- Humans died (sorry, humans), but animals formed a society
- It is necessary to connect animal communities in a timely and efficient manner
- Stay green to avoid flood risks and expanding industrial districts
Hello and welcome to Ahead of the Game, a series where we tell you all about an upcoming game that, despite not being out yet, is available to you upon release. Through this series, you can have the chance to play the games long before the release date, via Soft Launch, Open Beta, Demo or otherwise.
Cowleyfornia Studios, creators of We'll Always Have Paris (which we awarded a Gold Award in 2022) have announced their next project: Iron Roads. It's a rail network simulation strategy game focused on carefully laying out rail tracks and routes, maintaining (and optimizing) an ever-growing rail network.
Now, this might all sound pretty basic, or even familiar – perhaps too close to Mini Metro for your tastes – but there are a couple of twists that clearly set it apart from its contemporaries.
For starters, I bet you thought you'd be carrying human passengers (err, training?). You would be wrong, in this case they are actually animals. Humans have a role here, although it's purely precautionary since they're all dead as a result of messing up the world (well done).
Various animals have survived and appear to have some sort of enhanced intelligence now, even though they have kept to themselves, living in their own communities and not going out into the rest of the world. That ends now, though, when you take on the role of some sort of Amtrak champion and connect cities and factories.
But, but, but. The clear environmental warnings in the story tie into the game. The world of Iron Roads reacts to the choices you make and the shortcuts you take. If you rely too much on fossil fuels or focus on factories, waters will take up more of the world or industrial districts will swell, filling the map and limiting your choices.
Well, that actually sounds a lot different than what you were thinking, right?
There are three different modes planned for Iron Roads: Scenarios, Infinite and Challenges, however it is still in active development and is not fully complete at this time.
So how can you play Iron Roads?
There are a few options right now. First, a demo is available on the developer's website. Second, you can sign up for a TestFlight version of the iOS build. Finally, you can join the developer's Discord, which is the best way to get early access to Android for testing.