Station to Station Preview (PC): Build Railways and Steam Through Colorful Biomes

I play a lot of game thanks to my job, but I try to reserve the last few hours before I go to sleep for a cozy game. Station to Station is that kind of relaxing game that doesn’t force players to think too much. Although it does have some challenges that you can strive to complete if you want, the content isn’t gated behind them, so you can advance to the next level without achieving the results the game expects you to.

The core mechanic of the game involves connecting various buildings around a map. These buildings can be farms, mills, cities or dairy farms, and connecting them will give you a little bit of money that you can then use to build more stations, railways and bridges.

While you don’t actually pay for trains or choose the types of train you want to add to a connection, in some scenarios you can opt for a heavy freighter instead of a normal one to make more money. What makes the gameplay loop interesting is that you’re only given a few buildings to connect at a time, so you don’t really know when the next ones will pop up.

If you’re obsessed over positioning and want everything to look good, you’ll probably have to replay many of the levels. The beauty of Station to Station is that levels don’t take too long to finish, and the game doesn’t punish players for not optimizing their railways.

There are only a few levels available in the preview version, but it’s enough to give you an idea of what to expect. You start small with just a few buildings to connect and finish the first level after connecting about a dozen. Maps are large enough, so you don’t have to worry about space.

Ideally, you’ll want your railways to be as short as possible to save money, but the end goal is to have all your buildings connected. As I mentioned, you start with just a few buildings that must be connected. For example, a mill must be connected with a wheat farm. Some of these building produce goods that are needed in a “city.” Cities are the best way to make money, so it’s best to connect them last to the buildings that produce the items they need. It will boost the amount of money by a lot, especially if you’re adding a heavy freighter.

Although it’s a cozy game at its core, Station to Station does have some fun challenges to incentivize players to do better level after level. These challenges require you to finish a level with a certain amount of money, use only a limited number of discount cards, or connect buildings that produce four different resources at the same time.

The optional challenges pop up starting with the second level after you’ve familiarized yourself with the gameplay loop. You’ll have to learn to stack bonuses and make use of every unique mechanic to complete many of these challenges, but you’re free to replay the level if you didn’t quite understand how these mechanics work.

Sadly, these challenges don’t award players anything, but perhaps developer will add some sort of leaderboards in the final version of the game, so that players can see their scores. For now, these are just meant to add a little bit of challenge for those who love to be put to the test.

Apart from putting your management and planning skills to the test, Station to Station doesn’t have much else to offer if you’re looking for something to put your brain to work. In fact, Station to Station does the opposite, so if you’re looking for a minimalist and relaxing game, this certainly fits the genre.

To make the experience cozier, developers have opted for a colorful voxel art style. The trains and buildings look very well, and the inclusion of multiple biomes makes Station to Station a really pretty game.

Conclusion

The best way to describe Station to Station is a minimalist, cozy simulation game aimed at players who are looking for relaxation or mental stimulation. It’s pretty clear from the first few levels that developers wanted to offer players the best of both worlds, so even if you’re a competitive person, you might find Station to Station interesting.

It would be too much to call this a train simulator, but if you don’t might playing a light railway sim, Station to Station might be what you’re looking for. I had a lot of fun with the game, although the demo is a bit on the short side. Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam if you like the demo.