Railroads & Catacombs

About

Railroads & Catacombs is a single player role playing game. It was developed by MadRails and was released on June 6, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

"Railroads & Catacombs" is a strategy action game in Early Access, where you navigate a locomotive through a sinister world, battling creatures and bosses. Assemble and manage a crew from 5 classes, each with unique abilities, and choose from over 120 card upgrades for combat. Your goal is to escape this dangerous land by finding safe havens and upgrading your train for survival.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

88%

Audience ScoreBased on 114 reviews

graphics14 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The game features a unique blend of deckbuilding and tactical combat, reminiscent of Darkest Dungeon, but with a more forgiving difficulty curve.
The art style and atmosphere are highly praised, creating an engaging and immersive experience.
The developer is responsive to feedback and actively working on improvements, showing great potential for future updates.

The game can feel repetitive and grindy, with limited character variety and a lack of engaging narrative elements.
There are balance issues among classes, leading to some being significantly stronger than others, which can affect gameplay experience.
The user interface and explanations for game mechanics are often unclear, making it difficult for players to fully understand the game.

graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
22%
14%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their beautiful art style, reminiscent of "Darkest Dungeon," featuring dark, dimmed aesthetics and unique character designs. While the visuals are a strong point, some reviewers note the need for additional content and sound effects, as well as the absence of background music, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the combination of striking visuals and engaging mechanics creates a compelling atmosphere, though further polishing is desired.
- “The graphics are beautiful; the sound design is good, but it lacks any background music.”
- “Awesome game, love the dark dimmed aesthetics, original and disturbing enemies in this steampunk obscured world.”
- “Pros: art style is amazing, card combat is good with many twists to it, multiple characters to play with, the train upgrades are great as well, plenty of diversity in its 3 main components: combat, resource gathering, and managing the train.”
- “But for this price it's absolutely worth it, I just hope the devs don't fall behind their updates because the game needs a lot of work; the art style can't hold up a game for long.”
- “Picked this game up recently after seeing the art style reminding me a bunch of Darkest Dungeon.”
- “It shares an aesthetic with Darkest Dungeon and has similar expedition and permadeath mechanics, so be careful out there in the labyrinth!”
gameplay
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
25%
15%
The gameplay is heavily inspired by Darkest Dungeon, featuring similar expedition and permadeath mechanics, along with a unique deck-building system that adds depth to battles. While the mechanics are generally well-received and enjoyable, early access balance issues, particularly regarding class strengths, and a need for more content and polish have been noted. Overall, players appreciate the engaging gameplay and aesthetic, likening it to the fun and challenge of Darkest Dungeon.
- “The mechanics are great, it's a solid card game, nice ideas and battles are fairly balanced.”
- “An absolutely brilliant game with a Darkest Dungeon vibe (as many have mentioned) with a very unique deck building mechanic.”
- “It's got that exciting fresh Darkest Dungeon feel with a whole bunch of interesting new game mechanics.”
- “There are definitely early access balance issues, most notably that only the gambler has access to draw mechanics and only the furtive has access to action economy, making the magician far and away the most overpowered class in the game.”
- “Sanity mechanic similar to Darkest Dungeon.”
- “It shares an aesthetic with Darkest Dungeon and has similar expedition and permadeath mechanics, so be careful out there in the labyrinth!”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Many users find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively repetitive, detracting from the overall enjoyment. While the gameplay can be fun, the grindiness is a common complaint that may lead to a less engaging experience.
- “My main complaint is that it is very grindy, which makes it too repetitive for my tastes.”
- “In short, fun, but repetitive and grindy at the moment.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The game's story is appreciated for its unique approach within the deckbuilding genre, reminiscent of titles like "Deck of Ashes" and "Iratus." However, players express a desire for a more developed narrative to provide context for their exploration of the dark world. Overall, while the storytelling is engaging, it could benefit from deeper narrative elements.
- “Highly recommended if you're into deckbuilding along the lines of Deck of Ashes, Iratus, etc., and that type of art, building, storytelling, etc., but still unique and stands on its own at the same time.”
- “It's a nice roguelike game; maybe we also need some story to tell players why we explore this dark world.”
- “It's a nice roguelike game, but we really need some story to explain to players why we are exploring this dark world.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is generally stable and mostly free of bugs, even though it is still in early access.
- “It is a solid, mostly bug-free game that is still in early access.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game features beautiful graphics and good sound design; however, it is criticized for the absence of background music, which detracts from the overall experience.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the sound design is good, but it lacks any background music.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players finding it solid and entertaining, despite some paths feeling slightly underdeveloped.
- “Right now some paths feel a bit undertuned, but the game is solid and funny.”