Is the game worth it?

[BQ_nk]

Just watched a video from 3 years ago and the game looks decent, wondering how good the game is currently today and how often the updates might be, whatever discussion you think is valuable to a potential player is welcome

[NiceGuy]

Yes it is.

[Ghostrider]

Indeed it is worth it, what makes it good is that you are not stuck with one type of driving. There are so many options in the game it can get a bit overwhelming sometimes. But the best thing to do is try the demo and see what you think.

I know for myself I love the game because it has so many options in how you play the game.

[Lodau]

I believe the updates are kindo of monthy? You can check the news tab I think?
Theres also plenty of videos made now, so you can check a more updated lets play/guide.

If you think you'll enjoy doing what you see others doing in those videos, then yes, it's worth it.

[Frag2000]

Ho my god. That game is so good. When you start digging in the company/economy world, it is priceless.

[s7v7n]

is it worth 20$ yes.... yes it is.

[gere.kappo]

The thing is.
Are you ready for an early acess game that's in development?
That could have bugs and more?
If not, wait.
If you want to invest your money on a really cool and fun game, waiting for updates and helping developing when you can.
Then YES, its worth it.
(I have 150+ hrs in less than 1 month)

[Bainen]

TL;DR: Yes. Play the demo, the game is very much worth it and has a plethora of features.

There's a demo for the game you can download and play each job type up to a certain level, but can give you dozens of hours of playtime with what it gives you. Unless I'm mistaken, it is at the same code level as the main game and your save(s) will carry over.

It is indeed in early access but is in very active development based on the discord - in the next update an iron mine to a steel plant (with the first forklift you can drive) will be added.

The team is very small, I believe it is presently four people, with a main programmer, a level designer and two additional people creating assets (I welcome any corrections). Some of the assets were from asset packs purchased by the developer, but are slowly being replaced/supplemented with custom-made assets.

The amount of work and the quality of game play that has resulted is something the team should be very proud of. This game is an excellent example of indie development done right and what comes out of a labor of love. You can see the amount of care and feeding goes into the game development as it progresses.

The best feature of all? The game 100% respects your time. If you are in the middle of driving somewhere and real life gets in the way? Pull off to the side of the road (or don't, up to you), save your game, and return to exactly where you were with no penalty. You can save anywhere at any time.

There is fast travel on the map (if you own properties or a camper truck), it is limited enough to be convenient, but no SO convenient you're teleporting all over the map. With additional camper trucks (consider them mobile fast travel points) you can fast travel as much as you wish to. Vehicles can be 'summoned' at parking spots, but only if they do not have cargo, or if they do, it is removed.

The videos that are more than a year or so old are really obsolete, even videos a year ago are still somewhat obsolete. If the video you are watching doesn't show the massive island in the south, its an old video.

Motor Town is continually evolving. Look for a channel called 'Motor Town Hub' - it is relatively new, has a handful of videos, but are good intros to how the game works and are right to the point.

The main gameplay is based on production chains (something ATS and ETS2 should take note of). Using the christmas event for example, you ship crude oil from a well to a refinery, that refinery makes oil and fuel. You send the oil from there to a plastics plant that makes plastics (and plastic pipe). You load up plastics and take that to a toy factory.

Separately, you send shipping containers from a couple places to Santa's workshop and to the toy factory. (What is in the shipping containers? Shh, we don't ask that question, nobody knows...) Having the plastics and container at the toy factory enables manufacturing of crates of toys. Those crates are shipped to santa's workshop, then gifts are shipped to the various homes (sorry, no sleigh, I use a flatbed trailer with sides)

You can create a company with AI drivers (up to 5 vehicles at first, but you can purchase additional slots). I use them to send the crude to the refinery and the oil to the plastics plant, along with delivering the containers, I manually drive the plastics to the toy factory, the toy crates to the workshop and deliver the subsequent gifts. A full loop of the production chain takes me about an hour.

So you ask... why is the christmas event still going on? it is enabled and disabled during routine updates (for now, I expect it'll be calendar controlled at some point), and there just hasn't been an update since I believe December (without looking to verify). It'll likely be turned off during the next update. It is a huge in-game money maker so it tends to be rather popular.

While I also love ATS and ETS2, this game, as simple as it looks, is significantly more complicated logistics-wise. You can carry freight destined for multiple destinations for example, an oft-requested feature for ATS/ETS2. You can drive a van, a box truck, flatbeds of various sizes, pickup trucks, semis, your choice, and the payout scales based on the size of the vehicle to give a boost to the smaller vehicles.

That just covers SOME of the features - you can also run multiple styles of tow trucks the most recent being the largest-class tow truck used for semis and trailer recovery, with a crane boom and outriggers.

There are police patrols and randomly generated reckless drivers,

Log hauling on trails requiring 4x4, where you can drive deuce and a halfs that optionally drive all six wheels with locking differentials

You can do Trash hauling (somewhat grindy, but worth it with the reward)

Taxi missions are varied, with comfort level vs speedy 'get-me-there-now' jobs, you can use any car (with a taxi license) to drive people around, additionally, there is a limo.

Live fish trucks can take fish from the shore to a sushi restaurant

You can deliver burgers and pizzas

you can haul concrete, sand, coal, limestone, cement, (and soon, iron ore).

All owned vehicles can be modified (in-game) with different tires (they have wear, along with brake pad wear simulation, requiring replacement at some point) different engines, suspension, transmission tuning, lights, additional fuel tanks or storage and more.

You can rent or borrow vehicles at various places on the map - if you borrow a vehicle, the owner pays all costs but also gets a cut of the profit. If you rent, you pay over time, but you get 100% of the job profit. (protip: you don't pay for the time you are outside of the vehicle)

I am likely missing several details, this is long enough.

It is well worth the $20, but you are certainly welcome to wait for a sale. I usually assign a value of $1 per hour of gameplay. I have over 150 hours presently. You get your money's worth several times over.