| Railway Empire | |
| Developer: | Gaming Minds Studios |
| Publisher: | Kalypso Media |
| Artist: | Bruno Frasca, Daniel Lieske |
| Released: | Windows, Linux, PS4, Xbox OneNintendo Switch |
| Genre: | Construction and management simulation |
| Modes: | Single-player |
Railway Empire is a railroad construction and management simulation game developed by Gaming Minds Studio and published by Kalypso Media. It was released on 26 January 2018 for Linux and Microsoft Windows, 30 January 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One,[1] [2] and 14 February 2020 for Nintendo Switch. In Japan, the physical copy of the game was distributed by Ubisoft in May 2018.[3] A sequel, Railway Empire 2, was released in 2023.[4]
Railway Empires base game takes place in the United States from 1830 to 1930. The player can build a large network of railway lines and buy various locomotives to serve cities and industries - growing cities in the process, and hire railway personnel for both train operations and office positions, all with individual bonuses and personality types. The player can also unlock innovations such as new locomotives or bonuses to revenue. The game has five main game modes: campaign mode, scenario mode, free mode, sandbox mode and challenge mode.[5] [6] [7]
The Campaign mode mainly takes the player through the building of the First transcontinental railroad, the exception being mission four which is based around the American Civil War. In this mode, the player must fulfil tasks as well as competing with AI controlled competitors. In the Scenario mode, these competitors are selectable and playable characters with specific gameplay bonuses. The tasks are also considerably harder in scenario mode. In Free mode, the task list is randomly generated upon start-up, and the tasks given are not compulsory. Players can also choose to toggle different settings, such as how many competitors they face (between 0 and 3), the competitors' difficulty level, or whether snowfall is enabled (thereby slowing down locomotives in winter months). Sandbox mode has no tasks and all locomotives are automatically researched. There are also no competitors and money is infinite. Challenge mode is similar to scenarios and free mode but players compete with other players on an online leaderboard.[6] [8]
, the game has ten downloadable content (DLC) available. Most DLCs add new Scenarios to the game, new maps for Free Game and Sandbox mode, new engines and tradeable goods. One DLC, Railway Empire - Official Soundtrack, does not add to the base game and instead is the release of the soundtracks of the base game and the DLCs released at that time.[9]
| Mexico | 8 June 2018 | [10] | |
| The Great Lakes | 17 August 2018 | [11] | |
| Crossing the Andes | 19 October 2018 | [12] | |
| Great Britain & Ireland | 14 December 2018 | [13] | |
| Germany | 1 March 2019 | [14] | |
| France | 24 May 2019 | [15] | |
| Northern Europe | 13 December 2019 | [16] | |
| Down Under | 8 May 2020 | [17] | |
| Japan | 7 May 2021 | [18] |
On 7 August 2020, Kalypso released the 'complete collection', allowing for the purchase of all DLCs available at that time (except the music DLC) together with the base game.[19]
The game has a score of 74 on Metacritic.
In a review of Railway Empire in Black Gate, Bob Byrne said "I've rediscovered my love of railroad simulations with this game. It's just as fun to play as Railroad Tycoon was. I highly recommend this if it's your type of game."[20]
Railway Empire was nominated for four awards by the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018;[21] it won two: Best German PC/Console Game, and Best German Technical Performance Game.[22]