Bottom line, experienced train sim people who already own several sims will be underwhelmed because this game is only on one map. It doesn't seem like Railroader will one day have DLC for routes around the country or world, I think this will be limited to one or a handful of maps over time.
But if you're newer to train sims, or even experienced people who never really buckled down and did actual operations, this seems like a fun game to add to your collection.
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Review at just under two hours play, before I decide whether to return it or not. I won't mention most stuff others mention, like the lack of npcs and fleshed out cities/towns, it's early access, the'll get there, hopefully, on that level.
Overall it seems like a great game and I'll probably keep it. I might update this later we'll see.
Reasons to return:
-- A few funny camera bugs where I kept getting moved away from what I was trying to focus on, once when trying to click on a coupler it kept moving me 100 feet to the right.
-- It's only a small map, I'm used to Train Sim Classic, TSW, Trainz with a massive selection of routes.
-- It seems like it will get repetitive fast with the same scenery all the time.
Reasons to keep:
-- It will probably keep me busy and probably won't have an avalanche of DLC to buy someday, I bet they only create a new map here and there instead of taking the mega-DLC approach.
-- It's steam focused, and that includes steam operations like getting water and fuel, that's cool.
-- It forces the switching and other operations based on your business decisions, it's not free-form like Trainz etc.
-- It's steam but not detailed steam operation like I can get in Train Sim Classic 2024.
Sure in Trainz and other games you have some routes pre-populated for switching activities. And there is some concept of an economy in some Trainz routes. But this game, Railroader, formalizes the business end of running a railroad, if Trainz does all that I never figured it out.
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So far I'm still in the tutorial and the game seems to have a rather simple GUI that leaves me guessing a bit where to find controls. I had to google a couple things, like when I couldn't get the gladhands to connect, it turned out I didn't hit the car hard enough with the tender to make it properly couple, so I had to take another run at it. The tender was right up against the passenger coach, but I couldn't click the coupler.
Bottom line, if you're on a budget, unless this goes on a real sale (more than 20% off like they do), I might pass on this. Let's assume a couple possibilities:
1) You already own multiple train simulators and have quite a collection of routes. You are accustomed to just going wherever in the country (where you own a route) and tooling around in a train. You probably are going to find this game lacking.
2) You are new to train sims: in that case, I think you should buy this game and get started here, to see what's possible with switching and passenger operations. You'll tire of the map at some point and go on to get other train sims later, but for now this is a good first train sim.
3) Third case, you are a rivet-counting super nerd when it comes to model train operations and you play Trainz etc to the max in terms of switching and economic scenarios. In that case, I didn't really play this enough to know if you'll like it, I think you will, one one level, but compared to the rivet-counting paradise you call your other train sim, this may seem simplistic.
OK hope something there helps someone, I'm a bit neutral about this and may return it, but I'll give it a thumbs up, at least try it out and return it if it doesn't catch your fancy.
PS I would say my MSI 12th gen i7 Laptop 3060 32GB RAM machine did run a bit hot playing this, and that's a factor in whether I might return it.
