Railway Islands Review

Railway Islands is a relaxing puzzle game by Brazilian developers Moraes Game Studio in which the objective is to construct a track winding around various small islands, in order for a train to make deliveries and ultimately exit the level through a tunnel. With the games simple visual style, and colourful, hexagonally segmented islands catching my eye (and the low price!) I decided to climb aboard to see if Railway Islands would make me ride the rails to relaxation, or derail into frustration.

Each level works in the same way; looking down on each of the game's 50 islands from an isometric view, you must place each piece of railway track into the correct position so that it can chug along past each of the three or four stations before making its way to a tunnel to exit the level. Leaving the level before making every delivery means starting over, so don’t try to take a shortcut and leave a town without its diamonds! Or cookies… Or doughnuts… I have no idea what type of train delivers these things, but I want to ride it.

Many good puzzle games have controls that are simplistic, allowing anyone to quickly jump in and play; Railway Island is no exception. Everything can be done with just a mouse: click one hexagonal section after selecting another, and the two pieces will swap places, the scroll wheel rotates a track piece when it’s in place, and the right mouse button controls the camera. That’s it, a control scheme that is as simple as it can be whilst still allowing the player to perform everything within the game. Granted, there isn’t a lot you can do in Railway Island, but for a short, grid based puzzler, it does the job perfectly.

Tracks must be placed in a very specific order, there isn’t any room for creativity and freedom here. You’ll find standard straight and curved track pieces, as well as bridges, cross-sections, and splitters that will change direction once you travel over them (some requiring several pass overs before they change to really get you thinking). Far from the most complex puzzle game, Railway Island still manages to provide some challenge now and again, meaning you’ll potentially be experimenting on different set-ups of unfinished tracks after noticing you’ve missed an all important station. Experimentation is almost encouraged with the way the game works: the train derails if a track isn’t connected properly, the screen goes black for a second and off you go again to figure out what went wrong. The use of the quick restart, or the option to speed your train up also helps with these test runs.

Graphically, Railway Island has a cute, simplistic look to it. The user interface is clean and shows all that needs to be shown without cluttering up the screen. The vibrant colours and blocky, almost toy-like aesthetic works perfectly for a game of this scale, and the occasional boat chugging on by or plane flying overhead are nice little additions that really makes it feel like a toy playset come to life.

One of the most important aspects of unwinding is what sounds you can hear around you, and wow, Railway Islands' soundtrack is like something you’d hear in a meditation class. The tinkling of the piano combined with birdsong and ocean waves lapping lazily against the islands is something I could fall asleep to. Seriously, I was so impressed at the games ability to relax me through its music alone — doubly impressive when I remember all the times I’ve rage quit and looked up a guide for a puzzle I just couldn't solve (I’m looking at you, Monkey Island). Even the clicks and “whooshes” when you select or swap a piece seem to add to the general ambience, this is a stress free zone, and it makes helping the little red steam engine that much more enjoyable.

There’s just something so pleasing to see the tiny train wind around the track you created for it, even the wonkiness of the animation as it rounds corners isn’t enough to detract from the feeling of zen when you realise you’ve put all the pieces in the correct place and await the train to pass through the tunnel, ending the level. I enjoy puzzle games, but for such a low price I didn’t expect I would have enjoyed Railway Islands as much as I did.