Railroader on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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You and your fellow railroaders are the lifeblood of your railroad, just like it is the lifeblood of the communities it serves. Switch cars at industries. Keep people moving while running local passenger trains. Run trains with a purpose in transition era Appalachia – in Railroader!
Railroader is a early access, simulation and trains game
developed and published by Giraffe Lab LLC.
Released on December 07th 2023 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 2,699 reviews of which 2,628 were positive and 71 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.3 out of 10. 😍
The game is currently priced at 28.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Railroader into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1660 6GB
- Storage: 8 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Railroader: A Unique Railroad Operations Simulator This game carves out a new niche: it's truly a railroad operations simulator . Unlike other games, you're not just completing isolated tasks or building networks – you're running an entire railroad with purpose and continuity . How it's different: * Not a Task Sim: Unlike games like MS Train Simulator or Dovetail titles, where jobs are standalone, here every move (shunting, driving) is linked to contracts and the ongoing needs of your railroad. * Not a Tycoon Game: Focus isn't on laying track or building industries (like Railway Empire/Transport Fever), but on managing the logistics and flow on a fixed layout. What You Do: You operate trains and manage cars based on contracts you accept. * Purposeful Tasks: Move cars because an industry needs them, run passenger services because they earn income (and provide helpful bonuses). * Operational Puzzles: Figure out the most efficient way to gather/deliver cars, solve shunting challenges, and optimize train movements to save fuel and/or time. * Resource Management: Earn money from contracts to pay for essential fuel, maintenance, and staff (AI helpers are key for a solo player!). You need to balance workload (more contracts) with income and operating costs. You are running your railroad for the sake of running it . The challenge is the logistics and operational efficiency. It provides a fascinating look at how real railroads operate and the intricate planning involved. Recommended if: You are intrigued by the idea of continuously managing railroad operations, solving logistical puzzles, and the challenge of running a service efficiently within resource constraints. Beware: The fixed map and recurring contract types mean the gameplay can feel repetitive over time.
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Fun game....does not hold your hand whatsoever (i still have no idea how to do jobs apart from passengers) ....switching can be annoying.....but its still a great game (Edit: Literally the day after writing this review they updated the tutorial and it is 1000000000000000% better THANK YOU DEVS!)
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Honestly, it ticks all the right boxes for me. I do have the "I like trains" autism, but not the "I like driving trains" kind. I just like watching them, and telling them where to go, and what to do. I like seeing trains move up and down tracks and solving logistical puzzles and shunting things where they're supposed to go. The sounds are fantastic, very satisfying "chugga" and "choo-choo", great job. The gameplay loop is pretty mentally stimulating and fun for me, and it allows you to play at your pace and style. If you like driving the trains yourself you absolutely can, and if you just want an up close and personal, small-scale version of Transport Fever like I do, you can have that too. The Engineer AI (or auto-drive) is honestly quite intelligent and self-sufficient most of the time; it will flip switches as it needs to without your input and they have so far not crashed into each other. The multiplayer feels stable and very fun; I tend to take the role of dispatch and look at the big picture while others man the trains and handle their own individual tasks, makes for a fun dynamic. The visuals are nothing particularly impressive and quite lightweight which has it's advantages, and I'd like to see more models for differently loaded goods in the carriages for immersive purposes, along with a use for the caboose (which I believe is one of the next items on the list). The world itself is also extremely dead, nothing happens in the map that does not have to do with the players. There's no vehicles or other trains going about their business, the places you deliver to make no sounds and have no people, and even the passenger lines have no visible passengers, they're just represented by numbers without any visuals. I do not know to what extent they have these things planned, but I know that before the title can be considered complete, the world needs a lot more life in it, rather than just feeling like a personal little sandbox for my company to play around in. For an early access title it's relatively stable, I experienced a few small bugs but nothing game breaking, and a handful of crashes but the game saves pretty frequently so nothing serious was lost other than less than 5 minutes of progress. I have high hopes for this title in the long run; it's satisfying, well-crafted and fun, I'm looking forward to more features and content!
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Best train sim i've played. I am so done with train sims charging insane prices for individual locomotives. Railroader has tons of locomotives IN EARLY ACCESS! Plenty of mods to choose from as well. Not to mention the awesome company mode which is what really sets this sim apart. You can start your own railway and build it from the ground up. That's awesome. Only negatives are the relatively plain terrain and lack of building but as I understand it, that will come eventually.
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Oh, it is so addictive. It might not be accurate down to the last detail, but as some reviewers on youtube have mentioned, they got the VIBE. They got the vibe down enough that I think even rivet counters can enjoy themselves. Plenty of camera view options. It feels nicer than any train sim I have yet played. The game itself is stable. Even though it's early access, it feels pretty complete, save for some minor details, but hey! Early access! The gameplay is smooth and enjoyable. The ability to switch between sandbox and company modes on the fly is fantastic. The early game could be a little grindy, but because of that flexibility to switch those modes on the fly, you never HAVE to grind to get your big fancy locomotives if you really don't want to. I think the devs have a solid understanding of what makes their game fun. It is very clear a lot of time and effort went to making the gameplay enjoyable. I was satisfied with the game on day one, but it just keeps getting better with each update. I mean, I've put in 681 hours, according to Steam, so if I was going to get sick of it, I think I would have already! Oh! Also worth noting, you can just drop what you are doing immediately and save your game. Like, there is no waiting for a scenario to end or anything. There is no time jump when you hop back in. The save system is super smooth and takes no time at all. I've been playing single player this whole time, so I can't speak to the multiplayer functionality... HOWEVER, if I need to do something else urgently, I'm in and out of the game quickly and smoothly, even on my potato of a laptop - which is more than I can say for pretty much every other train sim I've ever played. I have no regrets. Even in its early access-ness, the game is plenty of fun, and I've been enjoying the crap out of it!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Railroader is currently priced at 28.99€ on Steam.
Railroader is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 28.99€ on Steam.
Railroader received 2,628 positive votes out of a total of 2,699 achieving an impressive rating of 9.30.
😍
Railroader was developed and published by Giraffe Lab LLC.
Railroader is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Railroader is not playable on MacOS.
Railroader is not playable on Linux.
Railroader offers both single-player and multi-player modes.
Railroader includes Co-op mode where you can team up with friends.
Railroader does not currently offer any DLC.
Railroader does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
Railroader does not support Steam Remote Play.
Railroader is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Railroader.
Data sources
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 06 June 2025 22:23 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 12 June 2025 17:54 |
| Steam price | 15 June 2025 04:49 |
| Steam reviews | 14 June 2025 06:08 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Railroader, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Railroader
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Railroader concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Railroader compatibility
Game modes
Multiplayer
Features
Online players
504
Developer
Giraffe Lab LLC
Publisher
Giraffe Lab LLC
Release
07 Dec 2023
Platforms