Star Trucker: caught between trucker romance and debt spiral

A box slowly floats into my field of vision. Buzz off, you’re blocking my view! The gravitational system keeping the interior of my truck in place fails just when I’m speeding along the space highway at 180 km/h with important goods on board. The cockpit in my space truck fills up with floating batteries, fuel canisters and other spare materials. Argh, I just cleaned! And what’s that beeping? Out of oxygen? Drat. Welp, cruise control on and time to don the spacesuit. There’s no time to pull over, the delivery has to arrive on time.

Luckily, there’s no oncoming traffic. Instead, everything suddenly becomes dazzlingly bright: a solar flare. Quick, lower the blinds! Otherwise I’ll fry in the cockpit and I won’t be able to see anything. Now I have to navigate the last section via the outside cameras. After all, it’s not far to the unloading bay. I only just manage to uncouple the trailer within the delivery period. The money I earn is barely enough to refuel and repair the truck. Oh well, life as a space trucker is certainly no walk in the park. Nevertheless, I already plan my next route. I’ve tasted the kerosene.

Trucking simulator with retro charm

Studio Monster and Monster describes Star Trucker as a trucking simulator with a large dose of retro. When I tried the upcoming release at Gamescom a year ago, one of the developers assured me the game was aimed at both sim fans and occasional drivers. Star Trucker relies on a mix of accessibility and «realism» – after all, I’m still driving a truck in space. Essentially, it’s about getting deliveries from A to B as undamaged and on time as possible. In contrast to truckers on earth, I have to overcome different challenges in space.

It starts with the controls. My truck hovers and has momentum. The driving (flying?) physics definitely take some getting used to at first, especially when docking at space stations and to trailers. To do this, I have to aim precisely at the round connection point with the help of a rear camera before I can hit the lever for the electromagnetic clutch. With several trailers, your vehicle becomes even more sluggish. But don’t you have infinite space to manoeuvre in space? Well, the problem is that there’s a lot of obstacles flying around off the marked routes, which all damage my truck. If there are holes, I have to patch them manually, otherwise I’ll lose oxygen. Time to put on the spacesuit, get out and fire up the welder.

These walks take time and energy, since your suit needs to be recharged. I never have enough of anything. After almost ten hours with the PC version, I’m still not sure whether it’s a lack of balance or whether I’m just a lousy truck driver. The loan sharks swim ever tighter circles around me. Turns out keeping a space truck in good shape is expensive. Batteries, air filters, kerosene, everything costs an arm and a leg. And if I don’t complete orders the right way, I don’t get paid in full. No orders without a roadworthy truck, no money without orders. So, I quickly run to the bank for a loan. And so the debt spiral begins to turn.

A space romance, despite the constant stress

Even though my trucker career hasn’t taken off yet, the game has got me hooked. Deliveries are often stressful, but since they always take me through wondrous systems, everything seems somehow cosy. There are space stations that look like a sun drawn by kids, shimmering blue asteroid fields and the lights of the intergalactic highway stretching across everything.

The fact that the radio plays a perfect soundtrack of oldies, blues and country music also helps. Other drivers also regularly radio me to guide me through systems with new orders, but often just to chat.

The heart of the game is, of course, my truck. It handles really well manually. My cockpit, the size of a spacious one-room apartment, contains tonnes of levers and switches. There are interior lighting and headlight switches under the speedometer display which I can switch off to save power. I have monitors on the left and right to switch between several status displays or external cameras using two buttons. Then there’s a lever for the emergency brake or blinds to protect me from the solar flares I mentioned earlier and much more.

Access points to the oxygen, temperature, ventilation and gravity systems are also strewn throughout the cockpit. All of which have to be serviced regularly. This means replacing batteries, filters or burnt-out electronics. I’m constantly taking out batteries somewhere and temporarily stuffing them into another system. The gravity system is usually the first affected, so I have to constantly put the shelves back in place. Why the hell can’t I just install a safety net?

Also, why is there no battery charger? Sustainability doesn’t seem to be an issue in this retro space. Otherwise I’d strap solar panels to my truck. Maybe there’ll be an upgrade eventually. In garages, I can pick up more stylish bumpers or a fresh coat of paint as well as improved exhausts that produce fewer pollutants. These in turn protect my air filters. As different dealers carry different ranges, I don’t yet know how else I can pimp my ride.

I receive experience points as well as money for completing missions. This enables me to unlock new, more lucrative jobs such as toxic waste transportation or energy efficiency upgrades for my spacesuit. Combined with truck upgrades, I’m always motivated to take on the next job and face new challenges.

Hurdles and how to overcome them

Where Star Trucker gets on your nerves from time to time is in its lack of transparency. I deliver a trailer of fertiliser on time and without a collision, only to receive a fat deduction for damaged goods and reckless driving at the end. Ok, the latter could be because I only realised after five hours that there are speed limits on motorways. But do they also apply off-road? And if my air filters require servicing, can I clean them or do I really have to pay a lot of money to replace them? I have a box of cleaning utensils, but maybe that’s just for trading. How should I know that? There is a manual under the speedometer, which contains a lot of practical information on navigating the truck and the game in general. But unfortunately it doesn’t explain everything.

Also, there were definitely crashes where I wasn’t at fault. Alright sure, most of them were definitely down to me, or rather my habits from «Need for Speed» days. Nevertheless, I’m always smacked with that painful fine. And if I cross other truckers, do I have right of way? There’s right-hand traffic, so it’d make sense. But so far nobody has slowed down for me.

Then again, I’ve already escaped fines by loading an old save too. A call to check the weight of my truck suddenly disappeared, and I was able to continue my journey unmolested.

This brings me to a few important tips to improve your Star Trucker experience:

• Save often: you can save at any time, and I strongly recommend you do so. At least in the beginning, you have so little money that it’s worth reloading every time you crash or get hit by a bus.
• Use storage boxes: material that you carry in the cockpit will be damaged if it flies around. Something that’s guaranteed to happen if the gravitational system fails or you crash. So pack things like batteries, filters and electronics in secure storage boxes.
• System check before departure: the game reminds you, but nobody listens. But remember, it’s the only thing stopping you from taking off with empty batteries for the oxygen system or with too little kerosene.
• Follow the road: the direct route may be the fastest, but you’re sure to tear holes in your shell with all that rubble and waste. This costs money and time to fix. You’ll always have enough time to follow the road.
• Debt’s ok: even despite my ranting about loan sharks, it’s better to buy a new air filter even if you have to borrow the money. If you constantly have to deal with faulty systems while driving, chaos can quickly ensue.
• Read the manual: the game tells you this too, and it’s really worth at least leafing through it then consulting it if necessary.

Verdict: not revolutionary, but consistently satisfying

I was already optimistic that Star Trucker would take off after I got to play it at last year’s Gamescom. Now both my thumbs are definitely shooting upwards. What I’ve seen and experienced so far makes me want more. The trucking simulator with a retro-futuristic vibe really appealed to me. I love chugging through the colourful universe in my lazy truck, turning up the radio and honking at others.

The fact that I don’t just keep clocking up the kilometres, but have to actively look after my vehicle, ensures that I never get bored. There’s always a fire somewhere. Be it the overheated electronics or the sun, which literally makes me sweat because I can only rely on the outside cameras if it gets too strong. And if, despite knowing better, I take a shortcut through asteroid fields, I literally sink into my sofa as I try to duck boulders. Once I almost got lost in space when I got out of the truck for repairs without fully braking first. I’m always experiencing something in Star Trucker. Each game element is basic on its own, but together they make for a coherent road trip.

Star Trucker was given to me by Raw Fury. The game is available for PC, Xbox Series X/S and is included in Game Pass.