![]() ![]() Train Sim World features a passenger mode where I can just ride the train, enjoying the scenery between Paddington and Reading, taking pictures at my leisure. ![]() I don’t even have to drive the train if I want to remove the remote possibility of stress in this unwind gaming session. That’s 40 miles of sitting back in a calm, almost meditative stupor. The only moments where I have to pay attention are right at the beginning and roughly five miles out from the destination. In one, I literally start the train and drive for 45 miles, all in real time. It has to be relaxing because, for many of the scenarios in the game, there isn’t that much for me to do. Coming home to Train Sim World lets me experience almost a fantasy world where train travel is pleasant for me and where the world passing by can be enjoyed without having to peek between heads. I ride the train every day to work and it’s never on time and always over capacity. That lack of correction when I don’t make it to a stop on schedule or I blow through a caution light at 75 miles per hour is what has allowed me to simply relax with this game. Braking continues to be my biggest issue, especially on those transit runs, but the game is only ever overly punishing if I completely screw up a scenario. Getting a handle on how everything operated in the game took roughly an hour going through all of the tutorials and since then, I’ve been familiarizing myself with the quirks and qualities of each engine. So what makes me stop and go in one train will work the same way for all of them. ![]() Though each different type of train has a unique control panel, they all feature coordinated controls. Each route features different engines to take control of, such as the A Class 166 and the BR Class 66. ![]() From Dovetail Games, Train Sim World is available now on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 and features three major routes from across the world: the Great Western Express in England, the S-Bahn railways of Germany, and the Northeast Corridor in New York and New Jersey. I honestly thought I was over needing those kinds of experiences a few years ago, but the past three weeks with Train Sim World have proven that to be incorrect. Those weren’t the experiences I usually dabbled in, but when I didn’t want to focus on something overwhelming, they fit the bill for what it was I needed. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was just another form of those great, relaxing, melt-the-day-away titles that I played after finals in college. I had a chuckle at the concept of a game having you do nothing but drive a bus and laughed out loud when I saw this series has been going strong since 2010. My curiosity to give this game a go actually began with a contest we had here on Destructoid giving away copies of Bus Simulator 18. That appreciation only grew with games like The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Ticket to Ride, Resident Evil 0, Paper Mario: Color Splash, and now Train Sim World. For all the years of train levels in platformers, shooters, and that steam engine you suplex in Final Fantasy VI, this would be the first time I would appreciate the marvel of the locomotive. The opening of that landmark title, where Rover chats me up on my way to my new, takes place on a train, and a pleasant one at that. That wouldn’t happen until Animal Crossing. It’s a lovely image, but it’s not when a fascination with trains began to bubble. I remember sitting there, looking out as the trees moved slowly by, the light peeking through the canopy illuminating the stream a few yards from the tracks. My family and I were on a day trip and the folks thought it would be a fun family activity. It was through the forests of Washington. I do remember the first time I rode a train, though. I don’t remember ever owning a Thomas the Tank Engine set as a child though I’m sure I did as it’s one of those toys that always finds its way into children’s bedrooms. Instead, I’m taking the BR Class 43 HST from Slough to Ealing Broadway in Train Sim World. They’re sitting there because every day after work when I need the stress of life to fall from my shoulders, I’m not killing orcs or shooting up enemy encampments. In fact, despite working a full-time job and doing all the preview and interviews I do for this site, I have more time than ever before. It’s not because I don’t want to play them or that I don’t have the time. They sit largely unplayed, maybe a couple dozen minutes spent with each title here and there. Titles like Nioh, Shadow of the Colossus, Gravity Rush 2, Uncharted 4, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for Switch, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. On the game shelf in my room, there exist some of the greatest video games of this generation. ![]()
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