I’m usually probably not a lot of a fan of administration sims. There’s one thing about them that simply makes me freak out — there’s all the time an excessive amount of to do, too many choices, too many approaches and, frankly, too some ways to dig your self right into a gap that’s somewhat too laborious to recuperate from. RAILGRADE is an exception, as a result of it’s not just a few limitless railway administration sim, it’s additionally a gem of a puzzle sport that captivates as a lot because it challenges.
RAILGRADE’s development is very like many different puzzle video games and far not like most different railway administration sims. It’s a collection of discrete phases, every with one or two major objectives. The primary few tutorial phases go over the fundamentals – how you can lay a observe, how you can place a prepare on that observe, and how you can transport items from one facility to a different – however after that, issues get completely wild. Every stage going ahead presents you with a brand new problem, and challenges vary from one thing like processing and exporting 100 ingots of iron to establishing and managing a posh community of amenities to attain a set quantity of assets per minute.
Fortunately, it’s not as if the extraordinarily advanced missions come instantly after the extra easy missions — there’s an exquisite sense of development that I feel is actually the core power of RAILGRADE. Every stage seems like just a bit bit extra in comparison with the final, with issues getting barely extra advanced with every step ahead. Often, nonetheless, it’ll throw you a curveball, and it’s right here that the sport actually will get fascinating. As a substitute of letting your relaxation in your laurels and fall into acquainted patterns, every so often a mission will pop up that very essentially requires you to alter the way in which you strategy your rail networks. The place a straight line, back-and-forth rail community with one product per line might need labored in the previous few missions, now you’ll have to start out constructing multi-product, looping networks, or branching networks that basically check your logistics expertise.
The primary time you come throughout every of those phases, there’s a reasonably good probability you’ll get a horrible rating — in spite of everything, you’ve settled into a well-known groove, and breaking out of that groove is less complicated stated than finished. The extra time you spend with that individual stage, nonetheless, the extra you come to know the nuances of what’s required to get all of it operating easily. RAILGRADE’s clean development signifies that whenever you come throughout one in every of these roadblocks, not solely do you need to rethink the way you strategy your networks, however that technique of rethinking feels pure, and helps put together you for the following few challenges, too. Oftentimes I might do poorly in a mission after which out of the blue, out of nowhere, I might realise that not solely do I want to alter issues up, however that I already knew precisely what to do to make all of it work. I simply, for no matter motive, didn’t do this. Having an answer out of the blue pop into your head makes you are feeling like an absolute genius, and implementing it and seeing it work – and work nicely – is remarkably satisfying.
Sadly, regardless of my enjoyment, there have been instances the place I discovered myself extremely pissed off and overwhelmed, too. The character of among the challenges are sometimes a bit annoying to really play, and the aim of a problem is topic to alter as you get nearer to completion. In some instances, I’d arrange a community to ship on the unique aim that was fully incompatible with the second aim, requiring an entire rework that usually I simply didn’t have the cash and assets for. In these cases it was usually a case of accepting a nasty rating and ready it out whereas I constructed up some money, or simply restarting the extent – a few of which I had simply spent half an hour or extra taking part in – to rebuild one thing that labored for the later aim, too. This received’t be a problem for everyone, I’m positive loads of individuals with completely different approaches to this type of sport will handle simply advantageous, however for my explicit playstyle it popped up fairly just a few instances and sometimes induced me to only give up the sport and are available again tomorrow.
One other concern price noting is the textual content dimension. Take it from me: if you wish to save your eyesight, completely don’t play this sport on the Change Lite. The textual content and UI in RAILGRADE is small, and even on the OG Change, it’s simply barely acceptable. On the Lite, until you get actual shut, use magnifying glasses, or squint actual laborious, it’s simply not on. I’m positive, on the OLED, you’d in all probability get by simply advantageous, because of its bigger display, and clearly it’s just about advantageous in docked mode, however simply bear in mind that Change Lite house owners will get nothing optimistic about this expertise. Sadly, there aren’t any choices that I may discover for growing the textual content dimension, so what you see (or don’t see) is what you get.
Apart from that, there’s rather a lot to love about RAILGRADE’s presentation. It seems fairly good, with every stage wanting like somewhat slice of a mannequin railway, and the music is an absolute banger of electrical hits that maintain you energised whereas nonetheless fading properly into the background of among the longer-haul ranges. The controls are advantageous on Change too; it’s a sport that feels prefer it was very a lot made for PC so it’s by no means going to really feel precisely proper on a gamepad, nevertheless it does a serviceable job that you just don’t really want to battle towards. It’s a contact awkward, however greater than usable when you’ve received somewhat apply in.
RAILGRADE is an excellent mixture of railway administration and puzzle-solving, with genuinely satisfying railway gameplay, mind-scratching puzzles to resolve, and a bangin’ soundtrack. It does get irritating at instances, and it’s near-unplayable on the Change Lite, however there’s nonetheless completely a lot to love.
Score: 3.5/5