Back when Truck Driver released, I felt it was a good alternative to the giants on PC even if it would never compete with them. And even despite the issues I found with it. Chief among them being the world and feeling like you became the most important person to that contact having only just met them. With the announcement of the DLC expansion Heading North, it seemed one of those issues I had would be fixed with this new location.

Just picture if you hadn’t been following news about the expansion, however. It’s likely you would see it as more of the same. Once you get to the region of Mangelfjell, the opening journey to the starting garage isn’t likely to change your mind on that. At the city outskirts, there’s nothing but the warehouses that filled the urban areas of the base game’s region.

Once given a waypoint to your first contact in Mangelfjell, assuming you don’t explore the city you’re in, following it will take you through a town full of houses with a road layout that is more natural than that found in the base game. The world feels a lot more inviting to be in just from that alone, but the road network of this entire region feels properly designed, with no awkward padding to make these urban areas feel further from each other than they really are.

In the country, there’s also a fair bit more to see, with various farmhouses around, waterfalls and other water features, and even a campsite. Not all of the roads out here are tarmac, with a fair few dirt roads to travel along. And even better is the fact you are no longer restricted to just the roads. Barriers come down, and the open country is your playground.

It’s not wise to go off-roading while on a job, though. It’s easy to get stuck, and unless you end up on your side, the timer that will teleport you to the nearest rest point won’t start. Which means having to abort mission by fast travelling to a garage. When not on a job, it is a genuine joy to see how much of this open country you can traverse even if it isn’t an absolute stunner in terms of graphics.

As for those missions, arriving at that waypoint puts you into contact with Ólaff, a construction business owner who is in a bit of a pinch as most of his drivers have abandoned him. Helping him out with jobs will reveal the reason why those drivers had left and what Ólaff does to fix that.

The relationship between you and the contact feels more natural, as no longer do the conversations – again told through text messages – feel like the contact is instantly trusting you with their secrets. At a point in their story, they will also send you on a job where you can meet with another contact, which also feels more natural than not being told another contact is now available.

There are three contacts in the Heading North expansion, each with around ten jobs to their story. While less than the base game, the act of doing them is more fun. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of the expansion so far and will keep on going. Traversing through this region is more fun than the base game, though can be impeded somewhat when traffic forgets that it’s meant to move.

If you have the base game, it is well worth checking out the expansion. If you haven’t got the base game, I’d say the next game in the series will be worth the wait. Announced last month, the sequel will be leaving Europe behind as it heads for America. I am sure that Truck Driver: The American Dream will use what the team learnt from the first to deliver another great console trucking experience when it arrives sometime this year.

Images Taken From:
Truck Driver | Xbox Series S