Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be a bus driver in the city? Well wonder no more thanks to the release of Saber Interactive’s ‘Bus Bound’, the latest addition to the ever-growing bus simulation genre. Getting behind the wheel of a bus in Emberville, a fictional US city that is the heart of the game, you must keep passenger happy and help expand the bus network to make sure that the city is as connected as it can be.
Before you get into the meat of ‘Bus Bound’, you must follow a tutorial that takes you through the ropes of the main element of the game. You can toggle gameplay views – seeing through the eyes of the bus driver or seeing an overview of the bus from behind – and the tutorial shows you how to accelerate, use your parking brakes, open your doors, activate your left and right indicators, and even toot your horn. Once you’ve gotten to grips with this and completed your maiden route, it’s time to really get into the nitty gritty of the game.
Each drive allows you to select your bus – there are several to choose from – and you must follow the green arrows that highlight the route throughout the city. On the right side of the screen you can track your progress as you head to each bus stop, and there’s a timer that provides an extra challenge. None of the drives are too lengthy, and the basic aim of the game is to collect passengers and keep them happy. At each bus stop you have to align the bus in the markers, engage the parking brake and open your doors to allow passengers on and off. Departing passengers give you a thumbs up, and there’s a target of likes you need to aim for – this is harder than you might think it’s going to be.
As you’re driving around, passengers will comment and they catch everything you do wrong. Fly over a speed bump at 40mph instead of 20mph? You’ll hear complaints. Take out several cars and ignore traffic signals? Be prepared for plenty of sarcasm. There are many things to keep in mind as you’re driving, such as traffic lights, speed limits and driving laws and it might take a little time to get to grips with all of those things. I did enjoy the radio station that plays, which features 90s sounding songs and honestly, was pretty pleasant.
After each drive you return to the bus depot office and it’s here that you can really flesh out your game. You have the option to add new bus stops and routes around the city, which you can then drive, and you can also customise your bus if you so desire. The customisation is a nice add-on but it’s fairly basic; aside from adding colours and a bit of a decal to your bus, there’s not a lot else on offer. The options for extending and creating new routes, and customising buses, expand as you gain more experience and rack up happy customers.
The downside of the game is that it becomes fairly repetitive quickly. The routes don’t offer a huge amount of variety and you soon realise that the game is much more focused on the driving aspect than anything else. The usual mechanics you’d expect from a bus simulator aren’t here so besides picking up and dropping off passengers, there’s not much else to be done. The city building is fun and certainly helps keep you engaged, but it would have been nice to see some other aspects of being a bus driver brought to life such as taking payment and issuing tickets.
‘Bus Bound’ is a cosy simulator but it’s not as in-depth as some of the others that are currently available. I’d say this game is perfect for those who are dipping their toe into the simulator for the first time, but it doesn’t offer enough complexity for intermediate or advanced simulator gamers. The co-op mode is still relatively young so there’s not a whole lot of online action to engage with, but that will come with time. ‘Bus Bound’ is perfectly enjoyable but expect more of a driving game than anything else, so you’re not disappointed.
Publisher: Saber Interactive Developer: stillalive studios Reviewed on: PS5 Also available on: Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam Release date: 30th April 2026 View ‘Bus Bound’ at Saber Interactive
