After 13 years, Euro Truck Simulator 2 smashes its all-time concurrent player peak on Steam by dropping two DLCs with, let me check my notes here, more Europe and more trucks

They'll say they don't get it, young simmer. They'll ask, "You do what all day? You work for a living, and then come home to play a videogame where you work a different, more grueling job?" They won't see the irony in saying that and then queuing for ranked in Street Fighter 6. But take solace—there are thousands of people just like you who wouldn't trade those virtual Swiss skylines for anything.

In fact, it seems like there are more than ever. Over 13 years after its release in 2012, Euro Truck Simulator 2 has surpassed its all-time concurrent player count peak on Steam, according to SteamDB. At time of writing, an hour has passed since the game hit a new all-time peak of 72,678, and while the number is flickering a bit, it's rare to see such a seemingly niche game so hoppin' over a decade after it came out.

If you aren't familiar, the game has been celebrated for its realism (so much so that it's enjoyed a role in driver fatigue research). But even if you go in not knowing a stick shift from a snowdrift, the appeal seems to be less in the exacting fidelity and more in the meditative quality of driving through scenic areas for long periods of time. It's like Power Wash Simulator in that way, though I think I'd get more out of digital highway hypnosis than spraying the muck off of playground slides. At least in one case, I can pull out all the trucker lingo I learned from Smokey and the Bandit. (Nobody likes it.)

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Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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