For many of us the idea of building a railway empire and getting to drive the train along a stretch of winding track is nothing short of a childhood dream. And being able to revisit a time when trains were a new technology opening up parts of the world to settlers and opportunists is an incredibly enticing offer. All of these ideas and much, much more are possible in Railway Empire – Complete Collection.
Hailing from Gaming Minds Studios (the people who brought us Grand Ages: Medieval and Rise of Venice) Railway Empire – Complete Collection is perhaps one of the most ambitious tycoon games ever released. Originally published way back in 2018, Railway Empire – Complete Collection not only offers the full original game but also all eight DLC ‘s that have been released to date. These include Mexico, the Great Lakes, Crossing the Andes, Great Britain & Ireland, France, Germany Northern Europe and Down Under.
The premise of Railway Empire – Complete Collection is as you would expect. You build a railway network connecting towns and cities, transporting goods and people. During the game you’ll find yourself buying businesses, competing with AI rivals, hiring staff and building a network of railways spanning huge parts of the country. As we mentioned earlier, Gaming Minds Studios have thrown in all of the original games DLC’s, which means anyone, no matter where they’re playing from in the world, will find at least one map that’s close to home. For me, I loved playing the French and British maps as I was born in the UK and now live in France. Being transported back to the age of the industrial revolution in both countries and seeing a tiny railway company grow and dominate the region was nothing short of magical.
Graphically, Railway Empire – Complete Collection is a beautiful game. We are talking eye candy so sweet you could put on weight just by looking at the screen shots. The maps are incredibly detailed and, with the ability to zoom in and actually ride the train you’ve just built, you can easily find yourself lost in the captivating wonder of this game.
Railway Empire – Complete Collection offers over 40 historically accurate locomotives and more than 30 different wagons to play with. This fact alone easily puts Railway Empire – Complete Collection way ahead of many racing sims which offer much less stock and inventory.
For most gamers the first port of call in Railway Empire – Complete Collection will be the single player campaign mode. Here you’ll be walked through the games mechanics and guided through the complexities of building tracks and connected railways. Ironically, the tutorial mode is easily the weakest part of Railway Empire – Complete Collection. Trying to figure out relatively simple things such as placing adjacent tracks and directional lights took me something close to an hour – and that was even after looking them up on YouTube. It’s possible that there is a glitch here in the tutorial section and hopefully a patch will be realised that addresses some of these issues.
Those minor niggles aside, Railway Empire – Complete Collection is surprisingly intuitive and, once you get over the steep learning curve, you forget about the mechanics and find yourself immersed in the challenge of beating the game. It’s also worth noting that Railway Empire – Complete Collection also has four challenge maps that have predetermined tasks you have to complete. If you manage to complete the tasks in the given time, your score is posted to a leader board and you can compare your performance with gamers from all over the world. There’s also a sandbox and free mode which allows you to change the games settings to suit your style of play.
However the meat and potatoes of Railway Empire – Complete Collection remains the single player campaign. Here you’ll find yourself taking on an AI NPC who is every bit as resourceful and ruthless as you are. A word to the wise: whatever you do to try to beat the completion, your AI rival can do the same. At one point I hired a hack to write a mudslinging piece about my rivals business. You can imagine my consternation when I discovered the AI bugger had done the same to me. Excellent. If you manage to get the better of your rival, you can visit the business section and buy up shares in their company. Buy enough shares and you can take over complete control of their business and merge it with yours. At this point you’ll probably be rubbing your hands together and grinning like a randy uncle at a family wedding. I know I was.
Packed with hundreds of hours of content and with so much to do, Railway Empire – Complete Collection is a challenging and rewarding tycoon game that will eat up months (if not years) of your life. Its initial steep learning curve may put some gamers off, but once you’ve mastered the basics, you will enjoy every minute of building your own empire on tracks. Go buy.
