
Subway Builder is a hyperrealistic transit simulation game. Build a new subway system from the ground up while dealing with real-world constraints and costs. Craft the subway system your city deserves.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
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About

Subway Builder is a hyperrealistic transit simulation game built using live data from US and UK cities.
Real-World Passenger Simulation
Millions of commuters are generated from Census and Redistricter data and simulated using the same pathfinding algorithms you use on your phone. Your job is to design a route network that gets the most people to their destination as fast as possible. Juggle station placement, transfer dynamics, and train frequency to maximize ridership.
In-Depth Analysis
Explore how individual commuters weigh tradeoffs between wait times, transfers, income distribution, delays, and more, to pick their commute. Understand which routes, stations, and trains your commuters take and use that information to optimize your network.
You must also find the right balance between cost and time using this analysis. Too many trains on a line or an overcrowded station may cause delays or disruptions.
Authentic Data
The US and UK census records home and workplace locations. The game generates millions of commuters with homes from that and then uses a distance-based gravity model to assign them all workplaces. They're also assigned times to leave to/from work in a distribution similar to real life.
This decision is then made based on how long each commute method takes, how much it costs, and the value of their time (different commuters can have different incomes).
If they decide to take the subway you can follow their commute (and thousands of others simultaneously) as they get to work. If a train is delayed or cancelled, it will affect their commute and future commuters will take that into account.
College and airport commuters are also simulated and they behave differently since they have different income distributions and commuting times. Federal data is used for college student counts and FAA data for airports.
Current cities in Subway Builder include: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St Louis, and Washington in the US. Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and Newcastle are cities available in the UK.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean +11 more
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 97 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 97 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
I'm very biased as a modder of the game, but there's a lot of potential here. Hopefully with further updates it will reach that potential.
I've been interested in this game for quite a while. The concept of building your own subway system really appealed to me and so did the (admittedly simple) gameplay loop. When I first heard about the steam release, I was hyped beyond belief, so when it ultimately did release, I bought the game right on release day. After roughly one hour of playing, none of my initial excitement remained. The game was straight up unplayable. Basic functions of the game like creating subway lines did not work, even after closing and reopening the game multiple times. It was an incredibly frustrating experience. The game also requires a constant internet connection, which is utterly bizarre for a single player game - so basically, once the servers for this game are being shut down, you cannot play the game anymore. This is absolutely unacceptable for a game that costs 40 USD (which is, mind you, a hefty price for an indie game). Following that, I did my fair bit of research on the devs and the game itself. What I found to be especially appalling was the excessive and intransparent use of AI for the development. In internet forums like reddit, the game received a lot of justified criticism regarding the game performance and the developer's attitude towards AI usage. The dev then responded on their social media by publicly insulting the player base (or "fans", as they called them). To me, this was the final nail in the coffin. Ultimately, I have refunded the game for two reasons. First, the abhorrent state of the game (not an early access game, btw), which makes it unplayable for many players does not justify the 40 USD price tag. Second, I do not wish to support a developer who openly insults their customers and treats them like mere cash cows. I wanted to love this game. I really did. But there were just too many factors which soured the experience for me.
This game is a mess and I don't think it should have been released yet in this state. I do not have the best computer by far but it will run most games just fine. it will run cities skylines 1 with around 2000 mods and assets on a city with around 150000 residents so far. that should be a load on the computer far more than this game will ever reach because cities skylines has way more individual things going on, with the mods not helping. this game even shows the recommended system specs as basically a recent OS and an internet connection (many people don't agree that this game should require an internet connection. you can check their reviews on that) however with all of that said the game runs super choppy and just not very good or smooth. other reviews have similar issues with far better computers than mine so this has to be a bottleneck of a poorly optimized game. it is very buggy with many graphical artifacts while building track or on existing track, and other small issues. trying to scroll my camera in/out while using WASD to move around just does not work, it like will try to move a tiny bit then just stop going. kind of annoying that I have to do these actions separately. the way the maps are made feels sort of sloppy because the farther you go from center once you get to the edge of the map you will start to lose map features like roads and other stuff. It would feel much more refined if the map had a hard edge where everything inside of it has all map data included. the Detroit map does not include Windsor Canada. I'm not sure why they would not include it as it is right next to Detroit and is a large part of the metro area. it exists within the playable area but with no development/mapdata. It seams decently overpriced for what is included. yes the maps look very cool with the real world data and building routes through it all that serves everybody is an awesome concept but that is about it. I don't think that this should be more than 20$ and its going for 40. I would be much more confident that my money was worth buying something like Transport fever 2 that has way more gameplay and more vehicle options. that game is not a replacement for this one however it has way more going for it at the same price of 40$. same thing can be said for Cities Skylines. (edit) I forgot to add this but the game just crashed while I was making a train route for no reason. The concept of the gameplay is very cool (that's like why I bought the game), but the execution is just not there yet I feel. this review is a day after launch on steam, so things will definitely get better from here and bugs will get fixed. but the fact that is runs somewhat choppy with nothing built at all is just a deal breaker and I will be refunding it for now. if things get better I may reconsider getting it I guess idk.
Don't buy this! To start with. Controls are janky as heck, after dragging a bit of track you would want to be able to easily contunue dragging, instead you gotta click on the previous track again??? Game started bad as earth rotate when you want to select city. As I'm on a ultra wide screen I didn't see the list to the right (why not left???) ... cititiens make a lot of sound but there is no option to lower ambient sound. that should not be called sound effect, sound effects are sound effects made as response to what is actually happening in the game. And yeah, no UI scaling makes it horrible to play. Not worth the money. All of these stuffs are things that a serious game developer (even if part time indie) should have fixed before releasing on steam.
This games uses ai, and the devs are proud that they use it. The is also always online which is dumb. I'm not supporting any product that uses ai.
so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bugs
【期待と実際】 かなり期待していた。NIMBY Railsの自由度に、より優れたグラフィックと本格的な人口移動シミュレーションを加えた、いわばNIMBY Railsの上位互換のような作品になるのだと勝手に勘違いしていた。 実際に遊んでみると、期待していたほどではなかった。NIMBY Railsのような自由度を想定すると、劣化版に見える部分もあり、プレイ中にも何度かそう感じた。 ただし、単純にNIMBY Railsより劣っているゲームというわけではない。両者は似たようで異なるゲームである。 このゲームで特に優れているのは、人口移動のシミュレーションである。 住宅地から職場や大学、空港などへ多数の人々が移動し、路線を整備することで都市全体の交通流が変化していく感覚がしっかりある。 すべての住民の生活や移動を必要以上に細かく描写するのではなく、人口分布、移動需要、交通手段や経路の選択など、都市交通にとって重要な部分へ計算を集中させているように感じる。計算対象を適切に集約しながら、重要な部分では詳細な経路選択を行うことで、計算量を抑えつつ大規模な人口移動シミュレーションを成立させている。少なくとも、私がプレイしている範囲では致命的な遅さに出会ったことはない。 グラフィックもカラフルできれいであり、実在都市の上に自分の鉄道網が形成されていく様子を眺める楽しさがある。 また、作成した路線網から模式的な路線図を自動生成する機能も非常によい。地理的な線路配置とは別に、自分の路線網を実際の地下鉄路線図のような形で眺められる。 一方で、路線設計と運行の自由度についてはかなり不満がある。 第一に、双方向の単線運行ができない。 単線の線路自体は敷設できるが、信号システムの制約から、一本の線路を上下方向の列車が共用し、交換駅で行き違う一般的な単線運行を成立させられない。 そのため、単線で建設費を抑え、需要の増加に応じて交換設備や部分複線を追加するといった段階的な路線改良も再現できない。 第二に、異なる建設規格の路線間で直通運転ができない。 複数の運行系統で同じ線路を共用することはできるが、地下鉄、ライトメトロ、近郊鉄道など、異なる建設規格で作った路線を接続し、同じ列車をそのまま走らせることはできない。現状では建設規格ごとに運行が分断されており、車両や設備の互換性を確保して直通させたり、必要な改修を行って相互乗り入れを実現したりする選択肢がない。 第三に、ダイヤを組むことができない。 時間帯ごとの運行頻度は設定できるが、これはダイヤ作成ではない。各列車の発車時刻、駅間の運転時分、折返し時刻、始発駅と終着駅、待避、緩急接続、接続待ちなどを設定する機能はない。 事前に確認すれば、詳細なダイヤ作成を中心としたゲームではないことは分かったのかもしれない。しかし、鉄道シミュレーションとして紹介されていたため、個人的に期待してしまっていた部分である。 【今後の開発への要望】 私は東京圏在住であり、特に東京の鉄道網を再現できるかという観点でこのゲームを見ている。 日本の実装はまだ正式に発表されていないが、日本向けの人口・就業データが確保されたことなどから、将来的な実装は見込めそうである。実装される場合、東京都内程度なのか、横浜、千葉、埼玉を含む東京圏なのか、あるいは関東のさらに広い範囲まで含むのかも気になる。 東京マップの実装自体は遅くなっても構わない。その代わり、日本の鉄道網を再現するために必要な単線、信号、直通運転の各システムを強化してほしい。 特に重要なのが、地下鉄と近郊鉄道の相互直通運転である。 東京圏では、例えば東京メトロ副都心線が、北側では東武東上線や西武池袋線、南側では東急東横線や横浜高速鉄道みなとみらい線と相互直通運転を行っている。異なる事業者の路線を接続することで、埼玉県西部から東京都心を縦断し、横浜方面まで同じ列車で移動できる。 東京の地下鉄は一つの路線内で完結するものではなく、郊外鉄道と接続して広域的な鉄道網を形成しており、相互直通運転は東京圏を再現するうえで欠かせない仕組みである。副都心線はその一例にすぎず、同様の相互直通運転は東京圏の各所に存在する。 これらは単に複数の系統が同じ線路を走るだけではない。同じ列車が路線や事業者の境界を越え、そのまま別の路線へ乗り入れている。 現在のように路線を完全に独立した単位として扱う仕組み自体を見直してほしい。軌間、電化方式、車両規格、ホーム長、保安装置などの建設規格や互換条件が一致していれば直通でき、一致していなければ改修が必要になる仕組みであれば、再現性だけでなくゲーム性も高まると思う。 単線と信号システムの強化も必要である。 東京中心部は複線以上の路線が多いが、郊外には八高線、青梅線、五日市線などの単線区間も存在する。日本全体を対象にするなら、単線運行の重要性はさらに高くなる。 交換駅、閉塞区間、信号場、列車の優先順位などを設定できれば、需要や予算に応じて設備を段階的に増強する判断が生まれる。 詳細なダイヤ作成は、このゲームの中心的な方向性と異なる可能性もある。しかし、少なくとも列車の優先順位、待避駅、接続方針などを設定できれば、より複雑な都市鉄道を構築しやすくなると思う。 これらの機能を長期的な開発計画に含めてほしい。 【まとめ】 NIMBY Railsは、線路配置、運行経路、列車、ダイヤなどを細かく作り込みたい人向けである。自由度は非常に高いが、その分、操作や管理は複雑であり、鉄道そのものに関心がない人には勧めにくい。 一方、このゲームは、個々の列車運行よりも、都市の移動需要に基づき、どこに路線を建設すれば交通が改善するかを考えることに重点を置いているように思う。『A列車で行こう9』と『Transport Fever』の違いを思わせる差でもある。 線路、ダイヤ、複雑な運行を徹底的に作り込みたい人には、現状ではNIMBY Railsを勧める。 一方、鉄道ゲームに慣れていない初心者や、詳細なダイヤ作成よりも、都市の人口移動や交通需要の変化を分かりやすく楽しみたい人には、こちらの方が勧めやすい。 現状の評価は、発売前に抱いていた期待ほど高くない。特に運行面の自由度には大きな物足りなさがある。 それでも、人口移動シミュレーション、グラフィック、模式路線図の自動生成には明確な魅力がある。今後の開発によって単線、信号、直通運転などが強化され、現在の長所を維持したまま自由度が高まることを、変わらず期待している。 些細なことだが、ゲーム内の新聞が平然と噓をついてくるのをどうにかしてほしい。
Managing the trains in this game is a pain in the butt! If you mess up the tracks, causing the trains to back up and get stuck, the game won't allow you to edit the tracks / stations because they are being used by a train line. And there is no way to suspend service on the line to edit the tracks / stations. You also cannot delete train lines. If a train is removed by the game in attempts to clear the traffic, the player is not shown the location where the traffic jam took place. You are not allowed to remove crossover points from tracks once a train line has been created. This creates problems when extending an existing train line. The trains try to cross over on the old points and get stuck. Also, light rail trains are not allowed to run on surface streets in game, despite it being one of the main characteristics of real life light rail. Light rail can also climb 10% inclines in real life. The UI is also hard to understand. It's like the game is half finished. Fixing these problems will make the game way better.
minimalistic ui looks cool and stuff, but the game is very unstable and broken at its core, i.e. good luck figuring out where the issue lies, if a path can´t be found - the game wont assist with information. or have fun finding the click spots in the main menu - buttons are constantly pressing themselves - super weird. seems to me as if it were an early access and should be labeled as such. further translations are very rudimentary if you aren´t playing in english, to a point, where its better to just play in english and not deal with a useless translation thats bending the meaning of functions. lastly, if you constructed a route and are operatinf it and are now building a second route, be mindful not to use the right mouse button - it will delete existing stations, tracks etc. without confirming with the player. that can get really frustrating really fast. its overall a frustrating experience to me and not really rewarding, will request a refund.
除了数值上,其实做的蛮还不错的! 问题就是乘客和收入太少了,增长的太慢了,当你把手里的资金用完以后,你很难再获得新的收入和路线了,唯一能做的就是像傻子一样看着。
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Trends
Steam followers (game-group members) tracked daily from when we started recording.
Momentum
Pace estimated from the game's recent review growth (our daily snapshots) at its own sales-per-review ratio — a momentum signal, not booked sales.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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