Bus Bound review: a schedule simulator with you behind the wheel

Franziska Behner-Thang

30.4.2026

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Pictures: Franziska Behner-Thang

Leisurely bus rides, sightseeing and a bus editor: Bus Bound is a laid-back driving simulator, with only the weather, accidents and a strict schedule as your biggest challenges.

When local transit runs smoothly, everyone’s happy. And as your fleet starts shipping out in Bus Bound, the city of Emberville finds the motivation it needs to grow economically and help its neighbourhoods flourish. It’s just like real life: people just want a reliable partner to take them to work and other, more enjoyable places. That’s exactly your role in this new game from Stillalive Studios.

Iconic buses for enthusiasts

I wonder if Bus Bound is a similar phenomenon to Farming Simulator. As it turns out, a lot of FS fans are actually farmers in real life, climbing into their virtual combine harvesters after a hard day in the fields and tending to their animals. What’s hard work during the day helps them unwind in front of the screen in the evening. Realistic scenarios and numerous real-world brands are welcome extras, generating a lot of excitement during the announcement.

It’s quite possible that a large number of Bus Bound players are actually bus drivers. In any case, the groundwork has been laid, as this bus simulator from Stillalive Studios and Saber Interactive offers a range of iconic vehicles for fans of American buses. From the iconic Blue Bird Sigma to the Horizon Sightseer double-decker bus, there’s plenty to unlock. Admittedly, my real-life career path hasn’t included a job as a bus driver so far. But in the virtual world at least, I’m stepping on the gas today.

A fun trip for all!

The gameplay’s easy to explain: you, a bus driver in the sleepy town of Emberville, drive along custom routes through different districts, expanding your network and collecting likes from passengers. This unlocks boons for future trips and new challenges for your different buses. We’ve seen all of this, or something similar, in other simulators. Bus Bound, however, takes it up a notch with a few clever touches, elevating itself from the dusty asphalt.

The city of Emberville is divided into various districts, unlocked over time as you complete objectives. There’s a business district, a cultural district, urban neighbourhoods and much more. Once an area has been revived enough, it moves up a level and changes for the better: you’ll see more and nicer sidewalks, parks come to life and recreational activities for both residents and tourists begin to emerge. This also unlocks new stops, which can level up as well. A loop that won me over pretty quickly.

All of this attracts more passengers and ensures they’ll enjoy seeing the city grow during their ride. In turn, they’ll give out extra likes because they enjoyed the ride and their city so much. Thanks to this progression system, driving through familiar areas never gets boring, and it’s fun to marvel at the surprisingly detailed changes along the road. I still recommend keeping your eyes on the road, though. Driving over the kerb and colliding with other vehicles isn’t something your bus passengers find funny at all. Spoilsports, the lot of them!

The daily challenges of a bus driver

A route may be well-travelled during the day, but it won’t be a profitable venture in the middle of the night. The actual number of passengers who board depends on a number of factors. You’ll face plenty of challenges: tricky routes, for example, are even more demanding in bad weather, since you have to keep an eye on both traffic rules as well as other factors like high beams and windshield wipers. All of these factors come together to ensure that even routes you’ve already travelled will offer at least a little variety.

Every now and then, random events occur. These could be construction sites or cars parked across the road you have to drive around. Anyone who pulls off this manoeuvre with ease will get plenty of thumbs-ups from their passengers. There are often several ways to handle these situations. Sometimes vehicles even despawn randomly! It goes without saying, you’ll have to drive around a construction zone using the appropriate turn signal. A car parked across the road could be tackled this way too, but you can also just honk your horn and hope the person moves. Just like in real life, however, overusing the horn is considered harassment, and in Bus Bound, it’ll lead to bad feelings and lots of thumbs-downs.

Please, clear the doorway!

For particularly ambitious gamers, there’s a first-person mode, offering even more buttons and options behind the wheel. It wasn’t until I’d played for many hours that I realised, for example, that I could turn on the interior light for passengers and ventilate the cab – for whatever reason. Anyone who values a gaming experience that’s as realistic as possible will certainly be pleased with these details. But I have to admit that after two rounds from the first-person perspective, I’d had enough. My buses are much safer when I can see everything from above.

Speaking of the big picture, the camera sometimes seems to have a mind of its own. And when planning a new route, you’ll often need a little patience, since – especially later in the game – the sheer number of lines can make it hard to keep track. In theory, the route editor is easy to use, but in practice, it’ll suddenly make up paths that no one would ever drive. Just delete everything and start over.

A different kind of character editor

As a bus driver, you won’t express your style through your clothes, a cool haircut or special accessories – no, you do it through your bus’s paint job. A total of up to 19 buses are available, which can all be repainted in the garage when requested. But only if the city council approves the plan, of course. They seem to be the reason why you aren’t allowed to pick up the virtual brush yourself.

Their pre-designed templates can only be customised in terms of colour and surface coating – that is, if the editor doesn’t crash. My beta version isn’t quite running smoothly yet. Designs aren’t loading and I can’t select details. I assume a patch will fix these issues, so until then I’ll stick with simpler designs.

Practice makes perfect

The more routes I cover in Bus Bound, the more confident I become. I soon know every stop sign by heart, know where the next speed bump is and which streets are best for sightseeing. On the way to work, my passengers are always delighted to see the new buildings and recreational facilities that have been sprung up thanks to my expansion of the public transit network. In return, I get tons of likes, boosting my self-confidence and helping raise the level of the next bus stop. As soon as a stop is awarded a gold star, numerous benefits are unlocked. These could include, for example, more passengers in that neighbourhood or like multipliers that make it easier to progress in the game.

Getting likes is actually quite simple: follow traffic laws, pull up as perfectly as possible at a stop and don’t fall behind schedule. Anyone who also knows how to brake gently, navigate curves and avoid hitting kerbs is the perfect fit for this job. And if things don’t go smoothly at first, it won’t go unnoticed either: passengers complain loudly when they’re unhappy. Did you hit that bump too fast, or did you miss a stop sign? Grandma Hilda and Joe the Business Major always have an annoyed comment and a few dislikes loaded and ready. But they don’t hold a grudge, so it’s no big deal.

One bus, two bus, three bus, four!

If driving the bus starts to feel a little lonely after a while, you can also play Bus Bound in co-op mode: team up with up to three other players to explore the mean streets of Emberville online. From a leisurely coffee run to completing the game host’s missions, there are plenty of ways to work together.

And since the controls are always displayed on the screen, navigating the streets of Emberville isn’t really a big problem. The challenge lies in getting used to the different types of buses. A sightseeing bus will behave differently from an articulated bus in terms of acceleration, braking and cornering. Especially with really big buses, manoeuvring through narrow streets and arriving at every stop within the time limit takes some practice.

Bus Bound is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. I tested the PS5 version, which was provided to me by Stillalive Studios and Saber Interactive.

Franziska Behner-Thang

Freelance Editor

info@franziskabehner.de

I didn’t have a Game Boy or a Super Nintendo as a child, and only joined the world of gaming at 15. I’ve been trying to make up for lost time ever since. But looking at the ever-growing number of game releases each year, it seems the entire industry is conspiring against me. more

---

Review

Which films, shows, books, games or board games are genuinely great? Recommendations from our personal experience.

Show all

These articles might also interest you