There are lots of puzzle type mobile and PC games on the market. Many are making their way to consoles. The latest to make the jump is Train Valley. This puzzle-strategy game is focuses on railroads around the world. The player must lay tracks connecting train stations and then send trains full of goods or passengers to the correct stations. The challenge is doing this quickly while avoiding having trains run into each other and crash.
Train Valley was created by BlitWorks and includes all of the original content as well as the Germany DLC content. There are five different seasons which you can play through: Europe (1830–1980), America (1840–1960), USSR (1880–1980), Japan (1900–2020) and Germany (1830-2020). Each of these five seasons has six different scenarios which follow a historical story. Europe’s scenarios all take place in different countries while the other seasons take place in a single country over time. You start off the American season with the Gold Rush while the Russian season features a scenario with the space race and Germany has a scenario during a war. Once you complete a level in the classic mode, you can then play that map in sandbox mode where you can build and send trains without having to worry about money.
Each level requires you to get a certain number of trains to designated stations. You start off with two stations which you must connect with track as well as a certain amount of money. As you send trains, new stations will appear which you then need to connect to your rail network. The faster you can get your train to its station, the more money you earn. Also, an annual tax is automatically deducted from your account. In addition to just completing a scenario, each also has three challenges you can attempt. While you can try to get all three in one play, you can also try to get each on different tries. These challenges can include earning a set amount of money, building an amount of track, not sending trains to the wrong station, sending trains early, and so forth.
Since you will need to have multiple trains running at the same time, you will need to construct switches, sidings, and spurs. Once a train is in motion, you can order it to stop or even reverse direction. This can be useful if you need to wait until another train passes or if you have to past a station and back into it due to the layout of switches. Speaking of switches, when you have intersections, you will need to set the switches so your trains will go onto the correct tracks to get to their destination.
Train Valley can be very addictive. The early levels start out fairly easy. As you progress, they become more challenging. Some of the terrain can limit where you can build tracks and cause bottlenecks. Therefore, you need to be creative with your layout and switches. Luckily there is a pause button to give you some time to think. You can still build, demolish, and even send trains while the game is paused. I really enjoy playing Train Valley. You can play a scenario in about 5-10 minutes which makes this a great game to play when you don’t have a lot of time. However, be warned. You are likely to have so much fun you will want to play several scenarios or go back and try the same one until you can complete all three challenges. If you like trains and railroads, then this is a light and fresh take on many of the railroad strategy games on the market. Even if you are not a rail fanatic, the challenging puzzle-like levels appeal to those who appreciate strategy games. I am glad to see more games like this appearing on consoles and recommend Train Valley since I really enjoy playing it.
Train Valley is available for PlayStation 4 through the PlayStation Store, for Nintendo Switch on the My Nintendo Store, or for Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S from the Microsoft Store all for $11.99.
Here is teaser trailer for Train Valley.
