If Unrailed! is not the first game to propose the installation of a railway track, it is on the other hand one of the only ones to ask us to do it even though the locomotive is already on the track and it is advancing inexorably! Therefore, it is for the player (or rather the players, we will come back to this) to build and place the rails quickly enough. For this, two major tools are at our disposal: the ax and the pickaxe which, by cutting into the trees and the rock, make it possible both to free a passage for the locomotive and to collect the wood and the iron necessary for the creation. new sections of railway track. The train is equipped with several wagons by default, the most basic of them being the one used to store resources, the one used to make rails, and the cistern, which stores water to prevent the locomotive from catching fire . Note that players must regularly carry a bucket from a water point to this cistern, otherwise all their efforts will go up in smoke. Progressing from one level to another allows you to obtain screws, which you can also pick up in lost corners of the map or win by completing secondary objectives (such as "only one player has the right to take the pickaxe ", "the train must not burn", "use less than 50 sections of track", etc.).
Between two levels, these screws can be spent to acquire new wagons. A truly strategic choice since the presence of a particular team will have a huge influence on the course of the rest of the game. The ghost car allows for example to pass through the train, and thus prevents players from finding themselves blocked by its passage when they wish to access a resource located on the other side. A car is responsible for automatically harvesting the resources placed at the edge of the rails, while another allows you to create dynamite to explode several blocks of forest or rocks at once. Note also the presence of a retarder car and even a cattle car. Animals indeed roam the sets, and it then becomes possible to carry them and bring them back to the train to obtain a strength bonus, and therefore become able to carry more resources at once.
THE LITTLE TRAIN IS GOING INTO THE COUNTRYSIDE…
Screws are also used to upgrade base wagons, for a larger tank, more extensive storage, or faster stretch construction. History to vary the pleasures even more, and to increase the difficulty, bandits can tumble on the map to steal our resources or even move the last rail of the railway. A few blows of an ax or a pickax are enough to overcome them, but the precious seconds lost in getting rid of these intruders can completely make us lose the game. The level of difficulty is quite high, and it is imperative to optimize our actions as well as possible to hope to see the end of the tunnel. The main game mode is called "infinite" and allows you to move from one biome to another, via the purchase of a new locomotive in the inter-level screen. Thus, the basic country decor initially gives way to the desert, which offers essentially aesthetic changes. The fir trees are replaced by palm trees and cacti, while camels come to take over from the cows. The next biome is winter, and this time the gameplay is heavily impacted. Not only does the layer of snow hamper visibility, but it also slows the walking speed of players, who are sure to rail against this devilish powder. It is therefore with relief that we leave it after a few levels for the Halloween biome, which turns out to be quite facetious. The absence of a body of water forces us to fill the bucket near geysers, enemies can transform us into ghosts and therefore waste our time, the lava forces us to create bridges of iron and not of wood, and sometimes even if the game screen bends partially or turns over completely, so you have to play sideways or upside down. The following biome changes the rules again since it plunges us into a spatial environment. It is then necessary to manage its level of oxygen, while jetpacks allow us to fly over the vacuum zones. Finally, the last biome takes place on Mars and adds enemy turrets.
THE COOP 'REASONS
The developers have therefore had the intelligence to offer several variations of gameplay, so as not to tire the players. Since early access, they have also added a bot to be able to play alone. But make no mistake, if this option is perfect for training, it is not enough at all to make the game interesting in solo. The concept of the game is only relevant to several people, and it is imperative to meet in twos, threes or fours if you want to have fun. Obviously, it is preferable to favor real friends with whom we can discuss the strategies to adopt. But Unrailed! remains perfectly practicable with dumb strangers, since it incorporates a simple and effective system of emoticons. Two icon wheels are at our disposal to display above our character a symbol of wood, iron, rail, dynamite, thumbs up or even "GG". The sixteen icons available cover almost all situations. Even if they sometimes lack readability (sometimes you lose sight of a tool after placing it on the ground), the cubic graphics are not lacking in charm and contribute to the good-natured atmosphere of the game, which for players of all ages. Moreover, the lowest difficulty mode is called "children". Likeable in many ways, Unrailed! However, it is wrong on several points. Starting with the absence of a scenario or a viable solo mode, which would have allowed solitary players to have fun. This point is all the more regrettable as there are relatively few players online, which complicates the search for partners. This lack of players can also certainly be attributed in part to the selling price of the title, set at twenty euros while we are dealing with an experience that is still very modest. At ten or fifteen euros, the quality/price ratio would have been much better and there would certainly be more players online...
