EverRail boasts typical survival abilities like rationing and salvaging (using a very cool dismantler gun to blast droids and nick their stuff), but the thing I thought was the best mechanic was the Hacking Kit. What’s so special about it is you can use it to free up colonists, who will then join your train and represent your lives. Should you die in service, you take over one of the colonists you rescued. Cool, huh? Slightly reminded me of that Suda51 game, Let It Die. Don’t get attached to your avatar, folks.
Aside from getting shot, your character can take frost damage, so staying outside for long periods isn’t recommended unless you upgrade your exosuit. Besides, why go outside when you can stay in the warm train? Forget that – how about flying? Another cool aspect about the game is how it doesn’t lock you into one viewpoint. You can play as a biped, stick to the train, or go out in a glider. Being antisocial, I don’t want to play with others unless they’re in my house, which defeats a core part of the experience. Can you go it alone, though? Sure.
Still, let’s head back to the train as that’s a core feature of EverRail. It’s your base, your digs, your transport. Here you can store your gear but also move the train to the next destination. Naturally, the term ‘on rails’ relates to trains, so you can’t just hoon off into the sunset freely. There is some autonomy in that you can control the speed of the train and also pick the direction based on junctions. It might make sense to just floor it to get to your destination faster, though this risks derailment and when you hit bends, the likelihood of doing so will also bring you off the track.
I’m glad that this is an Early Access title as there’s so much to cover in the game. It’s simply running about and shooting stuff, or autopiloting the train to the next place. Inside the train, you have to ensure there’s enough rations for your colonists (future you), keep yourself well fed, and tinker with your exosuit when you have the resources. But there’s more. You can build structures within the train such as workbenches, platforms, and food storage. It isn’t overwhelming, but there is a lot of stuff to consume. Speaking of consuming, your character is very, very hungry and must constantly eat.
The instructions for the game are straightforward enough and mostly intuitive; however, I did find navigating around the map in a train tricky at times. It wasn’t entirely clear what my target was, so either I followed it or went rogue and started scouting for facilities. This meant looking up the map, setting a waypoint and then looking for a place to loot. What’s cool/frustrating about looking at the map is it’s all real-time, so while I was looking for places to go, I was continually moving. Fortunately, I set a steady speed, and there was nothing to crash into, but it’s a little more methodical than applying the brakes and jumping out. I found this out the hard way, too, and I would either stop too short or far away from my target, risking an icy run.
As an overall package thus far, EverRail offers a good variety. I couldn’t, nor will I, comment on the multiplayer aspect as it’s nothing something I will be looking at in the future when it’s released into the wild. What I will say is that the survival/management aspect, navigating the train, and resource scavenging and building is engaging. This naturally builds up to my favourite part, which is the combat. It’s not that it’s particularly exciting, but it just works. There’s no gung-ho, overpowered experience, but genuine firing from cover and assuming that all droids are slow until they run up beside you and shoot you in the face.
Early Access, yes. A few things to iron out? Maybe. I didn’t encounter any technical issues at this stage, but my criticism might be about the UI being a little too much at times. I wouldn’t risk playing this on the Steam Deck purely because of the screen real estate. You don’t need a particularly good setup from my experience. It’s not going to blow you away with the visuals, but there are enough roles for everyone if you want to play with your mates. The variety is good in terms of combat, travel and management, though considering the barren setting, it could be injected with a few more setpieces and challenges; I don’t doubt that Aesir Interactive are on track to add in the future.
