Game: Blocks Tracks Trains
Genre: Casual, Simulation
System: Steam (Windows & Linux)
Developers | Publishers: splenbit
Controller Support: Keyboard & Mouse
Price: US $ 7.99| UK £6.37 | EU € 7,31
Release Date: November 3rd, 2022
Review code used, with many thanks to PR Hound.
Released in 2022, Blocks Tracks Trains is a simulation and sandbox train set diorama. Where you build in a voxel world, create voxel buildings, set up your track network, and watch your trains go. Well, that’s the theory, but how exactly does it play? Let’s find out.
Build Everything
Think of a miniature train set, and you will know what Blocks Tracks Trains is about. In this game, you build everything yourself from scratch; it doesn’t come in a box with pre-made tracks and buildings.
Instead, it is a leisurely game where you can build anything, as everything is left up to you to do at your own pace.
Blank Canvas
So first, you start with a blank canvas of a map of the land after the game randomly generates a small, medium, or even massive slab of land and water.
Here you can terraform the land to the shape you require by adding different types of terrain, such as grass, concrete and water and adding in colours. I found this fun, as I could shape the terrain and tint everything with different colours.
Once you have the land sitting how you want, you can construct buildings such as a station and houses and create villages and small towns.
Start Designing and Building
You can build directly onto the terrain or use the defined grids, or scaffolding, as it’s called. Using it allows anything you build to be copied, rotated and moved elsewhere on the map.
Furthermore, you can add props and little people to bring your creation to life. Finally, you add your railway lines and build your trains on the track.
Adding the tracks is pretty easy, unlike other games in a similar vein I have played. You have the freedom and the controls (mouse) to drag the track and shape it however you please. Then, you can sit back, watch the train go around the track, and feel pride in your creation.
Frequent Updates
Blocks Tracks Trains solo developer continually updates the game, so kudos to him for that! Often developers abandon their game once released, so it’s good to see the care going into it and improvements. For instance, Steam Workshop support was added in a recent update.
Unfortunately, folk who have never experienced a game/simulation like this will feel a little lost playing this game. It does not have a tutorial of any shape or form. It has a screen informing you of the mouse controls, and that’s it. Additionally, I don’t see any casual player picking this up due to the lack of instructions, as they will be lost entirely.
Though the UI has everything you need to use, it could be better labelled; at the moment, it’s very minimal and basic. While I had fun messing around in the game, and I’m happily left to my own devices to get on with things, some players will need directions. Maybe the addition of a few scenarios would help with that.
Blocks Tracks Trains also has no soundtrack or music, which I found odd, probably because every game I have played does have a soundtrack. But, as they say, the silence was deafening, so I listened to my music while playing with trains.
Conclusion
Overall, Blocks Tracks Trains has the beginnings of a great sandbox toy. Furthermore, a few tweaks here and there with the UI and adding music would be an excellent addition. However, this one is more a toy than a game so it won’t be for every player.
Final Verdict: I like it 