The best simulation games understand the minute details. Cities Skylines gives you everything you need to build an entire city from scratch, Euro Truck Simulator puts you in the driver’s seat for the long haul, and even Factorio presents you with some incredibly in-depth manufacturing. Railroads Online does the same for the golden age of trains, except you can also work together with friends to bring about locomotive bliss. With a 30% off sale right now, loads of updates over the years, and a newly teased full release date, now’s the perfect time to dive in.
Developed by Stefan Kelnberger and published by simulation legend Astragon Entertainment (think Bus Simulator, Construction Simulator, and Industry Manager) Railroads Online is all about locomotive management. Set in an open world modeled on America’s golden age, you meticulously build tracks, switches, bridges, and whatever else you need to get your goods across the country and become a tycoon. After you’ve built the tracks, step into the crew compartment and take your haul across the nation. Start from nothing, control the minutiae of your trains, and change the course of history.
You can go at this train game alone, but Railroads Online thrives on cooperation. 16 players can work together to build an empire, because placing every bit of track and doing all the driving yourself is exhausting. It’s an incredibly dense simulation, in the vein of Cities and Kerbal Space Program, where you need to build, and then actively engage with the world as you go.
The last thing anyone wants in a train simulation game is inaccurate physics – Unreal Engine 5 has been used since the start of Railroads Online’s early access to keep the reproduced steam engines up and running. Everything is as close to reality as possible, with plenty of 19th and 20th-century trains painstakingly remade. You can adjust headlights, smokestacks, and everything else while tugging at the valves, tapping the gauges, and pulling the levers in a first-person view.
There’s also a detailed Railroads Online roadmap heading into the full launch, with a stylized UI, prepaid maps, bug fixes, and new locomotives, cars, and buildings all set to be added before the game comes out of early access. The game is also sitting pretty at 81% positive from 4,500 reviews, so you can tell it’s one the genre fans love.
Railroads Online is leaving Steam Early Access and coming to consoles in the fall of 2024, but you can grab the game in a Steam sale at 30% off right now. Expect to pay $24.49 / £19.59 until Monday July 29.
If you want even more than just Railroads Online, there are plenty of excellent simulation games available today, and multiplayer games if you want to play with friends.
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