Railroad Corporation

Generally a pretty relaxing game. I played through all the content (including all DLCs) blind on hard difficulty and got all the achievements. I enjoyed the experience, but it was definitely dragging at the end.

It is surprisingly buggy for a game that has been out as long as it has. It would frequently go to a Windows "not responding" error message. A lot of times that preceded a crash. The vast majority of these times were when laying track. I made it crash less often (though still with the same not responding messages) by lowering the graphics quality. It was odd to me that I didn't have any graphics problems playing the game generally, but laying the track over the same graphics made a huge performance difference. About one-fourth of the achievements did not trigger for me when they should have. I was saving frequently because of the crashes, so generally loading an older save and re-playing the part to get the achievement would work. Lots of minor issues, too, like some smaller tasks being impossible, trains getting stuck trying to find a free track with multiple clear paths available, and incorrect text showing at times.

The game's strength is its mission diversity. A lot of the DLC have very different kinds of scenarios that require the player to play in very different ways than "try to make the biggest profit". I really enjoyed having to do something different for a single mission and it was good that the different mechanics didn't overstay their welcome. My favorite was probably the mission helping Santa deliver packages. I will always remember The Swamp - no research, no ability to buy new trains (the player can get some from missions), and all the trains constantly breaking down even when repairing them every station. The only mission that was incredibly difficult for me was the Niagara mission. I will have nightmares about making Canadian whiskey - probably more nightmares than anyone ever got from drinking it.

It was definitely a weakness for me that so many scenarios had the exact same starting point - no trains, no research completed. It got to be a real drag to have to do the research again every single time. I would have preferred a diversity in starting points. A different weakness is the sheer number of clicks required to add additional cars of the same thing to each station (like when there is a newer engine). A third weakness for me is that most of the people assigning missions to the player are complete flakes. They have no overall plan, no real knowledge of how things work, and poor communication skills. It was a bit frustrating to try to have success with those NPCs dragging down the experience.

That leads to my one tip for new players. Pay very close attention to everything that is said to you by the people who give you missions. It is generally incredibly important. It frequently seems like a throwaway comment not meaning anything. But it matters. Ask yourself why and how what they tell you could possibly matter. Even if it is only in a worst-case scenario. Because that scenario is likely to happen.

I enjoyed the music all the way through. It was always pleasant and I definitely had favorite tracks that I would especially enjoy. But there isn't a lot of music. I'm glad I liked it because every track plays so often.

Overall a pleasant experience with some definite frustrations and drawbacks.

It's fine. By that I mean it's really not bad, but it's not particularly great at anything it does.
The graphics are austere, the minimum acceptable for a 2019 game, even for a train tycoon game, the UI is outdated but does the job, even though it can take up the whole screen when you select a train with a complex route for instance.
The tracks layout tool works pretty well and is satisfying, even though snapping to stations is clunky in the way it makes them move around according to a pretty random detection of the direction of your mouse.
Tutorial is basically non-existent, but the campaign does a pretty good job at progressively unlocking new possibilities and complexities to you. That being said, the game is not very deep and is extremely simple and basic: town produces a resource, other town needs it, connect them with rail, put a locomotive, and you're good to go. That's pretty much it. There are some production chains but they are very basic too and don't really add anything to the game's overall strategy.
All these railroad/resources management games seem to have the same game loop problem, because it's not the first time I encounter it: You spend 80% of your time waiting. They all follow the same formula, that is Connect point A to point B, Put a mean of transportation in between, Wait for a while until you made enough money to connect another point and Repeat the process. Railroad Corporation adds some other layers like HR department, R&D, buying factories and lands, etc. But all of them are pretty simplistic and don't add any real depth to the core loop.
Still, in all it simplicity and austerity, I think Railroad Corporation is one of the better ones of the genre, and that's why I'll still recommend it for enthusiasts. I had a good time during the few hours I played it. But I just ultimately got bored, and that's coming from someone that enjoys management games. I'm sure one day, someone or some studio, will figure out a way to make games like this more interesting in between the fun parts that are laying out tracks and creating a satisfying network.

One of the best train/resource management game
Level of complexity is high enough to be a great/enjoyable challenge
Hours pass by and you wonder why that stupid train is up to no good
And it's all your fault again, admit it
Poor feedback makes it tedious to maintain large network and be aware of a loosing condition
Not for everyone

If you enjoy train tycoon sandbox games, this is a great game for you. It's got a good pace to get you into the mechanics and gets good progression. The campaign is pretty balanced

fun game. more economics and train optimization needed than in Railway Empires. 12 total campaign missions. Train laying is not great but is functional.

Very cool and interesting. Lack of maps though. But the 12 campaign missions are great

Its an enjoyable game but the micro management can get tiresome. Worth getting on sale though if you can