‣ Station to Station
From: Galaxy Grove, Prismatika
Platforms: PC
Release: 2023
Steam Page • Demo Video
You enjoy games with trains, but find all that management sim stuff too convoluted or distracting? The upcoming puzzle game Station to Station hears you. It strips out the management elements, leaving you to lay down tracks and tiny choo-choos across a colourful landscape. Beat each level by connecting farms, factories and towns, scoring more for clever combinations.
Station to Station is a puzzle experience: you must connect different sites without bankrupting yourself. The locations for each map are set; your job is to connect them without any overlaps. You cannot remove a railway line, so you have to think ahead or restart if you hit a dead end. In a sense, this game is a connect-the-dots puzzle title themed after railways. Station to Station is surprisingly relaxing, pleasant to look at, and a bit of a brain-teaser without going overboard. It’s due for release in 2023.
Explore The Game with Youtube Chapters:
📽 00:20 Level 1: A quick tutorial
📽 00:53 Our first railroad: Get that line down
📽 02:28 Tricky terrain: Navigate the hills
📽 04:26 Networks: Everything connects
📽 06:10 Level 2: A bit bigger
📽 07:05 Spend some cards: Play what you’re dealt
📽 08:27 Build a bridge: Height is no barrier
📽 09:09 Cities: Everything leads to them
📽 13:16 Level 3: The training wheels are off
📽 15:11 Creating hubs: Logistics! (not really)
📽 17:00 Stack bonuses: Stack to score
📽 18:22 Getting crowded: So many buildings…
📽 21:34 A look around: Enjoy the scenery
AIIG's Take: There’s a hypnotic quality to building train tracks, which explains the popularity of train management games. And while Station to Station is strictly a puzzle game, it shares that same zen quality. The minimalist voxel-style graphics are very colourful and homely, fitting the game’s theme just perfectly. It’s fun to finish a level then zoom in to look at the details, especially since the game becomes more colourful as you connect different areas.
The best puzzle games take a few simple ideas and combine them to create ever-more challenging levels. Station to Station definitely has this potential: weaving tracks without crossing them becomes more challenging with different maps and building distributions. The game also adds special cards that give you cost reductions and other bonuses; use these strategically to beat levels and reach extra milestones. Overall, the demo’s three levels make a very strong case for this puzzle title. We loved playing it and we look forward to the full game’s release.
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