This is an interesting little puzzle game that's surprisingly distilled for an Early Access game. The basic concept is pretty straightforward: manage trains through a set of stations, making sure nothing's late and everything is stopping where it needs to. There is, unsurprisingly, a series of upgrades and unlockables that one gets access to as you progress. Most of them are pretty straightforward: more advanced signals, train sensors, faster tracks, ability to manage more stations. But a few are more interesting, and I think set the game a little apart from others. You have interface upgrades that provide more information on the trains themselves (so no digging through menus for information). You also have upgrades that let you adjust train schedules after they're set (need to bump a departure back five minutes to make things smoother, or switch to another track?).

More crucially is the existence of two separate game modes: Endless and Timetable. TImetable is perhaps the more obvious kind; tracks and schedules are pre-defined and you have to handle the oncoming business as best you can. There's a finite amount of time and points to earn on any map. The Endless ones though are more interesting: here you are presented with a whole collection of stations (upwards of fifteen on some maps!) and then the opportunity to slowly link them together. As you do, more contracts become available to route passengers and cargo to them, one by one.

Finally they do a few interesting things when it comes to trains. Sure, you have a collection of scheduled trains you can set up: local commuters, fast intercities, looping circle lines. But you can also get one-off freight and passenger trains. These are often trickier to set up, since some of them will want to stay at a platform for HOURS, and if you're not careful that can cause knock-on effects.

About my only complaint with the game is that I'd like the sound design to be a bit more indicative. There's warnings if a train is waiting at a signal, but I'd like some little touches when I'm zoomed right in tight. Things like a chunk-chung chunk-chung as trains work through switch points, a little hiss of brakes as a train comes in to a station, maybe a departing chime (different ones for different classes of train, perhaps?), maybe a horn when a train's moving out of an autoblock area? A little more audio feedback would be nice in that manner.