I’ve sometimes joked that sandbox haulage RPG Euro Truck Simulator 2 is The Witcher 3 for truckers. I feel vindicated now. Thanks to a recent beta patch with only “voice for navigation” listed as a feature, you can have everyone’s favourite white-haired monster hunter guide you to your destination. It’s not just Geralt, of course, but a range of sat-nav voice options, three of which are done by Doug Cockle, Geralt’s English voice actor. He’s perhaps a little out of practice, but the voice labelled ‘Doug (Raspy)’ is as close as you can get to Geralt without angering lawyers. You can have a listen to the voice below and find a link to that (unofficial, made by “theZash”) skin too.
You may not know the name Doug Cockle, but the odds are pretty good that you know his work. He provided the voice of Geralt, The Witcher, guiding the character from humble roots in 2007 to major mainstream success as one of the most recognizable and fully-realized videogame protagonists of all time. And with that great character finally retired in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's acclaimed 2016 DLC Blood and Wine, Cockle has now moved on to his next big role: An optional GPS voice in Euro Truck Simulator 2.
"You're going too fast!" Geralt—that is, Cockle—says in this video courtesy of YouTuber Milan. The relevant bit begins at 1:10 and is entitled Doug (Raspy), although I'm not sure if that's the official description or just something he came up with. Either way, it's appropriate, and when Doug tells me to "get ready to turn left," you better believe my hand is moving to the turn signal with a quickness.
The voice isn't quite dead-on Geralt but it's close enough that when he says "It's all over now" as the driver pulls into the lot, it makes me think that somebody wasn't checking their blind spot before changing lanes—and that there will be consequences.
Thanks, Kotaku.
Euro Truck Simulator 2 is one of those very niche games that's really only possible on PC, but it's also a genuine hit. Years after its release, thousands of people still play it daily—nearly 19,000 are big-rigging it right now, according to SteamDB—and so developer SCS Software continues to expand its map with more roads to run, places to go, and things to see.
The next addition, Road to the Black Sea, will let players haul their loads through the Transylvanian forests and Carpathian mountains of Romania, the Black Sea coastline of Bulgaria, and the Trakya region of Turkey, the gateway to Istanbul.
"From large cities to small humble villages in the countrysides, truckers will also be able to drive on roads which lead to scenic coastlines alongside the Black Sea," SCS said. "These regions also offer a large variety of industries for players to deliver to and from; including farms, logging companies and the mining industry."
The commitment to games like Euro Truck Simulator 2 can seem odd or amusing on the surface, but it's no joke. Andy Kelly examined the game's appeal in a three-hour Odense-to-Bergen road trip in 2015, and four years later he's still truckin': "Not once in my life have I ever thought about being a truck driver, or really had an interest in them as vehicles," he wrote in an interview with SCS Software earlier this year. "Yet I find the game utterly captivating."
Road to the Black Sea is listed on Steam, but there's currently no release date. The hope, "if everything goes according to plan," is to have it out near the end of 2019.