Compare Bus Simulator 27 vs over the hill

The promised steering-wheel support delivered well in testing, with automatic detection and useful presets rather than the usual setup problems.

The relaxing trailer set expectations that one playthrough sharply contradicted. Constant traction struggles made the advertised peaceful outing feel stressful instead.

Optimization needs substantial work, with demanding hardware requirements, frame drops, blur, and other compromises across both PC and console modes.

Most tested PCs and several handheld setups run well, with later builds improving on the demo. Results vary substantially, and some tests still find demanding hardware use or poor Steam Deck performance.

The music is considered basic, with at least one critic wishing the game had something like a radio station.

Acoustic guitar, ambient tracks, and selectable cassettes strongly reinforce the calm mood. The music is a common highlight, although its limited track variety can become repetitive.

Crashes are a serious launch concern, especially on PC and in multiplayer, while later Xbox hotfixes suggest the current console build is becoming more stable.

One completed playthrough reports no crashes. That supports a positive stability experience for that test without establishing a universal result.

Extensive assists and automation let players simplify doors, kneeling, engine functions, penalties, and other simulation details without giving up the core driving experience.

Dedicated accessibility support is limited. The tested demo also caused serious difficulty for one left-handed keyboard setup, making input flexibility an important consideration.

Weather and lighting can look strong, but rain visibility, ghosting, shimmer, blur, and motion-blur issues keep the effects from feeling polished.

Sunsets, headlights, snowstorms, and wind-whipped trees bring the restrained graphics to life. Lighting is frequently the element that turns an ordinary drive into a memorable view.

Story dialogue is one of the weaker narrative elements, described as cheesy, mediocre, and easy to ignore.

The mechanic’s brief text dialogue adds a little personality while fitting the gentle tone. Its appeal comes from that light touch rather than extensive conversations.

Multiple modes, varied routes, two cities, coach trips, management tasks, and different bus types keep the experience from feeling like the same run repeated endlessly.

Distinct biomes provide attractive changes of scenery, but the activity set is modest. Repeated crate hunts, similar driving challenges, and limited locations can wear thin.

The grading and penalty systems are a recurring frustration, often docking points or money for signals, collisions, or other situations players believe were handled correctly.

Simple gears, recovery tools, and optional challenges keep the driving approachable. Planks and other equipment can be fiddly, and some shortcuts feel less physical than the rest of the game.

Story mode is useful and enjoyable for some because it gives goals and structure, but others find the plot easy to ignore or poorly written.

The lack of a story leaves a sense of emptiness for a player seeking more reason to explore. Even a few characters or side quests could have given solo travel a stronger emotional anchor.

The foundation is strong, but the launch build repeatedly feels unfinished, with bugs, AI problems, penalties, crashes, and presentation issues adding up across normal play.

Several accounts praise intuitive tools and carefully finished environments. Another finds mechanical roughness and technical problems serious enough to undermine the tranquil presentation.

Multiplayer has suffered disconnects and crashes, but recent patches have addressed spawning, loading, and passenger-sync problems.

The tested co-op sessions generally connect and run smoothly without noticeable lag. The available reports are positive about basic session reliability.

The tutorial is praised for teaching the basics without dragging on too long.

Slow travel can make each journey feel substantial and every discovery worth savoring. It can also become a crawl, especially when a nearly cleared map spreads the remaining rewards far apart.

Difficulty and realism are unusually flexible, letting players choose a relaxed drive or a stricter simulation with more rules and penalties.

Some find an excellent balance of accessible cruising and demanding optional trails. Others find the same terrain either frustratingly slippery or too forgiving to deliver a satisfying off-road challenge.

District upgrades, route growth, company expansion, and visible improvements to bus stops create a rewarding sense of progress.

Revealing the map and improving a favorite truck can feel deeply satisfying. Slow vehicle unlocks and the cost of starting another build often keep players in one truck longer than they would like.

Company management is usually satisfying and approachable, with hiring, routes, fleets, and visible AI drivers, but some systems feel shallow, buggy, or too simplistic.

Pebbles give exploration a tangible reward, but their generosity feels uneven. Building a second capable truck or upgrading an entire fleet can require far more currency than normal discovery supplies.

Visual opinion is mixed: Felicia Bay and the buses can look impressive, but blur, weak character models, lifeless streets, and inconsistent image quality hold the presentation back.

Expansive views, rich lighting, and dramatic weather often produce breathtaking scenery. Sparse areas and simple models impress less consistently, especially once the novelty fades.

Performance can be uneven, with drops below a stable 60 FPS on capable PCs and larger dips reported even on high-end hardware.

Frame rates are usually smooth at suitable settings, including many 60fps PC tests. Large vistas and dramatic weather can cause drops, with an occasional more severe multiplayer slowdown.

Bus interiors and many parts of Felicia Bay show impressive detail, although a few critics find the streets and repeated NPCs lifeless.

Handcrafted terrain, distant scenery, swaying grass, and visible dirt on vehicles reward close attention. The detail helps simple models evoke a convincing outdoor expedition.

A bespoke fictional city built around public transport gives the game more personality than another one-to-one recreation of a real location.

A driving adventure built around discovery rather than racing feels refreshing. Its appeal comes from rethinking what makes a vehicle journey worth taking.

The 45-plus licensed buses across many brands, sizes, and powertrains are one of the most consistently praised parts of the package.

The retro-inspired selection offers plenty of appealing trucks and recognizable shapes. Handling differences can be subtle, and a favorite upgraded vehicle may overshadow the rest.

There are many controls and systems to absorb, but most become manageable after some practice and the game offers enough guidance to ease newcomers in.

Few buttons and straightforward systems make the game easy to pick up. Mastering terrain and making effective upgrades still give newcomers useful skills to develop.

Upgrading districts and bus stops produces visible and gameplay changes, making progression feel tangible rather than purely numerical.

Better engines, tires, suspension, and tool capacity can open demanding routes and transform a weak starter vehicle. Improvements are less convincing for some drivers, while separate upgrades for each truck discourage experimentation.

Story mode and the tutorials generally do a good job introducing a complex simulation organically, though one critic found the opening poorly put together.

The guided introduction generally teaches the basics efficiently. Early encouragement to customize or upgrade the starter vehicle could be clearer, since those improvements can materially ease the opening.

Detailed bus systems and a believable city can be highly immersive, but clipping, broken AI, and constant bugs can quickly shatter that illusion.

The landscapes, weather, music, and quiet travel can evoke a convincing wilderness expedition. Map interruptions, implausible animal reactions, and missing first-person driving occasionally break the spell.

Driving routes, serving passengers, and building the company can be highly addictive, but the moment-to-moment loop loses appeal when feedback systems and handling fall short.

Picking a destination, finding a route, and collecting a reward can be wonderfully absorbing. Players who need explicit goals or deeper driving systems often find that same loop aimless or thin.

Points of interest and collectibles give players a reason to leave the driver's seat and make Felicia Bay feel more like a place worth exploring.

Cosmetic crates, vehicle unlocks, and wildlife discoveries can be powerful reasons to keep exploring. For players who do not value cosmetic rewards, collecting provides much less motivation.

The default HUD can feel cluttered enough to distract from driving, but unwanted elements can be removed for a cleaner view.

The small wrench indicator is easy to overlook when vehicle damage is not visually obvious. Clearer feedback after collisions would make the vehicle’s condition easier to judge.

Tutorials are usually concise and helpful, though route-building instructions can initially leave players confused by the number of systems.

A brief tutorial introduces gearing and winching without dragging out the opening. Its strongest praise is for explaining useful mechanics without becoming boring or overwhelming.

Felicia Bay has a strong sense of place, helped by dynamic weather, day-night changes, Mediterranean scenery, and a relaxed road-trip feel.

Warm light, shifting weather, gentle music, and remote scenery create the game’s most consistent attraction. Some players lose that peaceful feeling when isolation, repetition, or frustrating terrain takes over.

Driving is divisive: many like the weight, precision, and bus-specific controls, while others find the handling loose, awkward, or less refined than competing bus sims.

Weighty trucks, gear changes, and careful wheel placement give patient driving its appeal. Traction is divisive: some find it tactile and fair, while others struggle with slippery surfaces, sluggish speed, or unpredictable reactions.

Getting out on foot, finding landmarks, visiting points of interest, and roaming a large two-city map adds welcome variety beyond driving fixed routes.

Beautiful viewpoints, hidden routes, wildlife, and unlocks encourage wandering beyond the next hill. Discovery loses momentum for players who want richer unmarked rewards or more varied reasons to keep moving.

ROG Ally testing suggests the game is playable at medium settings with upscaling around a solid 30 FPS, though visual compromises are noticeable.

The slow pace and scenery work well on portable hardware, with several enthusiastic Steam Deck and Ally X reports. Steam Deck performance is inconsistent across tests, so settings and build matter.

Cockpit systems, ticketing, passenger incidents, on-foot exploration, and random road events add impressive interaction depth, though several of those systems can be buggy or repetitive.

Persistent tire tracks, deforming terrain, and accumulating mud can make journeys feel tangible. Simplified deformation, occasional odd physics, and unresponsive wildlife sometimes weaken that illusion.

Bugs are widespread in the launch experience, ranging from visual oddities and broken interactions to traffic glitches and gameplay penalties, although later patches have reduced some problems.

Some sessions encounter only minor input or visual glitches. Others suffer flying vehicles, equipment falling below the map, or inconsistent physics that materially disrupt difficult routes.

First-person driving feels much easier to manage than the more erratic third-person view.

Adjustable distance and fading trees can make the chase camera useful for scouting. Tight spaces, awkward angles, and the lack of a cockpit view still frustrate some drivers.

Four-player co-op is one of the better extras, letting friends coordinate routes and run a company together; disconnects and crashes can still get in the way.

Convoys, shared anchors, and improvised rescue chains turn difficult terrain into memorable teamwork. Helping friends out of trouble often supplies the game’s funniest and most rewarding moments.

Despite the rough launch, many players still find the bus driving, route planning, and company growth genuinely fun; the harshest critics say the bugs and AI overwhelm that enjoyment.

Patient exploration and shared rescues produce delight, curiosity, and plenty of laughter for many players. Those who need stronger goals or more satisfying traction can instead become bored or frustrated.

The switchable Classic and Realistic looks are a hit, with strong color grading and the ability to choose between vibrant and more natural presentation.

Pastel colors, chunky vehicles, and minimalist landscapes give the game a distinctive outdoor identity. The simple style delights most, though a few find it basic or personally unappealing.

Sandbox mode is well liked for removing money and objective pressure, while broader management settings still allow considerable freedom in how routes and companies are built.

The game gives you room to wander, change destinations, and ignore optional tasks. For some, visible checklist markers still create pressure that interrupts the pleasure of simply getting lost.

Multiple modes, a large fleet, company management, and a long progression loop give the game strong long-term replay potential.

The first journey offers strong discovery appeal, and some players eagerly return for another trail. Others find limited long-term motivation once familiar maps and repeated meteorite hunts replace fresh discoveries.

Several critics like the underlying game but still recommend waiting for more patches before paying the launch price.

The supplied launch price is widely considered good value for this kind of scenic exploration. The strongest recommendations come from players who enjoy unhurried journeys rather than measuring value through constant action.

The management UI can make simple tasks harder to understand, especially when planning routes or handling company details.

Displaying saved photographs as Polaroids on the main menu adds a charming personal touch. It gives collected images a visible place beyond the photography activity itself.

The custom Felicia Bay map is dense, varied, and purpose-built for bus routes rather than feeling like a generic real-world recreation.

Revealing the map and placing clear waypoints can give exploration satisfying direction. Frequent map checks interrupt driving for some, while visible objectives can also spoil aimless wandering.

Co-op meaningfully expands the management simulation by letting up to four players coordinate routes, fleets, and driving duties together.

Independent travel lets a group split up when desired, but discovery and objectives are tracked per player. Staying together avoids waiting for friends to repeat tasks you have already completed.

Felicia Bay's Spanish-inspired identity and corruption backstory give the city a distinct personality beyond its roads and bus stops.

The wilderness can make individual journeys feel memorable and worth the effort. Giant sculpted hands and floating islands are less convincing for players who prefer the otherwise natural setting.

Felicia Bay is one of the most consistent strengths: large, attractive, varied, and full of distinct districts, highways, towns, coastlines, and points of interest.

Large maps convey convincing wilderness while leaving room to choose your own route. Steep terrain can funnel movement more than the open-world premise initially suggests.

Districts stand out as unique and handcrafted rather than feeling copied and pasted, helping routes stay visually distinctive.

Layered cliffs, narrow tracks, and carefully arranged obstacles create memorable routes through the wilderness. Some later sections become punishing, and not every long trail is equally engaging.

Objectives help break up management-heavy menu work by regularly putting the player back behind the wheel.

Challenge trails and vehicle recoveries provide the clearest objectives and some of the best moments. Their appeal varies: towing can feel tedious with weak equipment, and other activities sometimes lack meaningful purpose.

Engine sounds, electric hums, traffic ambience, rain, and bus rattles are consistently praised for making each vehicle and journey feel distinct.

Crunching gravel, squelching mud, engines, wind, and recognizable animal calls form a convincing soundscape. Ambient audio often makes the wilderness feel especially alive.

Menus range from clean and quick to overloaded and confusing; the radial bus-control menu works well for some players but feels cumbersome to others.

The radial menu can remain awkward even after extended play. Restrictions while tethered and slow access to the camera can interfere with creative recovery attempts or fleeting animal sightings.

Bus customization can be deep, especially for interiors, seats, floors, colors, wraps, and patterns, though one review found some brand customization limited.

A wide range of camping gear, lights, horns, ornaments, and other cosmetics helps make a truck feel personal. Limited paint choices are a smaller reservation amid broad enthusiasm for the playful options.

Controller and wheel support are generally strong and precise, though one negative review found the handling poor and some wheel-feedback features remain weak.

Straightforward controls and sensible button placement make the trucks approachable. Steering can feel slow or slightly awkward, particularly during precise maneuvers.

Traffic AI is the clearest weak spot: cars stop, ram buses, jam intersections, and trigger unfair penalties, though later Xbox hotfixes appear to have improved it somewhat.

A varied wildlife collection encourages looking beyond the next crate or trail. Sightings can be sparse, which makes finding a bird or another elusive animal more special.

NPC presentation is inconsistent, with clipping and awkward passenger behavior still visible even after some post-launch improvement.

Portable camps let you recover, make minor repairs, and wait for daylight or better weather. The system deepens the expedition feel, though placing a camp can be awkward.

A failed late-stage maneuver can force a long return from camp. Lengthy trails without a midpoint save make small mistakes unusually costly.

Meteorite hunting provides another reason to drive after clearing objectives, but it is a thin main endgame activity. More varied late-game tasks would give the world stronger staying power.

The familiar driving model, bus-management structure, and simulation-heavy controls make this recognizably Bus Simulator, though its rough launch keeps it from feeling like a fully worthy successor yet.

Discovered cabins make useful bases for repairs, resupply, and quick returns to an area. Resting or advancing time also helps avoid poor visibility and unwanted weather.

There is substantial longevity, with more than 15 hours leaving plenty of story content and some players expected to spend dozens or even hundreds of hours.

Fully upgrading many trucks can require repeated meteorite hunts after normal discoveries run out. Repeated spawn locations and modest payouts make that extra farming feel thin.

Controller feedback can feel good, but steering-wheel force feedback is inconsistent and sometimes described as lifeless or effectively nonfunctional.

The playful opening and chaotic group rescues add warmth and comedy. Novelty horns and friendly winch mischief can make a difficult trail especially memorable.

Its unusually broad mix of bus driving, company management, on-foot exploration, customization, and multiplayer makes it one of the year's more ambitious bus sims.

Infinite loading screens were severe enough in one test to force repeated restarts.

Public lobbies were often empty during one prelaunch test. Finding available players at that stage was harder than simply organizing a group of friends.

Different routes help prevent the driving routine from becoming repetitive.

Most overall assessments strongly recommend the distinctive scenic driving adventure. Reservations center on limited depth, frustrating traversal, and a lack of goals rather than its presentation.

Wildlife photography and scenic shots provide a rewarding reason to stop driving. Extensive controls, beautiful light, and rare animal sightings make this one of the most consistently enjoyed side activities.

Hiring drivers fits naturally into company management, with visible skills and hidden professionalism traits adding some decision-making.

Snow, rain, storms, and changing daylight transform both the scenery and the route ahead. They enrich the wilderness atmosphere, though low visibility and reduced grip can make travel frustrating.

Story-mode characters are described as fun and colorful, giving the structured campaign more personality than simple route objectives alone.

Solo travel can be therapeutic, quiet, and absorbing for players who enjoy self-directed discovery. Others find the world lonely or insufficiently motivating without friends and shared challenges.

Light decisions about damage, equipment, and whether to wait out a storm give expeditions stakes. They add commitment without turning the experience into demanding resource survival.

Quick and manual winching can turn a stuck truck into a satisfying recovery puzzle. Most find it useful and intuitive, although inconsistent pull strength and awkward attachment behavior frustrate some drivers.

The story writing is directly criticized as cheesy and poorly written.

Character creation is a welcome extra and offers more flexibility than some expected, but several critics find the models and options fairly limited.

The voice cast is considered solid, doing a decent job with both story characters and passengers.

Post-launch support is a major positive, with frequent hotfixes targeting crashes, saves, AI, handling, penalties, passengers, and multiplayer.

Steering wheels and controllers are broadly well supported and often work with little setup, though force-feedback quality remains uneven.

Save protection received focused post-launch fixes, improving one of the launch-era reliability concerns on Xbox.

Route finding, recoveries, and difficult climbs turn the landscape into a practical spatial puzzle. Choosing an approach and using equipment well can make reaching a distant ledge feel earned.