Death Stranding is a game about a lone courier delivering cargo across a bleak, post-apocalyptic United States. Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a game about a lone trucker delivering cargo across Europe. They're two very different games on the surface, but in essence, they couldn't be more alike. You don't have to avoid freaky ghosts in ETS2, just red traffic lights and other motorists. But the core of both games is built around the same ideas of movement, solitude, and connecting the world. One is by a celebrity Japanese developer and cost millions of dollars, while the other is by a tiny indie studio based in the Czech Republic. But they're both equally great, and if you like one, you'll probably like the other.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is one of the best games ever made, and I say that without a shred of irony. I don't particularly care about trucks, and have never had the desire to drive one in real life, but I've played it for almost 300 hours. Not only is it an extremely polished game, with a weighty, satisfying driving model, but it's incredibly relaxing too. When you're rumbling along the road in the rain, watching your wipers swish back and forth, you become hypnotised. All you're doing is driving, mostly along motorways in a straight line, for long periods of time. But that's what makes it special. It's a game you can lose yourself in, like a screensaver for your brain. There's no drama, no danger—just peace.
ETS2's map is enormous—the result of developer SCS Software gradually adding to it since the game first launched in 2012. You can drive all the way from France to Russia, take a tour of Scandinavia, or get lost in the mountains of Austria—and that's just a fraction of the whole thing. It's impossibly vast, and quietly one of the best open-world games you can play today. It's pretty too, in a modest kind of way. There are plenty of famous landmarks and natural wonders to drink in. But for the most part it's just long, grey roads, which is where you find yourself entering that zen state. Hit auto-cruise, put on some music or a podcast, and just drift away. But not so much that you slam into other cars ahead of you.
I get a similar feeling playing Death Stranding. My favourite moments in the game are the long, lonely, quiet ones—not the battles with ghosts and cargo-stealing pirates, or the wild, mind-bending cutscenes. That stuff's great, but when I think of Death Stranding, I think of Sam hiking across those stark, atmospheric landscapes with a precarious stack of crates balancing on his back. When you're alone in the wilderness, with just the howl of the wind for company, Death Stranding can induce a similar feeling of zen. Patiently making your way across the rugged terrain, carefully placing ladders to cross rivers, is strangely relaxing—in the same hard to define way driving trucks in ETS2 can be.
Both Sam and your trucking alter ego in ETS2 are ultimately performing a similar duty. Sam's deliveries are connecting a scattered populace, connecting them to a network to bring them together. Your trucker, meanwhile, is a vital part of the supply chain, keeping food on the shelves and industries running. The UK recently had a truck driver shortage and chaos briefly descended on the island. The difference is, Sam's in a world that has been destroyed by exploding oil ghosts, where death lurks around every corner—while the worst thing that can happen to your trucker is them getting a little bit sleepy if you miss a service station. They don't have to strap a weird, creepy little baby to their chest either.
If you like the fact that Death Stranding features an abundance of lengthy, dull stretches of basically nothing, you will love Euro Truck Simulator 2. Both are games that, through these moments of extended, uninterrupted silence, put you into a relaxed, contemplative state. They can be a tiresome slog at times, and sometimes you'll wish you would just reach your destination already. But it's when you forget about where you're going, and just enjoy the journey, that the magic emerges. I don't know if we'll ever get a Death Stranding 2, or if Kojima is working on something entirely new now. But if you have a desire to recreate its distinctive vibe, this niche truck simulator is, as unlikely as it sounds, the answer.