Train Station Simulator

Genre: Management Simulation

Players: 1

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Review:

Train Station Simulator is a Management Simulation released on Steam Early Access in 2017 and brought to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2021. Like the title says, this is a game about building and managing your own train station.

The presentation here is decent, though clearly not optimized for Nintendo Switch. The 2D visuals look nice and have a sufficient amount of detail, but the tiny icons and teeny-tiny text is difficult to see on a normal TV screen, and even more difficult to make out on the Nintendo Switch’s smaller screen. At the very least, this game’s soundtrack has nice, relaxed music that works well for the game.

As for the gameplay… this is a horrible mess from the ground up.

The game inexplicably won’t let players use a Pro controller, despite that this game doesn’t make use of any of the Nintendo Switch’s unique features. Yeah, it seems like exactly the sort of game where you’d want to use a touchscreen, but no such luck here. However, it gets even worse than that, because all of the button assignments here feel nonsensical, such as using X to exit menus rather than B.

However, what really brings this game down is that it has one of the worst tutorials I’ve ever seen. Not only do you have to seek it out in the game’s already-confusing menus, not only does it not properly explain how things work, but it rushes through before you even demonstrate you understand what it’s trying to tell you.

Between the terrible interface, the horrible controls, and the atrociously bad tutorial, I felt lost from the moment I started this game, and never felt like I was given even the slightest hint of how to proceed. For a game that spent 4 years in early access, Train Station Simulator doesn’t show any sign that it’s been properly playtested. It’s an absolute mess on the Nintendo Switch, and it should not have been released in this state. Do not buy it.

tl;dr – Train Station Simulator is a Management Simulation game that has you building and managing your own train station. Unfortunately, the interface is inscrutable, the controls are terrible, and the tutorial is worse than worthless. As a result, this game is nearly unplayable. Do not bother with it.

Grade: D-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Worst Game

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