Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop

I love this series and Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop is the DLC for the base game and I have had a lot of fun with it so far. As you would probably have already guessed, you do need the base game, but this DLC has a lot to it and more stuff is going to be added over the next year or so. I wanted to talk a little bit about the new stuff that has been added here and why I feel if you liked the base game, you should give this a try.

A Bigger And Better City

One of the things that I loved about the base game and what I love about Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop is the setting Angel Shores is based on San Fransisco and it was already an impressively large map in the original game. However, it has been expanded here with new locations, making what was already the largest map the series had seen so far, even larger. I had a blast learning these new routes and got a kick out of some of the references to the Bay area as well.

More Power To Controls

With an already impressive number of buses in the game, I was interested to see what Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop would bring to the mix. I am happy to tell you that the Ebusco Bus Pack that is part of this DLC is available on day one and it is awesome, adding some more officially licensed busses to the mix, and as always, the detail here is awesome. Now as I write this, we have a school bus expansion and a Thomas Built Busses Pack still to come and I am pretty excited for both of those.

Taking The Direct Approach

It is the career mode of this series that I have always loved and I would argue that Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop takes what they have done in the previous installments and makes it better. Now, if I am being honest with you, this DLC is not changing the wheel, but managing your bus empire is still the aim of the game here. What I like is setting up my business and they having the “boring” stuff be more automated (with me jumping in when I need to) so I can more focus on being an actual bus driver. I am sure when the school bus expansion arrives, that will give the career mode of this game a real shot in the arm. The game plays the same as before so no surprises there.

Taking Me Back To The Bay!

I was lucky enough to go on vacation to San Francisco just before Covid locked the world down (go Warriors) and it is a city I fell in love with. I think that visually, Bus Simulator 21 Next Stop might be the best-looking entry yet. Each area of Angel Shores is based on a part of the bay area and it is all done very well.

The game has been given a shot in the arm as there is more variety to the vehicles that are on the road with you, it might not sound like much, but in the base version, you did start to feel like half the people in this city had the same model of car! There are still the dynamic weather effects which look awesome, but they can just come out of nowhere which can be annoying.

Pros:

• This is my favorite setting in the franchise to date
• The new busses are cool and add variety
• Speaking of variety, I like that there is more variety to the NPC vehicles on the road
• If you like the base game, this gives you move stuff to play around with

Cons:

• At launch, there was not a ton of stuff included with the DLC
• Still no word on what that school bus expansion will actually add