Do you like trains? And nice animation? And dogs? And riddles? And video games? Of course you do, which is why you’ll like it Railbound as much as me.
Released this week for PC, Mac, iOS and Android, Railbound is a puzzle game where you separate a cute little train out of his cute little carriages and asks you to get everyone back together as quickly and cleanly as possible. As a disembodied railroad engineer, you must relocate a limited number of tracks in such a way that the carriages not only get back to the train, but, above all, get there in order.
track boundaries‘ Trailer explains what I’m talking about:
This game is Marvelous. The puzzles are beautiful and challenging, and increase in complexity at just the right rate, but it’s the presentation that sets them apart. The trains don’t just run, they jerk. They don’t just lay tracks, they burst upon landing. Everything is cute and fun and has a real sense of tangibility, like we’re messing around with a board game or some clunky kid’s toy.
There are over 150 stages to complete, most of which are presented as a linear campaign, but some exist as unlockable alternatives to this. And it’s the timing element of the puzzles that makes the difference here; It’s often not a big deal to just hook up the carts, but hooking them up in the right order can be a nightmare that requires all sorts of trial and error.
Luckily things never become real frustrating; It’s so easy to take a step back or restart a puzzle, and everything is so bright and cheerful and playful – aided by the chilled-out soundtrack – that you can spend ages getting it all wrong, but still nothing but feel joy.
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While the game is “out” this week, there’s more content coming later in 2022, with the developers promising: “new worlds with a brand new mechanic” (semaphores) along with “Accessibility fixes, including a color blind mode”.
