Why You Should Spend $2 To Go Trucking On A Steam Deck

The life of a truck driver has never really appealed to me. It took me seven attempts to pass my driving test, for heaven’s sake, and that’s in a car, not a 12-wheel monster. But cruising down the open highways, delivering a load of roof tiles to a client in Belgium on my Steam Deck has become an unexpected, chilled gaming delight. And it only cost me $2.

Euro Truck Simulator 2—and it’s U.S. sibling American Truck Simulator—are both on sale for only $1.99 in the Steam sale. And they are near perfect for handheld gaming on the Steam Deck.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 On Steam Deck

On first inspection, you wouldn’t think a game such as Euro Truck Simulator 2 would work well on the Steam Deck. With a gazillion different controls in the cab, you might think you’d need a keyboard to stay on top of them all, maybe even a steering wheel. However, it’s more than playable on the handheld console.

First off, the controls have been well mapped to the Steam Deck’s controller. You steer with the left thumb stick, look with the right, while acceleration and brake are sensibly located on the triggers, and the turn signals are on the shoulder buttons. It all feels perfectly natural.

The tutorial is pretty sparse, so there’s some trial-and-error involved in finding the rest of the controls. I picked up a fine in France for driving without my headlights on, before I realized the lights were assigned to left on the D-pad for example. Equally, I could barely see through a battering rain storm before I clicked the wipers were right on the D-pad.

There are some controls I just can’t figure out. I’ve no idea how to enable the cruise control, for example, and binding the control to one of the many extra buttons on the Steam Deck doesn’t seem to work. It’s also tricky to pull off some of the more advanced features on the console, such as the option to put your own music collection in a specific folder so you can burn down the highway with your favorite tunes playing.

Yet, even without some of the advanced controls, I’ve gleefully racked up thousands of miles of trucking on the handheld.

Graphics Quality

Given that Euro Truck Simulator 2 is 12 years old, you would think it should run fine on the Steam Deck—and it does. Even though the game graphics have been updated many times over that 12 years, the OLED version of the handheld copes fine.

It doesn’t look the least bit dated, either, despite its age. Whether you’re chugging past fields of sunflowers in the French countryside or stuck in traffic in a realistically modelled London, the graphics are spot on.

The biggest challenge on the Steam Deck is the limited size of the screen. It’s easy to miss road signs, for example, meaning I picked up yet another fine for failing to spot a temporary speed limit while driving through Germany. Small menu text can also be a challenge. It’s a PC game, not a console title, so everything is designed for the large screen.

You’ll soon overcome these problems, though. Just make sure your trucking business has enough cash in the bank to cover the inevitable fines!

Chilled Gaming Greatness

I didn’t have high hopes when I bought Euro Truck Simulator 2 in the sale. It was a $2 punt. However, I’ve since wheeled away many an hour on the sofa, delivering goods from one part of the continent to the other.

It’s one of the most chilled games I’ve ever played. For the most part, not a lot happens. You’re trundling down the highway, watching the world out of your windscreen.

There’s the occasional moment of stress: an accident blocking a turn-off, say, or an AI driver chopping in front of you. The moment I clipped a road barrier and turned my rig over just a mile or so from my destination, definitely induced a spot of road rage. But life behind the wheel of my second-hand Volvo rig is largely relaxing, and it’s become an unexpected way to unwind after my working day. I might even join an online convoy, and meet some fellow truckers…

If you’d rather drive round the U.S. than the roads of Europe, American Truck Simulator is much the same game, but set in the States. That means you won’t suddenly be forced to drive on the wrong side of the road, as you would be in the U.K. This is meant to be a chilled game, after all. Engage gears, not brain.

Put your foot down, though. The games are only in the Steam sale until July 11.