Two New Train Games

[Hawk]

Looks like there's a couple new train games coming down the pike. Railway Empire and Mashinky.
Quill18 did a review of them at YouTube.

Railway Empire - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMOaBn_gMBA

Mashinky - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj3zWhABrM8

[Gumboots]

If they don't require Steam I might take a look at them. Graphics are certainly good.

[Hawk]

At this point it looks like they both will require Steam. The main reason I won't be getting either, aside from the fact that my rig doesn't meet the minimum system requirements for either game.

[Gumboots]

Meh. If I buy a game I want to be able to decide when and how I play it. I won't put up with anyone else telling me how to do it.

Edit: I looked around a bit. They are saying they will be selling a physical version (ie: CD, non-Steam). However, there will be no capacity to modify any aspect of the game outside of the Steam workshop. This presumably means that any mods that are made will have to be run through Steam, even if you have the physical version of the game.

There's also no talk of any sort of map editor, so it looks like you'll get the default campaign and nothing else. I'm not sure if there will be any way around this.

Of course, it's also possible that enthusiasts may figure out how to do their own modding, if there is enough interest in the game.

[Hawk]

Personally I refuse to use Steam, and that decision is made form experience. I had an account a few years ago that I had to create in order to register a complimentary copy of Railworks.
I got rid of Railworks and Steam and never looked back.

I wonder if that cd version is going to require registration through Steam. That's what happened with Railworks, and I know of quite a few other games that have fallen into that crap trap.

Railway Empire is distributed by Kalypso and they do have some games at GOG. I wonder if that will eventually happen? Not that it matters to me. I can't play it anyway.

[RulerofRails]

That's the first in-game footage I saw from Railway Empire. Better than I was expecting from the trailer to be honest. Wouldn't say I'm hooked though, but "interested."

I never did the Steam thing either, and would prefer to avoid it. At the same time, if it will one day be on cd, and people one day make some great maps for it with attention to detail: all RT3's bugs make me wonder if I will regret not giving it more of a chance in it's early stages. When maybe the developers would pay attention, or just get your voice lost in the crowd.

I do wish it all the best. I hope there is at least stability with the developers for the sake of support, the way there wasn't with RT3. I think I read that with Railroads!, they pretty much went belly up as soon as the thing was released.

[Gumboots]

I wonder if that cd version is going to require registration through Steam. That's what happened with Railworks, and I know of quite a few other games that have fallen into that crap trap.

If they try to pull that stunt I won't be interested. Now that you mention it, I wouldn't be surprised if they do it that way, given that they are saying any mods will be via Steam. Kinda defeats the point of buying a CD if you're still tied to someone's else's system.

[AT41B]

I just watched the link for 'Railway Empire' and read about it. There are a large number of train game players that are in the same boat as I am. We are tied to a limit of STREAM time. And I for one am not going to pursue the purchase of ANY more game of any kind that require the use of "Steam" to run thew game. I am telling my children not to get me one for any personal occasions. They can get something else or nothing at all.

[bombardiere]

Two very interesting game. I will definitely keep my eye on both.

Many new games goes to GoG these day, so it may be possible to buy these without Steam DRM. I hope.

Railway Empire looks more refined. Looks like they got many features from RT3, but sadly also from Sid Meyer's Railroads. Actually it doesn't look very original. However multiple platforms on a large station is really good bonus.

My biggest concern is that it is a Kalypso game. I have played Tropico series and this does look a lot like a Tropico game. It means that it is scenario based. So I am not sure is RT3 huge continental railway systems are possible. Also Tropico games have been fun but got boring and repetitive quite quickly. For me at least. So this is a game to watch but I am not sure if it is for me.

Mashinky is more interesting to me. I like how you can choose from different wagon and that track laying screen is almost brilliant. Plus for terraforming. However this game looks like micromanaging hell. Wagon options are nice, but if my train is stuck with the wagons bought then it means that the return journey is almost always empty. I don't like that.

It looks like Mashinky's roots are firmly on orginal Transport Tycoon series. So I wonder if the developers will later wants to add other transport modes. Cars lorries etc.

[Hawk]

It will be interesting to see if either one, or both, ends up on GOG, but it really doesn't matter to me. My rig won't run either one.