Tiny Rails Guide

Tiny Rails is a casual and relaxing management game.  It starts like most other games in this genre, the player is given a small business and needs to grow it into a large multi-nation operation. It’s a very simple plot but let’s face it, we don’t play management games for the amazing plots they have. It's by no means a taxing experience. In fact, calling it sedate would be like describing a hungry tiger as mildly dangerous. This is a game that's just sort of there. Players must manage and care for their train by fixing and cleaning the different carriages as they take damage throughout the game. Once the player has set up their train in a way that they’re happy with, it’s possible to sit back and relax while the game continues going by itself. It does still require some player interaction however to depart from train stations and collect money from the different carriages.

It allows players to decide how they want to play the game as both methods will still result in good progress. In addition to this, transporting passengers is a big part of the game and you will need to customize the train to increase their happiness if you want to remain fully booked. This is done by customizing the carriages on the train to include things such as food carts, toilets and even parks. More carriages are unlocked as the game progresses which can provide for the different needs of your passengers. They’re unlocked in a strange little minigame which is interesting but doesn’t add too much to the game.

You start the game off with an old train, and as you progress through you’ll discover new train cars and upgrades to improve your train and bring in income. At its core, this game is primarily about making deliveries or cargo and people. When you pull into a station, you will have the option to make purchases from the market if there’s anything available. As you browse the map you’ll see what items are needed at which stations, and making deliveries earns you some big bucks. Passengers are a little easier, as you drop people off and collect people at almost every station you come to. The downside to this is that putting in almost no effort means very low profits but for passive income, passengers can’t be beat. The game also ties in a story about an evil corporation trying to take over the rails and your rag-tag band of train pioneers pulling together to create the best rail line ever. It does have a lot of cheezy dialogue and goofball characters, but each one helps you accomplish something, for example doubling profits or by keeping the tracks clear of debris.

You have to use the premium currency of diamonds to activate these skills, but diamonds are surprising easy to come by through easy to reach achievements and watching videos. Outside of setting up your train and planning your routes, there isn’t much else to do while your train is traveling. It can easily take 2-3 hours for your train to travel from station to station, but it will keep traveling while the app is closed, so you can take a few minutes to set things up, let it go, and come back later, so it’s a great game for playing on the go if you’ve only got a few minutes at a time to play.

While the gameplay is the most important thing in a management game, it’s also worth noting the incredible graphics and environment design. The game is designed so that each region on the map has a different type of weather and environmental backgrounds. It makes just watching Tiny Rails run itself very entertaining. There are also special landmarks that pop up every so often as the player travels to certain locations. These landmarks can be photographed in game to earn a special coin bonus. The game is beautiful in its own way and it’s easy to lose minutes just watching the game progress to a new station.  Players are forced to wait several minutes while their train travels to the next station. There’s a way to upgrade the speed of the train but sometimes even this is not enough which can be a little frustrating. There’s still things to do while the train is traveling however such as collect money, upgrade carriages and purchase new ones. But, it’s easy to run out of things to do on the long trips. Buy and sell some stuff, see if you've got enough to upgrade your engine, then put the game down until it bleeps at you again. There are challenges to complete and achievements to unlock, but they all just come with time. There's no chasing anything here, just the steady accumulation of wealth and train power. And if that's what you're looking for in a game then you're not going to to too far wrong picking this one up.

Sometimes you just need an escape. A trip away to somewhere far from where you are, even if just for a few minutes. Tiny Rails offers just that, with quick bursts of gameplay in a relaxing and charming atmosphere. You start the game off with an old train, and as you progress through you’ll discover new train cars and upgrades to improve your train and bring in income. You need to fill it with passengers, trade for cargo, and try and make sure everyone gets off at the right station with a smile on their face. Players must manage and care for their train by fixing and cleaning the different carriages as they take damage throughout the game. Once the player has set up their train in a way that they’re happy with, it’s possible to sit back and relax while the game continues going by itself. It does still require some player interaction however to depart from train stations and collect money from the different carriages.

Most of the game is navigating through menus to select what to buy, how to arrange your train, or selecting train helpers. Everything is responsive and works well. You have to use the premium currency of diamonds to activate these skills, but diamonds are surprising easy to come by through easy to reach achievements and watching videos. There are challenges to complete and achievements to unlock, but they all just come with time. There's no chasing anything here, just the steady accumulation of wealth and train power.

As you browse the map you’ll see what items are needed at which stations, and making deliveries earns you some big bucks. Passengers are a little easier, as you drop people off and collect people at almost every station you come to. The downside to this is that putting in almost no effort means very low profits but for passive income, passengers can’t be beat. The game also ties in a story about an evil corporation trying to take over the rails and your rag-tag band of train pioneers pulling together to create the best rail line ever. The game is designed so that each region on the map has a different type of weather and environmental backgrounds. It makes just watching Tiny Rails run itself very entertaining.

There are also special landmarks that pop up every so often as the player travels to certain locations. These landmarks can be photographed in game to earn a special coin bonus. The game is beautiful in its own way and it’s easy to lose minutes just watching the game progress to a new station.  Players are forced to wait several minutes while their train travels to the next station. There’s a way to upgrade the speed of the train but sometimes even this is not enough which can be a little frustrating. There’s still things to do while the train is traveling however such as collect money, upgrade carriages and purchase new ones. But, it’s easy to run out of things to do on the long trips.