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Railway Empire

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Railway Empire
Developer(s)Gaming Minds Studios[a]
Publisher(s)Kalypso Media
Artist(s)Bruno Frasca, Daniel Lieske
Platform(s)
ReleaseWindows, Linux, PS4, Xbox One
  • EU: January 26, 2018
  • NA: January 30, 2018
Nintendo Switch
Genre(s)Construction and management simulation
Mode(s)Single-player

Railway Empire is a railroad construction and management simulation game developed by Gaming Minds Studio and published by Kalypso Media. It was announced in early 2017 and released on 26 January 2018 for Linux and Microsoft Windows, 30 January 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One,[3][4] and 14 February 2020 for Nintendo Switch. In Japan, the physical copy of the game was distributed by Ubisoft in May 2018.[5] A sequel, Railway Empire 2, was released in 2023.[6]

Gameplay

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Railway Empire's 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.[7][8][9]

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.[8][10]

Release

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Expansions

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As of 7 May 2021, 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.[11]

Name Release date Ref.
Mexico 8 June 2018 [12]
The Great Lakes 17 August 2018 [13]
Crossing the Andes 19 October 2018 [14]
Great Britain & Ireland 14 December 2018 [15]
Germany 1 March 2019 [16]
France 24 May 2019 [17]
Northern Europe 13 December 2019 [18]
Down Under 8 May 2020 [19]
Japan[b] 7 May 2021 [20]

Editions

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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.[21]

Reception

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The game has a score of 74 on Metacritic.[22]

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."[26]

Awards and nominations

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Railway Empire was nominated for four awards by the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018;[27] it won two: Best German PC/Console Game, and Best German Technical Performance Game.[28]

Notes

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  1. ^ Nintendo Switch version ported by Independent Arts Software.[2]
  2. ^ This DLC was released after the publication of the 'Complete Collection' and 'Official Soundtrack' items and is not included on either.

References

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  1. ^ "レイルウェイ エンパイア". Nintendo of Japan. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Independent Arts Software". independent-arts-software.de. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  3. ^ "About Railway Empire". GameSpot. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Railway Empire comes to consoles and PC in January". Polygon. 12 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Railway Empire in Japan". 19 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Railway Empire 2 - Official Release Trailer". IGN. Ziff Davis. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Railway Empire is a mostly satisfying management sim". PC Gamer. 22 December 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Wot I Think: Railway Empire". Rock Paper Shotgun. 13 February 2018.
  9. ^ "Railway Empire (PC) - Wertung, Fazit - GameStar". www.gamestar.de.
  10. ^ Brown, Billy (19 June 2020). "Railway Empire (Switch) Review". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Railway Empire - Official Soundtrack". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  12. ^ "Railway Empire - Mexico". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Railway Empire - The Great Lakes". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  14. ^ "Railway Empire - Crossing the Andes". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Railway Empire - Great Britain & Ireland". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Railway Empire - Germany". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Railway Empire - France". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Railway Empire - Northern Europe". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Railway Empire - Down Under". Kalypso US. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Railway Empire - Japan". Kalypso UK. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  21. ^ Railway Empire complete collection [dead link]
  22. ^ a b "Railway Empire for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  23. ^ "Railway Empire for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  24. ^ "Railway Empire for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  25. ^ "Railway Empire: Switch Edition for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  26. ^ "All Aboard! Building the Great Railroads with Railway Empire – Black Gate". 5 August 2019.
  27. ^ "Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018: Die Nominierten". GamesWirtschaft. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  28. ^ "Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2018 - Die Gewinner: FAR wird bestes Spiel, Desperados 3 ist "Most Wanted"". gamestar.de. 6 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
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