RAILGRADE

I was looking for something like Train Valley 2 that wasn't so puzzle-y, and something like Transport Fever that wasn't just all money-money-money.. and this scratched that itch

This game is so fun. It runs great on both my PC and Steam Deck (and the default controls for Steam Deck are great). I've played for much more than the 53 hours indicated on my account due to some offline play on my Deck, and I'm still only about halfway through the game's content. I love that the game is level-based, so you have natural goals and stopping points built into the game. What makes the game especially unique to me is the way it handles setup and runtime in levels. When you load a level, you are in the setup phase, and you can freely build and demolish as much as you want and for as long as you want. Once you build your first train, the mission timer starts, and the game cannot be active-paused like a typical RTS or city builder might allow you to do (of course, you can still pause -- you just can't scroll around and look at your infrastructure). This means you have to make subsequent improvements on the fly, balancing time, budget, and level of perfection. Altogether, I think this makes for a very unique and engaging experience that is both methodical and intellectually challenging, while also requiring you to be swift and decisive. Would absolutely recommend!

I would purchase this game 10x. I guess I'll randomly gift people it. Even if they don't play it.

I'm not a fan of automation games, they usually get too complex and overwhelming but this really hits the mark. It might be a little simple compared to Factorio or something similar but I am having a blast. I love the campaign missions provide you with a defined goal instead of just saying "build" and letting you go. Highly recommend!

Very fun game, challenging puzzles, fantastic soundtrack. Some maps may take up to one hour so replaying them to achieve S rank may take a while and multiple attempts before correct strategy is figured out. Wokrs fine out of the box on Steam Deck and Bazzite.

Configuring trains with combinations of locos is interesting and the game provides details of how each will perform to let you compare different configurations and tweak to match what you require. There are some interesting maps and most are large so there's plenty of space for trains to get up to max speed. Plus the vertical element of track building is great. Also love the soundtrack. I thought I'd lose interest quickly but after a few hours I was hooked

I like trains

Amazing puzzle game, very addictive. I did expect some factorio/satisfactory train management with signals, but that is not what this game is about.

I enjoy this game as casual gamer. A way to change pace and, as a grown kid who wished to have a physical train set.

210 hours and counting :-) If you are a fan of challenging puzzles then you will love Railgrade in theory its a simple game laying buying trains taking goods and raw materials from A-B simple right? OK now add in B-C C-D etc as well as A-D and B-A and so on ... still simple in concept you take raw materials to one factory who may or may not build a complete product or they build materials needed by other factories, often factories need items from all over the map. Now add in a timer include a Gold silver and Bronze achievement rating and a tight budget with a greedy little bank manager who will not always give you a loan ... and then give the player the fighting chance of gaining extra cash through a complex selling portal making you balance what is needed and what can be sold to generate that vital income as your starter budget is never enough. Full fill the demands of the city to gain more workers for the factories, increase the factories output through specific need related fuels and upgrades whilst the story unfolds with regards to the corporation. And,,, When you think all the above is fun you can ride your trains which is extremely good fun and I love the rail way model aspect. Some levels are quick but mostly they are around 45minutes to a few hours. The game has the perfect balance of puzzle meets tycoon the better you do on each level the more vouchers you will receive when upgrading your gear, there is an incentive to do the side missions and to re-do older maps to achieve that A rating The game is almost perfect - and if the devs are reading this please please add a manual function to create bridges instead of having to trick the game into creating them for you. A simple elevation option using the + & - or Page up and Page down buttons would do. It would certainly help saving time and costs later on in the game when your needing above and over trains