transport'' DLC, players take on special jobs during which they cannot make stops at rest areas, gas stations or deviate away from escort vehicles. The immense size and weight of the cargo within this DLC necessitates extra care and attention, however most of these cargos are mainly transported between one city and the next.

Reception

The game was generally well received by critics, holding a score of 79/100 on

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 ...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In a review for ''

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'', James Stephanie Sterling praised the game's accessibility, noting how easy the GPS and map features were to use, as well as the option to stream European internet radio, and the multitude of control options available. They also praised the graphics, stating that " om the shape of the traffic lights to the atmosphere of the backdrops, there's a sense of individuality to each new territory you uncover, and the trucks themselves are lovingly recreated with an intricate level of detail", although they did criticise the AI of the other vehicles on the road. In a similarly favourable review, Tim Stone of ''

PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...

'' called it "unexpectedly engrossing", praising the size of the map and the variation of the roads and scenery available. He did, however, have reservations about the accuracy of the surroundings, commenting "no one seems to have told SCS's countryside crafters that rural Britain features long green things called hedges. Cities are often depicted with the shortest of visual shorthand – a few warehouses, the odd landmark if you're lucky." Rock, Paper, Shotgun listed ''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' ninth on their list of "The 25 Best Simulation Games Ever Made". In 2012,

awarded the game with the accolade of "The Sim of The Year 2012". As of December 2024, ''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' was ranked 8th on the list of the highest-rated Steam games.

Ports

Initially released for

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 ...

and available for purchase and download via SCS's own website, the game was added to

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 ...

in January 2013. Expanding beyond the Windows version, SCS announced in March 2013 that they were developing a Mac version of the game. One month later, they released a Linux beta version of the game to the public through Steam. On 27 February, they stated "the Mac OS port of ETS 2 is taking longer than anybody would like, but trust us, we are still working hard on it." On 19 December 2014, SCS Software announced on their blog that the OS X version of the game was ready for a public beta available on Steam. On 21 January 2015, a 64-bit version of ''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' was released, which allows for more memory to be used by the game.

Multiplayer modification

Modification TruckersMP (formerly ETS2MP) added multiplayer to the game in 2013. A volunteer radio station TruckersFM about the modification was set up in 2015. SCS Software added multiplayer as an official feature in 2021.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links