Vehicular sims are a dime a dozen these days. From American Truck Simulator to Farming Simulator by way of MudRunner and the upcoming SnowRunner, there’s no shortage of options.
Developer Saber Interactive and publisher Focus Home Interactive have taken a different approach to ensure SnowRunner stands out from the crowd.
A new trailer for the snow-themed trucking sim due for release on Apr. 28 borrows heavily from one of 2019’s biggest and most divisive titles. We’re talking about none other than Hideo Kojima’s apocalyptic delivery sim Death Stranding.
Published yesterday, the new trailer for Snow Runner, dubbed United We Drive , bears more than a passing similarity to the Death Stranding promotional style.
Panning shots of barren, sweeping vistas and rugged passages steeped in freshly fallen snow are the backdrop to big rigs navigating ever-more treacherous terrain. A voiceover hints at themes of perseverance, struggle, and the importance of the mission assigned to these fearless SnowRunner truckers.
Trucks haul massive cargo over ridges, crest mountains as the day breaks, and tumble off bridges. It’s all reminiscent of Death Stranding’s overburdened protagonist Sam Porter Bridges’ vital mission to deliver cargo to remote hermits scattered across a fractured America.
An stirring, emotive anthem accompanies the SnowRunner trailer, much like the excellent Death Stranding soundtrack. The track and artist name also appears in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. A feature that will be all too familiar to anyone that’s played Death Stranding.
Instead of names from Death Stranding’s star-studded cast like Norman Reedus and Mads Mikkelsen, brand-name big rigs appear momentarily. Starring Chevrolet, co-starring Caterpillar, featuring Freightliner, and so on.
SnowRunner has also borrowed Death Stranding’s now-iconic font that appears intermittently on-screen to deliver motivational platitudes like ‘Deliver from afar. Keep America going. Stop at nothing.’ Even the main tag ‘United We Drive’ is a nod to DS’ ‘Tomorrow is in your hands.’
A tongue-in-cheek homage to Death Stranding, the latest SnowRunner trailer is quite something to behold.