‘Sweet Transit’ by Ernestas Norvaisas and Team17, is a building simulator where the railway is king, and trains are the players’ only means of transportation. Available on STEAM, this title is described as ‘Quaint villages expanding into bustling cities, farms to industrious factories, steam-powered rail to combustion diesel and even more, in this train-focused world’.

In the main menu, we’re given two options. New game or a Tutorial; obviously it is best to start with a tutorial, even if you know your way around games like this. In the tutorial, you are given some options of what you want to be shown. These includes; Basics, Village Building, Expansion, and Signals, things that you should know before dropping yourself in at the deep end.

Controls are easy to learn. W/A/S/D are used to move around the screen and if you’re wanting to get into build mode there is a quick key bind for that which is B. The tutorial is definitely recommended and informative as it can teach you a lot of things before jumping in.

Without giving too much away, Sweet Transit, typical this genre is about developing a booming industry, constantly evolving your technology, all the whilst managing everything around you through resources. Productivity is vital and through a number of menus, you must manage the needs of your employees to keep money and morale high. Choose your city, transport, and build a thriving society.

With the speed of the game in your control like most top-down city builders, you’re able to multitask and focus on getting multiple things done. This mechanic enables the map to speed up the time and get things done a lot quicker. You can even slow down your speed and focus on the things happening around you when it happens.

The graphics are fairly decent and also fit well for the beginning rustic theme of Sweet Transit. The little locomotives and surrounding towns are teeming with minute details, like the old school models people created in their basements of times long passed. When loaded into a game, you’re able to zoom out and see the entirety of the map and the map’s generation looks impressively cool.

Sweet Transit also has a really whimsical soundtrack. The music fits in well alongside the sounds of the trains and mechanical movement and it all piles up into an assortment of astonishing sounds that just complement each other. It certainly makes you feel like you’re in the time period of trains.

Sweet Transit seems like a really niche game for someone who is into everything locomotive. It can be a bit difficult to learn early on as it has some confusing mechanics, and it will take time to learn and fully understand the management. The music and graphics are nice, and the plot of the game seems to be steaming along in a great direction, so I am excited to see what is in store for it all soon.

Written by: Mitchell Batchelor