Railroader

Honestly, it ticks all the right boxes for me. I do have the "I like trains" autism, but not the "I like driving trains" kind. I just like watching them, and telling them where to go, and what to do. I like seeing trains move up and down tracks and solving logistical puzzles and shunting things where they're supposed to go.

The sounds are fantastic, very satisfying "chugga" and "choo-choo", great job. The gameplay loop is pretty mentally stimulating and fun for me, and it allows you to play at your pace and style. If you like driving the trains yourself you absolutely can, and if you just want an up close and personal, small-scale version of Transport Fever like I do, you can have that too. The Engineer AI (or auto-drive) is honestly quite intelligent and self-sufficient most of the time; it will flip switches as it needs to without your input and they have so far not crashed into each other.

The multiplayer feels stable and very fun; I tend to take the role of dispatch and look at the big picture while others man the trains and handle their own individual tasks, makes for a fun dynamic.

The visuals are nothing particularly impressive and quite lightweight which has it's advantages, and I'd like to see more models for differently loaded goods in the carriages for immersive purposes, along with a use for the caboose (which I believe is one of the next items on the list).

The world itself is also extremely dead, nothing happens in the map that does not have to do with the players. There's no vehicles or other trains going about their business, the places you deliver to make no sounds and have no people, and even the passenger lines have no visible passengers, they're just represented by numbers without any visuals. I do not know to what extent they have these things planned, but I know that before the title can be considered complete, the world needs a lot more life in it, rather than just feeling like a personal little sandbox for my company to play around in.

For an early access title it's relatively stable, I experienced a few small bugs but nothing game breaking, and a handful of crashes but the game saves pretty frequently so nothing serious was lost other than less than 5 minutes of progress.

I have high hopes for this title in the long run; it's satisfying, well-crafted and fun, I'm looking forward to more features and content!

Railroader: A Unique Railroad Operations Simulator
This game carves out a new niche: it's truly a railroad operations simulator. Unlike other games, you're not just completing isolated tasks or building networks – you're running an entire railroad with purpose and continuity.
How it's different:
* Not a Task Sim: Unlike games like MS Train Simulator or Dovetail titles, where jobs are standalone, here every move (shunting, driving) is linked to contracts and the ongoing needs of your railroad.
* Not a Tycoon Game: Focus isn't on laying track or building industries (like Railway Empire/Transport Fever), but on managing the logistics and flow on a fixed layout.
What You Do:
You operate trains and manage cars based on contracts you accept.
* Purposeful Tasks: Move cars because an industry needs them, run passenger services because they earn income (and provide helpful bonuses).
* Operational Puzzles: Figure out the most efficient way to gather/deliver cars, solve shunting challenges, and optimize train movements to save fuel and/or time.
* Resource Management: Earn money from contracts to pay for essential fuel, maintenance, and staff (AI helpers are key for a solo player!). You need to balance workload (more contracts) with income and operating costs.
You are running your railroad for the sake of running it. The challenge is the logistics and operational efficiency.
It provides a fascinating look at how real railroads operate and the intricate planning involved.
Recommended if: You are intrigued by the idea of continuously managing railroad operations, solving logistical puzzles, and the challenge of running a service efficiently within resource constraints.
Beware: The fixed map and recurring contract types mean the gameplay can feel repetitive over time.

In short, it's excellent!

I came to this from Euro Truck Simulator 2, seeking a similar experience, but with a different mode of transportation. It was also my first foray into "train games" as a whole.

I wanted something like ETS2 in terms of progression, where I could go at my own pace, pick my jobs, and grow a company over time. It seemed like a lot of other popular train sims lean heavier into the "sim" aspect, which I don't mind, but that's just not what I was looking for.

This game blends those two things quite well in my opinion. The controls are just complicated enough to feel in-depth and interesting, but not so complicated that you need to watch a two hour YouTube guide to get the hang of. It helps that the in-game tutorial is very well designed!

As your save file progresses, new areas are unlocked and more difficult jobs become available. The rate of this progression feels good! I'm always worried about getting overwhelmed and confused early on in simulator-type games. Sometimes too much is thrown at you all at once, but this doesn't have that problem.

There are lots of locomotives and other things to play around with, and all of the ones I've tried so far feel varied in their strengths and weaknesses, which is good. It's never that fun or interesting when all the tools feel the same. As a diesel locomotive enthusiast, I am glad to say that the two that are available at the time of this review are very satisfying to use. Hoping for more options in the future!

The optimization is good as well, most of my PC hardware is pushing eight years old with a six year old GTX 1080, and this runs between 50 and 60 FPS comfortably on max settings. The sound design is minimal, but effective. The graphics are realistically styled, but not photo-realistic, which is fine.

All in all, this is a great project that I feel good about supporting. The logistics puzzle elements, cool train stuff, company management, and world progression aspects blend together very nicely. I would recommend this to anyone who thinks that blend sounds interesting!

Fun game....does not hold your hand whatsoever (i still have no idea how to do jobs apart from passengers) ....switching can be annoying.....but its still a great game
(Edit: Literally the day after writing this review they updated the tutorial and it is 1000000000000000% better THANK YOU DEVS!)

Best train sim i've played. I am so done with train sims charging insane prices for individual locomotives. Railroader has tons of locomotives IN EARLY ACCESS! Plenty of mods to choose from as well.
Not to mention the awesome company mode which is what really sets this sim apart. You can start your own railway and build it from the ground up. That's awesome.
Only negatives are the relatively plain terrain and lack of building but as I understand it, that will come eventually.

Oh, it is so addictive. It might not be accurate down to the last detail, but as some reviewers on youtube have mentioned, they got the VIBE. They got the vibe down enough that I think even rivet counters can enjoy themselves. Plenty of camera view options. It feels nicer than any train sim I have yet played.

The game itself is stable. Even though it's early access, it feels pretty complete, save for some minor details, but hey! Early access! The gameplay is smooth and enjoyable. The ability to switch between sandbox and company modes on the fly is fantastic. The early game could be a little grindy, but because of that flexibility to switch those modes on the fly, you never HAVE to grind to get your big fancy locomotives if you really don't want to. I think the devs have a solid understanding of what makes their game fun. It is very clear a lot of time and effort went to making the gameplay enjoyable. I was satisfied with the game on day one, but it just keeps getting better with each update. I mean, I've put in 681 hours, according to Steam, so if I was going to get sick of it, I think I would have already!

Oh! Also worth noting, you can just drop what you are doing immediately and save your game. Like, there is no waiting for a scenario to end or anything. There is no time jump when you hop back in. The save system is super smooth and takes no time at all. I've been playing single player this whole time, so I can't speak to the multiplayer functionality... HOWEVER, if I need to do something else urgently, I'm in and out of the game quickly and smoothly, even on my potato of a laptop - which is more than I can say for pretty much every other train sim I've ever played. I have no regrets. Even in its early access-ness, the game is plenty of fun, and I've been enjoying the crap out of it!

This is the railroading game I’ve been waiting years to play. As it stands now, even in the Early Access state, Railroader has so much to offer and a lot to do. Its primary aim is to simulate railroad logistics in the Transitional Period, covering everything from yard switching and freight to passenger service as well. Don’t go into this expecting in-depth operation of locomotives—the controls are simplified in order to make the overall task of running a short line much more approachable to a wider player base. And that’s completely fine by me, as this is a video game at the end of the day.
When it comes to the equipment itself, there are a wide variety of steam locomotives to choose from, as well as a couple of diesel engines that serve as more of an “end game” acquisition. While I enjoy operating the different steam engines, I’m certainly looking forward to using more diesel down the line (I’m a diesel guy after all).
Highly recommend picking this up if you’re a railroad nerd!