Tiny Rails is a management game where you the player is given a small train business with the aim to grow your enterprise. It’s a simple premise however overall it works nicely and fits the genre well. Tiny Rails began its life as a mobile game and was recently ported to PC.
Players must manage and care for their train as it travels across the world, delivering goods and passengers as it goes. The main point of the game is to grow the business which is achieved by delivering passengers and trading goods at different stations to earn more gold. The gold is then used to purchase more carriages or to upgrade current ones which will earn you more . Gold is also needed to clean and maintain carriages which are prone to breaking.
Earning gold is critical for progression in the game. Gold is rewared by manually clicking on different carriages to collect it once the train has reached it’s destination or once a food carriage has earned enough. This comes from the game’s mobile roots and allows it to be played either actively or passively.
There’s still plenty to do in the game such as purchasing stations and depots which revolve around having enough money. However, if you spend too quickly you’ll be left waiting quite some time to earn more cash. This is one of the biggest downfalls of the game. At some stages there’s very little to do while waiting.
Tiny Rails is a nice little management game for those looking for something casual and relaxing to play. However, those looking for a game that requires regular active involvement you may find this game to be boring and too slow.