Trainz Railroad Simulator 2022
- May 30, 2022
- N3V Games
- 39h median play time
Get on SteamCelebrating 20 Years of TrainzTrainz Railroad Simulator 2022 (TRS22) is the result of 20 years of development, making Trainz the longest running train simulator in the world. We've come a long long way and more and more people are discovering there's more to a train sim than just driving trains! With user-friendly world building tools, trains lets you build and operate your own railroad - and no…
Mac OS
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Reviews
- Driving trains feels good and is tons of fun, with amazing surveyor tools that allow for extensive route creation.
- The game has a rich community with a lot of free and paid content available, enhancing the overall experience.
- The graphics and editing tools are impressive, making it a great option for train enthusiasts and model railroad fans.
- The game suffers from poor optimization, frequent crashes, and slow download speeds for additional content unless a subscription is purchased.
- Many features and content are locked behind a subscription service, which feels exploitative and limits the experience for players who prefer to own their content outright.
- The user interface is confusing and lacks proper guidance, making it difficult for new players to navigate and enjoy the game.
- graphics80 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the high-quality visuals and realism, especially when settings are optimized, while others criticize them as outdated and glitchy, particularly for a 2022 release. Many users note that the game runs better on medium settings, but performance issues like low frame rates and rendering delays detract from the experience. Overall, while there are impressive graphical elements, the inconsistency in quality and performance leaves room for improvement.
“First of all you have very good graphics which makes the game feel realistic, you have both simple and realistic controls available to you and easy to use GUIs.”
“The graphics can be amazing with the right settings and the amount of community-created content compared to older Trainz games combined with the fact that you can create routes to be even better than before with Surveyor 2.0 makes the gameplay of TRS22 beyond limitless.”
“I'm thoroughly impressed by the graphics upgrade I've gotten by switching from T:ANE to TRS2022, but I was very happily surprised to see the new driver interface: it's similar to Train Simulator's HUD when you are in cab mode, but you still can have the simple/easy dial control when in DCC.”
“Visuals are poor for a game released in 2022; the tracks don't even load in until a few hundred feet ahead of the loco.”
“Not worth the hassle, graphics are ancient (doesn't look like on images), and seem just old.”
“The game itself runs horribly with frame rates that are frankly unacceptable, even though the visuals are universally worse than Train Simulator Classic.”
- gameplay18 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
Gameplay in the latest Trainz installment is a mixed bag; while it offers extensive tutorials and limitless potential through community content and route creation, many users report significant issues with scenarios not functioning properly and frequent crashes. Despite the nostalgia and some positive aspects, such as impressive graphics and mechanics, the high price and reliance on paywalls for additional content have led to dissatisfaction, with ratings averaging around 3.5 out of 10.
“I love the Trainz franchise, grew up with the very first one back in 2009-2010, and ever since then played the newer ones until the latest one. I still love the franchise; 10/10 gameplay and nostalgia.”
“The graphics can be amazing with the right settings, and the amount of community-created content compared to older Trainz games, combined with the fact that you can create routes to be even better than before with Surveyor 2.0, makes the gameplay of TRS22 beyond limitless.”
“Most of the offered scenarios did not work; some at a certain point in the gameplay, others from the beginning.”
“I had 12 crashes within 30 minutes of gameplay.”
“There are 10 in-sim tutorials that I highly recommend going through so you can understand the game mechanics and how to interact with the sim.”
- optimization18 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 22 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while many users report stable performance on mid-range and even non-gaming devices, others experience significant issues, particularly on higher-end setups, where frame rates struggle despite the game's age. The presence of too many assets can negatively impact performance, especially on lower-end PCs, leading to frustration among some players. Despite these concerns, improvements have been noted, including fixes for game-breaking bugs and enhanced camera settings.
“The current optimization is stable enough, as it runs smoothly on non-gaming devices.”
“New camera settings that add another layer to watching your locomotives, a certain game-breaking bug finally fixed (the one that crashes the game when you reach a certain speed) and improved optimization all around, along with a great selection of locomotives, rolling stock and routes to get you started.”
“Even on an M1 MacBook Air without some extremely expensive, fancy graphics card, the game still looks great and runs smoothly on medium settings.”
“I have never seen such a poorly optimized game in my whole life. I have an i7-13700K with a 3060 and can't get over 60 FPS when most of the train models were made ten years ago.”
“Highest resolution is 2560x1440 and the performance is really bad.”
“But, holy crap, this is unoptimized.”
- stability16 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has been widely criticized, with users reporting frequent freezes, crashes to the desktop, and numerous bugs, particularly with DLC content. Many players express frustration over the game's performance on high-end PCs and indicate a lack of reliable support or information from the developers. Overall, the game's stability issues have led some users to consider switching to other simulations or waiting for future updates.
“Freezes constantly and drops to the desktop.”
“DLCs purchased via Steam for TRS19 and TANE will work, but are very, very buggy.”
“I will be trying a different sim, hopefully one that works so I can actually enjoy it instead of being frustrated by the lack of information and abundance of buggy content.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, often requiring significant time investment. Many feel that the developers could improve the experience by allowing in-game content deletion with warnings for necessary items, and the transition to Trainz Plus adds to the frustration with cumbersome data porting.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“It is a tedious process and unnecessarily so when the developers could allow you to delete content in-game and give a warning message if any content you are about to delete is needed.”
“Not to mention, because Trainz Plus is a separate 'game', you have to go through the tedious process of trying to port your existing data from your current Trainz version into Trainz Plus.”
- monetization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game is criticized as a cash grab, featuring confusing options and multiple versions that appear similar but differ significantly. Reviewers warn of misleading advertising practices, suggesting that the company should face consequences for its approach.
“It's absolutely just a cash grab with confusing options and different versions that feel like they do the same, but in the end, they don't.”
“Beware of this company's misleading advertising; this company should be banned from Steam.”
- story4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a story, with multiple users noting the absence of any narrative elements.
“No story.”
“No story.”
- humor4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the reviews stems from the absurdity of paying a high annual fee for a niche game that promises extensive DLC, only to find that most of it is bugged, outdated, or of poor quality. This irony highlights the disconnect between the game's marketing and the actual user experience, leading to a comedic take on the situation.
“This isn't in itself a red flag as these things happen, but add that to everything else and it's just hilarious.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users highlight the game's high replayability, noting it offers more engaging gameplay compared to Trainz 19, making it a worthwhile purchase.
“Very worth buying, more replayable than Trainz 19.”
- music2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is characterized by its relaxing main menu theme, which has been positively noted by users for creating a calming atmosphere.
“The relaxing main menu music sets a calming tone for the entire game experience.”
“I love the relaxing main menu music; it really helps me unwind before diving into the gameplay.”
“The soothing main menu music creates a perfect atmosphere, making it a joy to start the game.”
