I've waited 8 years and now they're finally putting my hometown in American Truck Simulator

GamesSimulationAmerican Truck SimulatorI’ve waited 8 years and now they’re finally putting my hometown in American Truck SimulatorWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. GamesSimulationAmerican Truck SimulatorI’ve waited 8 years and now they’re finally putting my hometown in American Truck SimulatorWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works. (Image credit: SCS Software) Since American Truck Simulator launched with California and Nevada back in 2016, the game has slowly been expanding eastward with DLC introducing new states to drive through. It’s taken eight years for developer SCS Software to finally reach the heart of the midwest, and as thrilled as I was to learn that my home state of Missouri is coming to the game, I’m downrightecstaticat the news that my teensy hometown is going to be part of the game. In a recentblog postintroducing the dev team working on Missouri, a developer named Filip writes, “I’m looking forward to creating Cape Girardeau, an unmistakable city on the Mississippi River. I hope to translate the genius loci of the riverside town both in the more industrial areas as well as in the urban part of the city.” You probably have not heard of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It’s a city of about 40,000 people, and notable for precisely three things: housing the university where Cedric the Entertainer and formerMarvel Comicseditor Roy Thomas graduated, producing the infamous conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, and serving as the primary filming location for the fictional Missouri town of North Carthage in David Fincher’s Gone Girl adaptation. It’s utterly bizarre to hear the town referred to in such flowery terms as these, especially coming from the Czech development studio of a small-scale trucking game. Cape is notpreciselymy hometown - I’ve never lived within the city limits - but like many population centers centered in rural areas, it’s the fulcrum of the region’s outlying towns, sporadic homes, and local industries, such that it’s effectively the hometown ofeveryonefor miles and miles around, myself included. American Truck Simulator is the only game I’ve ever played that accurately conveys the spirit of the rural US, accurately capturing the gentle sense of decay you feel passing through small towns along the open road. It’s not as if ATS has anything particularly poetic to say about rural America, but playing it often feels meaningful just thanks to how accurately it recreates sights and sounds that aren’t often given much care in other video games. While there isn’t even a single screenshot of digital Cape Girardeau out there yet, there’s no studio I’d trust more than SCS to bring the very peculiar sensibilities of a very particular midwestern town to life. SCS has two other map expansions coming before Missouri - Nebraska and Arkansas - so it could still be quite some time before I finally get to bring my canary yellow Peterbilt 389 down these familiar streets. But I’ve already waited the better part of a decade for this moment, so I guess I can stand a few extra months. American Truck Simulator is the one game that can make me excited to visit the most boring parts of the US. 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“So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 5 Marvel Rivals review: “So preoccupied with trying to be like Overwatch that it forgets to play to its own strengths” 1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 1 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show” 2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie” 2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie” 2 Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie” 3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action” 3Kraven the 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