Codex Review [Quickie No. 007] A Look at Railway Empire

[Darth Roxor]

Tags: Gaming Minds Studios; Kalypso Media; Quickie; Railway Empire; Tacticular Cancer

Choo choo! I heard you like playing with train sets. I don't know if the same is true for community member Scruffy, but apparently his appreciation for railroading was big enough to write us a Quickie™ of Railway Empire, a lite train baron tycoon kind of game that supposedly isn't even complex enough to be called a simulation kind of game.

If you're only looking for the gist of it:

Railway Empire (from now on, R.E.) is a tycoon-type “simulation” game – in quotes, since it doesn’t actually simulate much – where you take up the role of a railroad baron tasked with connecting the East Coast of the United States with the West Coast.

For those of you who have no intention of reading the whole review: if you enjoyed Railroad Tycoon and Sid Meier’s Railroads!, or generally like railroad baron games, or have a thing for the First Transcontinental Railroad, you’re probably going to enjoy this game, for a while. If instead you’re expecting a proper simulation, down to micromanaging stuff, then you will not enjoy R.E., as it will be a bit too simplistic for you.​

I, for one, am always grateful when someone gives me the tl;dr right at the start of an article. For those of you with more patience and greater attention spans, you can read the full review here: [Quickie No. 007] A Look at Railway Empire

 

[LostHisMarbles]

My first toy train set was made in Western Germany .. my dad brought it to me as a gift, returning from a business trip there. Some moron at the local luftwaffe airport had opened it too, inspected and seal-stamped it ja, just in case it waz zpy materiel mein Fuhrer! Sorry, i meant mein Chancellor.
Different times.

After i opened it (and asked him what does it do, lol), he pulled the living room table and chairs aside so he could set it up for me; unforgettable moment.

Trains are incline.
(no idea about the game, lol)

 

[Scruffy]

For a railroad baron game the graphics are, in fact, great, considering this type of game does not focus on the graphics pretty much at all.

 

[Maxie]

so you're posting railway sims on the front page but not konjad's rpg reviews

 

[Darth Roxor]

thanks i forgot to add the tcancer tag to the article

 

[Late Bloomer]

Damn near 90 USD for the DLC

 

[Drop Duck]

 

[Bloodeyes]

Liking trains is a symptom of autism

 

[BlackAdderBG]

"The target audience for Railway Empire is people who love train sets, who enjoy playing with model trains and fantasize about traveling during the Gilded Age. If you belong to that niche, then you’ve found your game, and it will give you hours of fun."

Strongly disagree with that, this game is for people that like for sims to have gamey mechanics and goals. If you are spazzing out about trains and models and shit I don't think you will like this game. It's actually not that shallow with it's mechanics, but some of them are pointless (the 4 crew slots and the stock market for example) or mixed bag (researching). I would say the campaign is the main meat of the game and the maps with the challenges you have to beat are very well designed. Optimizing you start is important, but there is a lot more decisions you have to make mid to late in any given scenario. I would say if you like your sim games more on the gamey side this is like that.

 

[Scruffy]

It's actually not that shallow with its mechanics, but some of them are pointless

My assessment might of course be wrong, however what mechanics are not shallow? What is there to do aside from figuring out how to most effectively lay down the tracks?

 

[Sin2x]

April 1st was more than two weeks ago, slowpokes.

 

[Viata]

Liking trains is a symptom of autism

Is that supposed to be bad? Everyone has autism according to modern psychologists.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

It's actually not that shallow with its mechanics, but some of them are pointless

My assessment might of course be wrong, however what mechanics are not shallow? What is there to do aside from figuring out how to most effectively lay down the tracks?

Well aside from the tracks as you note, there is a supply and demand system for the cities, volume of production from farms/mines, type of production you yourself build in cities, mail and passenger type cargo for fast tracks etc. I wouldn't say any of them are some kind of simulation or some very complex systems, but I found them really compelling and fitting for the overall design of the game. I would say the supply and demand mechanics in Railway Empire are better done than in later Anno games. It's greater than the sum of its parts is the best I can describe it. Again the biggest enjoyment I found was from the challenges in the campaign as the free build type mode is terrible, it's very easy and there is not enough scope for it to be interesting. It's fun to build a city from 10k to 200k, but that gets boring fast.

 

[Ismaul]

Now it makes sense why Scruffy keeps jumping on the simplest bandwagon.

 

[Scruffy]

Well aside from the tracks as you note, there is a supply and demand system for the cities

I mean, there is, but also it doesn't really count. Once your system is extensive enough - which doesn't take long - any issue with one city will be absorbed and made irrelevant by the economy of all other cities

volume of production from farms/mines, type of production you yourself build in cities, mail and passenger type cargo for fast tracks etc.

Kinda same as above. If one type of production doesn't work, heh, you have a presence in six other cities and farms etc, you'll absorb the losses until they get productive again.

I wouldn't say any of them are some kind of simulation or some very complex systems,

Yeah. I would even say they're... shallow

but I found them really compelling and fitting for the overall design of the game.

Right, which is closer, in my opinion, to a puzzle than to a managerial

I would say the supply and demand mechanics in Railway Empire are better done than in later Anno games. It's greater than the sum of its parts is the best I can describe it. Again the biggest enjoyment I found was from the challenges in the campaign as the free build type mode is terrible, it's very easy and there is not enough scope for it to be interesting. It's fun to build a city from 10k to 200k, but that gets boring fast.

Didn't play anything after 1503, so no idea, sorry, and I can't really argue over what you find more enjoyable, personally the campaign missions were fine, but there's no point arguing taste. You said yourself the mechanics are not very complex or even simulation-like, and I agree, maybe you don't like the word shallow, but that's how they felt to me.

 

[AN4RCHID]

I put quite a few hours into that game. Pretty fun, although I lost interest at some point before finishing the Japan DLC.

I remember finding the interface a little unwieldy, particularly in laying tracks where the game can sometimes develop a mind of its own and decide the track needs to make a 200 mile loop-de-loop detour. Would have preferred a simple hex grid with manual track section placement.

It would have been nice if there was a little more involved with the development of industry in cities. IIRC you can max cities out pretty quickly and there's no much left to invest in.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

That immediately popped into mind.

Fuck Mordor when you have Sodor.

CHOO CHOO!

 

[Naraya]

Are there any good train-sim games based in Europe? I'm tired of everything happening in the US, while it is Europe who should excel in this regard.

I don't remember anything else other that Railroad Tycoon - and even there the European theater was kind of an afterthought.

 

[AN4RCHID]

Are there any good train-sim games based in Europe? I'm tired of everything happening in the US, while it is Europe who should excel in this regard.

I don't remember anything else other that Railroad Tycoon - and even there the European theater was kind of an afterthought.

Most of the expansions for Railway Empire are based in Europe.

 

[Watser]

so you're posting railway sims on the front page but not konjad's rpg reviews

 

[Late Bloomer]

Most of the expansions for Railway Empire are based in Europe.

Huh? Here are the locations of the 90 dollars of DLC

Japan
Down Under (Australia)
Andes (South America)
Great Lakes (Canada lol)
Mexico


Northern Europe
Germany
France
Great Britain/Ireland (Sold as one dlc just to rub salt in the wounds)

 

[AdamReith]

I love your reviews Roxor. I hope we can get a full blown train RPG some day which includes an appropriate equipment screen where I can equip a variety of engine components, whistles, etc.

I suppose this will have to do in the mean time.

 

[Darth Roxor]

people sure love attributing revios i didn't write to me

 

[lukaszek]

I love your reviews Roxor. I hope we can get a full blown train RPG some day which includes an appropriate equipment screen where I can equip a variety of engine components, whistles, etc.

I suppose this will have to do in the mean time.

his shark one is my fav so far

 

[Peachcurl]

I love your reviews Roxor. I hope we can get a full blown train RPG some day which includes an appropriate equipment screen where I can equip a variety of engine components, whistles, etc.

I suppose this will have to do in the mean time.

Have you heard of the Railmaster Class in Torchlight 3? It summons a train.






--- Disclaimer: this is NOT a recommendation ---