Euro Truck Simulator 2 Nordic Horizons DLC review: Extraordinary

SCS Software has been on a roll recently.

With the announcement of a long-awaited UK revamp, the addition of coaches, the imminent release of the Louisiana DLC for the American counterpart, Iceland, Ireland, special transport, new trailers, new trucks, construction…. the list goes on, there is a lot to get excited about for truck simulator fans.

But the brakes have yet to be applied, as not only does the Euro Truck Simulator 2 title keep getting updated, a new area in the form of the Nordic Horizons DLC has now been released, which expands on the boundaries of the Scandinavian refresh and features fresh surroundings to explore towards the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

So, how is it?

What’s inside?

The first thing you’ll notice from this new area is just how massive it is. This gigantic new area is filled with a multitude of cities, landmarks and scenic towns that my British brain will never be able to pronounce correctly, such as “Nordjoskbotn”.

A trip from Norway’s capital Oslo to the very northern tip, Honningsvåg will easily scoop up a few hours of your time, while over 2000km is applied onto your truck’s odometer. For comparison, a trip from Oslo to Venice would take around the same time, requiring you to travel through five different countries in the process.

Anything to the north of Bergen, Oslo, Uppsala, Pori and Tampere is where the new map starts. But as is the case with the previous map DLCs, you’d be hard-pressed to find exactly where the Scandinavian DLC ends, and where the Nordic Horizons DLC starts, so the transition between the two maps will be completely unnoticeable. 

After crossing this unknown border with 22 tonnes of empty pallets in tow, the road furniture is accurate to each country.

Sweden contains diagonally-dashed lane markings, blue signs and a fenced 3-laned configuration along its E4 route, with Norway featuring the well-known yellow centre lines, yellow signs and red and white warning signs. Finland, meanwhile, has white centre lines, and blue or green signs along its highways, with both former and latter countries sharing the same yellow and red speed signs. Norway has these in white and red. 

Those small details

Those minute details go a long way, and it is especially true for the beautiful landscape you’ll come across throughout your travels.

One minute you’ll be cruising through forests that are abundant with large trees, the next, a tremendous expanse littered with fjords and lakes while travelling through the narrow roads. I’ve found myself stopping to take many pictures throughout my time with this DLC, as parking at a fuel station adjacent to a lake has never been this picturesque.

As we’re on the topic of fuel, the diesel here is cheap, but you will need to fill up often due to the long-distance driving within the huge map.

The detail within each location is spectacular too, as not only will you spot the traditional red wooden houses of Norway, but the infrastructures throughout these countries contain many bridges to drive over, underground tunnels to traverse, and even an underground roundabout within Tromsø.

Although its real-life counterpart consists of a massive network of tunnels beneath the city, this miniature-sized virtual recreation is still just so cool to drive through.

Cities have been recreated to an accurate degree, and if you have explored any of these places before, there is a good chance you will feel right at home. We’ll stick with Tromsø for this too, as you’ll drive into the city from its cantilever bridge, reach a junction at the end and take a right towards the aforementioned underground tunnel.

The buildings that greet you upon reaching the junction aren’t 100% perfect, but are still faithful to real life. You will even spot a yellow building located just outside of the driveable areas while you check for oncoming traffic, which actually exists in the real city. There are countless examples like this you could find within each of the 40 different cities and 30 settlements.

There are also plenty of landmarks and viewpoints to find too, such as the Santa Claus village located within the Arctic Circle in Finland, the Sámi Parliament of Norway based just outside of the village of Karasjok, or the gigantic Veda suspension Bridge that crosses the Ångermanälven  river in Sweden.

Smaller details have also been scattered about the map, such as the differently themed bus stops within either of the three countries, or even ambient sounds of wildlife if you’re passing through a swampy area, for example. Lots of exploration opportunities will arise throughout this new massive map, all of which are located within such an incredibly beautiful surrounding landscape. 

A few minor points

Now, although the feedback has largely been incredibly positive so far, there are just a few minor gripes that I have with this DLC. As with the rest of ETS2  the AI are absolutely stupid and have a mind of their own, especially when it comes to roundabouts.

They seem to either ignore your presence entirely by disobeying the local laws of roundabouts (those being to give way to those already inside the roundabout), by either cutting straight in front of your path, or even stopping their tracks to let you in, both of which are mildly annoying to say the least. I personally experienced a collision due to an AI driver getting extremely impatient and driving into the side of me. Clearly, I was taking up too much of their time by passing them.

Obviously, this is not solely down to the DLC itself, but this has been an issue ever since I can remember. 

There are interchanges in here that seem to be pasted from previous parts of the map, and applied onto this DLC. As an example, you can probably remember this interchange in particular very well from other locations from the game, so having a variety of different ones that aren’t complete with 90-degree turns would be nice to see.

Another small thing I’ve experienced is the placement of speed limits. More specifically, speed limits that reduce your truck from 80km/h to 60km/h, but then confusingly go back up to the national speed limit after travelling for about 400 meters.

This really disrupts your flow, as having to brake suddenly to obey the laws, and then slowly trudge back up to speed is not a fun experience, especially when it isn’t on the map for any good reason. On this topic however, there have been multiple instances where I didn’t realise the speed limit had been changed.

This seems to be in place upon entering a city or town, as you’re required to go down to the 50km/h limit while passing the area’s decorative sign. As a newcomer to these regions, I have unknowingly broken the speed limits many times, all of which have been without indication of a speed change.

Of course, those are just some very minor points, but there is one major point that I have in mind, something that is not present anywhere on the map at all. You’d expect from the name of this DLC, the “Nordic Horizons”, to feel bitterly cold or even expect the temperature to be at least somewhere just below freezing.

That’s right, snow, or rather, the complete lack of it. Throughout my time on this map, the only indication of snow I found was on a brief glimpse of a peak far away within the very northern point of Norway. Maybe the game is perpetually stuck in the summer, or that global warming has destroyed any chance of seeing the environment covered in a white blanket, but it is a shame to barely see this anywhere, especially on more peaks throughout the map. 

Worth it

Regardless of those tiny negative points, what you get with this DLC is a lot of charm and an endless amount of scenery to look at while you traverse along the grey stuff below you. Just try not to take your eyes off the road too much, otherwise you’ll end up lying sideways in the prettiest landscape your truck has ever been part of.

9/10

Beautifully picturesque