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 arduous to recuperate from. RAILGRADE is an exception, as a result of it’s not just a few countless 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 similar to many different puzzle video games and far in contrast to most different railway administration sims. It’s a sequence of discrete phases, every with one or two main targets. The primary few tutorial phases go over the fundamentals – methods to lay a observe, methods to place a prepare on that observe, and methods to 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 fancy community of amenities to realize a set quantity of sources per minute.
Fortunately, it’s not as if the extraordinarily complicated missions come instantly after the extra easy missions — there’s an exquisite sense of development that I feel is actually the core energy of RAILGRADE. Every stage seems like just a bit bit extra in comparison with the final, with issues getting barely extra complicated with every step ahead. Sometimes, nevertheless, it’ll throw you a curveball, and it’s right here that the sport actually will get attention-grabbing. 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 best way you method 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 begin constructing multi-product, looping networks, or branching networks that actually take a look at your logistics abilities.
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-recognized groove, and breaking out of that groove is less complicated mentioned than finished. The extra time you spend with that individual stage, nevertheless, the extra you come to grasp the nuances of what’s required to get all of it working easily. RAILGRADE’s clean development signifies that if you come throughout one among these roadblocks, not solely do you must rethink the way you method your networks, however that strategy 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 abruptly, out of nowhere, I might realise that not solely do I would like 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 try this. Having an answer abruptly pop into your head makes you’re feeling like an absolute genius, and implementing it and seeing it work – and work effectively – is remarkably satisfying.
Sadly, regardless of my enjoyment, there have been instances the place I discovered myself extremely annoyed and overwhelmed, too. The character of among the challenges are sometimes a bit annoying to truly play, and the purpose 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 purpose that was fully incompatible with the second purpose, requiring an entire rework that always I simply didn’t have the cash and sources for. In these situations 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 enjoying – to rebuild one thing that labored for the later purpose, too. This gained’t be a problem for everyone, I’m certain loads of folks with totally different approaches to this type of sport will handle simply fantastic, however for my specific playstyle it popped up fairly a couple of instances and sometimes brought on me to only stop the sport and are available again tomorrow.
One other concern price noting is the textual content measurement. Take it from me: if you wish to save your eyesight, completely don’t play this sport on the Swap Lite. The textual content and UI in RAILGRADE is small, and even on the OG Swap, it’s simply barely acceptable. On the Lite, except you get actual shut, use magnifying glasses, or squint actual arduous, it’s simply not on. I’m certain, on the OLED, you’d in all probability get by simply fantastic, because of its bigger display screen, and clearly it’s just about fantastic in docked mode, however simply bear in mind that Swap Lite house owners will get nothing constructive about this expertise. Sadly, there are not any choices that I might discover for rising the textual content measurement, so what you see (or don’t see) is what you get.
Apart from that, there’s lots to love about RAILGRADE’s presentation. It seems to be fairly good, with every stage trying 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 fantastic on Swap 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 simply don’t actually need to struggle in opposition to. It’s a contact awkward, however greater than usable when you’ve received somewhat follow 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 Swap Lite, however there’s nonetheless completely a lot to love.
Score: 3.5/5
