Solo Dev's Train Sim Created Is Being Called The Best Ever Made

Running Train is a highly realistic train simulation set in a fictional region of Japan, created with detailed care that makes the environment feel like real life. The game offers multiple routes, including ten 12-minute runs on the Fukugawa Line and 32 routes on the Sankai Main Line with varied lengths from six to 44 minutes, each set at different times of day. Players control speed, braking, and prompt, safe station arrivals, with scoring and credit affected by performance. Guides and UI can be turned off to earn higher scores. A free camera mode allows watching the simulation play itself, while the world features logically placed infrastructure, traffic, and parked vehicles.

"I spent a rather embarrassing amount of time trying to match up Running Train's hyper-realistic train lines and Japanese terrain with the real world. And in doing so, I paid the game the highest possible compliment. This extraordinarily realistic sim made by one-person development team Novatetsu Games is in fact set in a fictional region of Japan, but is created so lovingly that you'll believe it's real life."

"Played properly, Running Train asks you to carefully control your speed, braking, and prompt, safe arrival at train stations, and rewards or penalizes you accordingly. By turning off in-game guides and even the UI, you can earn higher scores and more credit, contributing to your overall rating for each of the 42 different routes it currently features."

"These routes feature ten 12-minute routes on the fictional Fukugawa Line, and a further 32 of hugely varying length on the equally made up Sankai Main Line. They can be as short as six minutes, or as long as 44, each set at different times of day."

"And oh my goodness, it's so pretty. Vast stretches of imagined Japanese towns and countryside have been created (40 kilometers of track, apparently), and it's not just randomly placed assets. Jumping into that free camera, I couldn't believe it when I noticed that even powerlines are logically placed, with wires beginning at substations, then stretching across pylon networks. Roads are filled with traffic, cars are parked in bays outside"

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