I remember the first time I tried Bus Simulator 21, with the first thought being "how is this going to be fun?" Turns out it was — mostly —and now there's a new version coming later this year.
Bus Simulator 27 has a free demo available now as part of Steam Next Fest. Since it's been a few years since I got behind the virtual wheel, I thought I'd give it a try. And you can too by grabbing it from Steam before June 22.
What I found was equal parts of relaxation and frustration. After a long day working I hit the buses and at times enjoyed the tranquility and the scenery, and at others I was shouting and bashing the horn.
The important thing to remember is that this is just a demo; the full release isn't scheduled until September. It's also a very small snippet of what the final thing will be like.
But I feel like it's offered enough to both get me interested in playing when it's released and feel there's still some serious work to be done.
Bus Simulator 27 can be super relaxing
One of the things I enjoyed the most about the old Bus Simulator 21 was that it was such a (generally) relaxing game to play once you got into the swing of it.
You're not racing anyone, you're not trying to park trailers and pick up loads, you're not landing a jumbo jet in a crosswind, and you're not generally doing anything stressful at all. You're following your route, the pace is relaxed, and generally all is calm.
The same is true in Bus Simulator 27, and the new setting certainly adds to it. You're running the routes in a fictional location based on Southern Europe, and it feels like it. Any time I've visited the real-life region, I fall for the pace of life, the warm climate, and the beautiful towns.
Bus Simulator 27 looks like it's capturing that vibe superbly, and even in the demo, the map looks quite extensive. The default color palette is warm, and the town streets have a charm to them.
I really like the little electric bus you start out in, too. As I've discovered in reality, an electric vehicle is a relaxing way to travel. Both buses in the demo are really easy to drive, even with a controller.
A special shoutout is deserved for the menu system, too. For controller players (it is launching on console, after all), it's very easy to understand and navigate. You can operate the buttons in the cockpit if you want, or with a couple of button presses, you've done the same from the menu.
Bus Simulator 27 can also be extremely frustrating
For all the nice, chilled-out, fun parts, there are also some that are less so. There's also clearly still work to do.
The performance is pretty rough, for one. The system requirements on the game's Steam page are pretty ridiculous, and I really hope it's not final. Recommended to have 32GB of RAM? In this financial climate?!
Sure, it looks nice, but it's hardly photorealistic, and when you compare to how good Forza Horizon 6 looks with far lower requirements, that screams of not being optimized well.
The demo doesn't have DLSS or FSR, either, and running at 1440p on high settings using an RTX 5090, I'm only seeing 70-80 FPS, with some pretty horrid frame drops at times. But there's still time to work on this in the next few months, of course. And I hope they do.
Perhaps more frustrating is the AI, though. It's just dumb. Plain old dumb. AI traffic will inexplicably just stop in front of you, go far slower than the speed limit, sit in the middle of a junction, or just drive into your bus. And when they drive into you, you'll be the one getting the penalty.
The environment in the demo feels alive, with plenty of traffic. But on the whole it's just so dim-witted. The same goes for pedestrians. I 'ran over' a pedestrian at a bus stop because they weren't getting on my bus, but kept walking into it as I was trying to pull away.
The voice acting as well is quite annoying. There's obviously a 'story' here, but good lord, the AI characters do not stop talking! You'll be cruising along just nicely, and then out of nowhere, some completely useless comment will pop into your ears. No distracting the driver!
You can't properly judge a game from a demo months before the full release. But, while it's clear there is work that can still be done, there's also some promise.
It's not an expensive game, either, at just $30 for the base game, with further purchasable content thereafter if you want it. It feels like a nice game to play, a simulation title without being too nerdy or serious and approachable for more casual players.
But please, I'm begging you, Astragon, do some optimization on it. And tweak the AI traffic, because it'll get old fast otherwise.
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