You know those games that you reckon you could play forevermore? The ones that grab you from the get-go, tempting you in, day after day after day, as all manner of hours are invested. You know, games like Skyrim, games like Starfield. Okay, maybe not the latter.
Well, you could possibly add Train Valley 2: Community Edition to that list. It’s not just a really well put together train management and strategy puzzle game, but it’s absolutely chock-full of levels, stages, missions, objectives and content. In fact, it launches with nearly 300 of those stages in place from day one. Yes, THREE HUNDRED. By our reckoning, that could – and should – take you into the hundred hour plus bracket of play time. Not bad for a game that only sets you back £19.99, eh?
Before I go further, a bit of a disclaimer. I was a big fan of the original Train Valley: Console Edition that released on Xbox back in 2022. It was very much nailed on then that I’d find some admiration for Train Valley 2: Community Edition. And that’s most definitely been the case. You could say this is a game that I see myself playing, on and off, for a good few months yet.
That’s not necessarily because it’s all new and fresh though. Train Valley 2: Community Edition doesn’t do an awful lot that other railway management puzzlers haven’t done previously. Dropping you into a single stage level, your task is to send workers from certain parts of the land out to their place of work, taking on jobs, creating resources that can then be moved elsewhere. For every worker that reaches a required destination, you’ll get paid. For every resource that is then created, further cash will come your way. The ultimate goal is to line things up so that various end-level goals are completed and your city requirements are fulfilled.
To allow for the commute and movement of goods, a railway system is required. But each piece of track, bridge or tunnel costs money, and so the circle begins – lay track, send off workers, adjust track switches, earn cash, place more track until completion. That’s the basics in a nutshell.
Of course, things get much more varied than that. You’ll need to work out how best to navigate your railway across tricky terrain, as well as decide which of the various objectives you’re best focusing on first, all as you send locos this way and that. With each stage offering up five stars for completion levels, kicking back, overseeing the lands and then actioning your strategies is par for the course.
The base game campaign runs deep into some fifty levels. These take you through various eras of the railway – Steam, Industrial, Electrical, Globalization and Space ages – with each playing slightly differently to those that came before.
And it’s in that campaign where you’ll get used to how Train Valley 2: Community Edition plays; tutorial tips drip fed nicely. It means that you’ll never be at a loss as to how to build tracks, demolish them, create tunnels or bridges, upgrade locos or flick switches, working a combination of trigger, bumpers, face buttons and the like. We’d go as far to say that BlitWorks and Flazm have created an extremely tight game that just oozes in quality. Aside from a couple of very small issues, it’s easy to see that quality control and play testing has been at the top of their agenda. Train Valley 2 flows really well on console, with the UI extremely intuitive for controller work.
And frankly, for the minimal, low-poly visuals, it’s a joy to look at too. Train Valley 2 is really well detailed, ensuring that at all times you’ll know – at a glance – what is needed, what trains are heading where and the cargo they are hauling. With variety between the campaign stages, and then even more in the addition of extra content and Community levels, this is a game that looks much better than it really needs to.
Ah yes, that Community Edition tag. A generous helping of some near 150-odd extra stages, all seemingly complete with differing ideas means that Train Valley 2: Community Edition comes to console with all the content you could ever wish to see. Kudos again goes out to the teams behind it for going all-in with this launch. We’d have been more than happy with the standard campaign levels.
So what’s not to like? Well, not too much really. Perhaps the laying of track in the isometric view can be a little dodgy as you attempt to hit diagonals on your stick, but it’s something you fast get used to. And if things do go awry, it’s easy enough to delete a piece of track before it is actually placed. We also think that the additional community levels are probably best played after you’ve worked your way through the majority of stages found in the original base game; the jump in knowledge and switch in tact feels a bit big in the early stages. Get just ten or so stages under your belt though and you should be good to go.
It all means that Train Valley 2: Community Edition is a superb railway management puzzler. Initially complex, it all begins to come together in the most delightful of ways. When you consider the sheer number of levels, variety in objectives and strength of missions, we’re not sure there’s much that can beat it – especially not at the price.
Should you be looking for a game to while away the hours, keeping you travelling the tracks for weeks on end in the most relaxing of ways, Train Valley 2: Community Edition is that game.
