Developed by stillalive Studios and published by Saber Interactive, Bus Bound is a brand-new simulation title that ignores the complicated micromanaging of simulators and focuses more on driving. Transport simulation games are some of my favourite titles, and over the past few years, I have tried every sort of game, whether it was a train, truck, construction, or a ship simulator. Keeping the tradition alive, I was waiting for Bus Bound for a long time, ever since it was announced. Now that I have finally played it, I am happy to report that the wait was worth it. This is our review of the PC Steam version of Bus Bound, in which we try our best to complete the bus routes without annoying the passengers too much.
Bus Bound’s main gameplay mode is its Career mode, which sees you arriving in beautiful Emberville city and taking over the local transport scene. One important thing to note here is that you are not a company owner, but rather the game introduces you as a bus driver. Right from the start of the game, Bus Bound wants you to be under the impression that you will not be creating empires here, but rather you will be driving buses. After arriving in the city, you are given the task of driving around local bus stops and completing routes while ensuring that passengers remain happy.
Dropping off happy passengers in Bus Bound is vital because this is your main progression method in the game. Instead of campaign missions, you have to gain likes by delivering happy passengers to bus stations, which lets you gain stars once ‘Likes’ milestones are reached, resulting in you earning Stars. Once a bus station is leveled up, you unlock new customization options, new bus lines, and new buses when you end up leveling up a district. There are seven unique districts in Emberville, and you move through them gradually, unlocking new districts by completing the already unlocked ones. Completing certain milestones will also unlock perks that allow you to increase the number of likes you earn.
For me, this was a pretty decent progression method, one that allows you to focus more on driving, rather than micromanaging company tasks. The only grinding here is driving the bus on routes so that you can gain likes and level up the bus stops and districts to unlock new areas. The game gives you the freedom to create custom routes based on stops that you have unlocked so far. Once a line is created, you can edit it as many times as you want, changing starting locations, adding or removing stops, or even switching the bus stop sequence. Whatever line you create, you will be the only one driving it.
Bus Bound also shines when it comes to gameplay mechanics. While it may lack the complexities of other simulators, the game does not shy away from delivering a solid driving experience. The buses handle exceptionally well on the roads, with them reacting actively to changing road conditions. The game has a 360-degree steering wheel rotation, making it easier to play with wheels. For my playthrough, I spent the majority of my time playing with a DualSense controller on the PC, and it ran perfectly, without any glitches or issues.
You also have a lot to play around with advanced driving mechanics at your disposal, such as wipers, closing and opening doors, low and high-beam lights, sunscreen lowering, adjusting speed limiters with retarders, cabin lights, and more. By default, the indicators were assigned to L1 and R1, which was extremely convenient. Another feature that I absolutely love is that every time I turned on the indicator, the side mirror for that location would pop up on the screen, and it would allow me to look easily and maneuver through tight spots without having to rotate the screen again and again. This made driving the XL-class buses a lot easier.
I also liked the fact that nearly all buses in the game had fully functional knobs and buttons in their interiors, and if I were to leave the DualSense controller and switch to keyboard and mouse, I could just use the mouse to click and press different buttons for opening particular doors, turning on specific lights, or other functions. On the controller, similar functions get tied to a single button press. For example, on DualSense, I can just press the Square key, and it will open all of the doors at once. But on the keyboard and mouse, I can click three separate buttons to open the front, middle, and rear doors separately. This is an excellent detail.
These little details make a lot of sense because you will spend a lot of time inside these buses, so having something to play around with is always fun. I also like the little sounds the buses make every time you go over a speed bump. Your driving style also matters a lot in the game because the customers will complain about it every time, and every complaint will lower your score multiplier, which is vital if you want a higher ‘Like’ multiplier at the end of a bus route. Good actions like using indicators, slowing down on bumps, and stopping at stop signs will net you praise and a multiplier boost, while bad actions like overspeeding, hitting other vehicles, or braking suddenly will lower your multiplier.
Bus Bound features 19 officially licensed buses of different sizes from brands like Vicinity, New Flyer, and Blue Bird. The game also features a custom brand Horizon, made exclusively for the game by stillalive studios. Each bus size requires additional care while turning, but the bigger buses can carry more passengers, allowing you to cater to bigger routes with ease. Most of the buses are locked behind progression, so you do not have access to the whole fleet right from the start. If you want, you can customize the visuals of each bus by changing its color and applying liveries to it. The bus models are designed pretty well, with each bus featuring a different interior, lights, and exterior. During night shifts, you can turn the lights on to help you and your passengers see outside and inside.
Emberville is a beautifully designed city and one of the best ones that I have seen in any bus simulation game so far. It has busy city streets, calmer side roads, and different settings that make you feel like you are driving inside a real city. There are underpasses, bridges, snake-like highways, and tight city streets with bumps. Each road has a different speed limit, with multiple signs and markings that the game expects you to follow. There are multiple landmarks around the city, and after a few rounds, you start to learn about the roads as well. The city is of a decent size, and you do not feel bored driving around it at any time, thanks to its lively traffic and pedestrians moving around the streets. A local radio station keeps you entertained throughout your route.
Bus Bound also supports multiplayer with up to three other players, but the progress is only saved for the host of each game. The joining players act as helpers to the host, and only the host receives likes and stars. This means that online is aimed at fun and enjoyment rather than progression for all players involved in the game. Since players cannot hire multiple drivers for themselves and run multiple routes at the same time, the online aspect caters to this element, where your friends or family members can join in and help you out, running multiple routes at the same time.
Bus Bound eliminates all complex simulation mechanics to deliver a more driver-focused experience. This puts it in the league of titles like Euro Truck Simulator, where the game is all about driving rather than running a company. Most bus simulation titles allow you to hire AI drivers and have them drive multiple buses in your fleet to earn more money and expand your operations, but that is not the case here. Instead, it gives you the freedom of creating your own routes, choosing your favourite bus, and running the routes for as long as you want without any micromanagement. This makes it a more casual approach to this otherwise complicated genre.
Despite the game offering an excellent gameplay experience, Bus Bound is filled with technical issues at this point that severely hurt it. Probably the most problematic issue is the visual distortions that keep happening throughout the city. The mountains in the distance will constantly flash orange as textures go missing in them, while the bus indicators will sometimes glow inside the bus, displaying a massive glare on the screen. The framerates are not consistent at all, despite me running the game on a 4070-powered PC. These technical hiccups are not game-breaking in any way, but they hinder the overall experience of an otherwise great game.
Final Verdict:
Bus Bound is a great simulator with easy-to-understand mechanics and satisfying driving controls, but it needs some serious optimization work at this point. Not only do the framerates stutter, but the visuals also glitch out, especially at night. Apart from the technical glitches, Bus Bound is an approachable simulation game that will not only cater to hardcore fans but also to casual gamers who want a more simplistic gameplay style. If you have been looking for a simulation game that gets rid of micromanaging mechanics and focuses more on the driving bit, Bus Bound is definitely the title for you.
Final Score: 8.0/10
Disclaimer: A PC Steam review code for Bus Bound was provided by Sandbox Strategies on behalf of Saber Interactive for this review. Read our Review Policy.
