Out now, here’s an Unrailed! review – a co-op multiplayer game that not only tests players’ multitasking abilities but also determines who is dead weight and letting the side down.
Before the driver even reaches their seat, let me clarify that Unrailed! is significantly better as a multiplayer rather than a solo effort. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it on your tod, but this is a challenging game. Would you play Overcooked alone?
The premise is straightforward enough: ensure the safety of your locomotive and guarantee that it reaches its destination without any complications. An easy concept, but in the open… bloody hard! While Unrailed! isn’t remotely easy, it’s a lot of fun to play and it tests your problem-solving skills on the fly when so much is thrown at you in one go. The rewards of getting the train to safety is so satisfying, and if you work with friends or online strangers, you could potentially slay one track after another.
Of course, if you’re like me and not a fan of online play, you can go it alone, but you must receive help. The game does provide you with a bot that you can give commands to, but having to stop what you’re doing puts you at an advantage. Bot commands can range from sourcing the materials to build new tracks to laying them, and you can also set paths. However, the AI isn’t great, and I did find them getting trapped between the trains on the odd occasion.
Each procedurally generated stage starts relatively sane. The train is at a standstill, and you immediately seek out iron and wood to prepare to build the tracks, as well as any bridges, too.
Unfortunately, the train can also overheat, so that means grabbing a bucket and filling it with water from a nearby lake or river. On some of the tracks, you’ll have to run a fair bit to source the water first, and when multiple carriages are on fire, it all becomes pretty hectic.
Now here comes the cherry on top: raiders. Some NPCs will attempt to steal your resources and throw a spanner in the works at every corner – literally, as they’ll pick up tracks, rearrange them or place them away from the original location.
In some respects, Unrailed!, from Indoor Astronaut and Daedalic Entertainment, is a survival game, and there’s even the Endless mode that promotes this; play one stage after the next until the demise of your train. You can’t directly die, but if your train meets its maker, it’s game over.
There aren’t many options in the game, as you have limited tools and don’t have that much more to do than focus on the track and train. That’s a good thing – anything more, and it would overcomplicate the simplicity. Besides the NPCs and the increasing speed of the train, the locations play a role too.
Unrailed! is an excellent co-op title, and the way to rate this sort of game depends on who you’re playing with. It will also depend on your stance, whether you’re an online gamer or not. Swallow it up; you need to play with other people in this game to enjoy it. That said, it’s not without its flaws.
Again, if you work with other players, one can target the NPCs, take care of any fires, lay the tracks, and so on. Relying on the bots and giving them commands only works for so long, and you certainly can’t carry the team on your own. There’s too much happening.
But let’s not mark down a co-op game for being too challenging as a solo game – that defeats the purpose. Taking into consideration the upgrades and cosmetic upgrades, the fundamental gameplay and modes in Unrailed! is quite basic, but with the right people, the kind of game that you could end up playing until the early hours.
