About This Game

Your goal is to set up an efficient rail network that keeps your passengers happy and on-time

Iron Roads is a top-down 2D train management game in which you lay tracks, buy trains, and set their routes until you have an efficient network carrying passengers and cargo between your towns and factories. Run your enterprise efficiently while avoiding backlogs, jams, bankruptcy, and angry passengers, and you'll be recognised for the unsung train hero you know you are.

Who are your passengers?

The humans have been wiped off the face of the planet. The other animals survived and thrived, but have been too afraid to leave their towns.

Here’s where you come in.

You’ve been asked to set up train networks connecting the animals' towns and industries. To avoid following the humans to their fate, you’ll need to preserve the environment, but that is not as easy as it sounds on a map that reacts to your actions. For example, powering trains with fossil fuels allows for easy expansion, but comes at the cost of rising seas. And while there is easy money to be found serving industry over passengers, factories can quickly overwhelm the landscape, leaving little space for anything else.



Iron Roads is being actively developed, but it is currently incomplete. The demo is a slice of the game that will arrive in Early Access. You can download it and play now. If you do, we'd love to hear from you: what you liked, what you didn't and what you think we could change.

Choose between 3 modes of play

Scenarios: Hand-crafted experiences with distinct narratives and gameplay features

Endless mode: A low-pressure game where you set parameters and play the way you want

Challenges: Play time-bound challenges to compete for a spot on the highscore board

Things you can do in Iron Roads right now

Keep passengers happy Set up a fast transport network that will get your erudite animal passengers to their destination on time

Carry cargo Transport goods cheaply and efficiently in complex production chains

Enjoy a minimalistic interface It is easy to learn, but that allows for many happy hours optimising and building your networks

Listen to the sound of your network Music in Iron Roads is a combination of notes generated from your trains and passengers, and authored melodies. The music you hear will be as unique as the layouts you build

Accept contracts Scenarios come with a grant system where you can follow focussed goals if you wish to earn extra money and get the satisfaction of ticking off a to-do list

Performance graphs The main goal of Iron Roads is to optimise your network, so you may wish to use the charts to analyse data relating to your finances and passengers

Build large, complex networks Or small-to-medium sized networks, if that's what floats your boat

Features we plan to add to Iron Roads during Early Access

This is far from a complete list, but some of the more commonly requested features on our roadmap:

• Further content: Iron Roads already has a number of hand-crafted scenarios, timed challenges and an endless mode, but we plan to expand each during Early Access
  
• Multiplayer
  
• Mod support
  
• Weather events that will test the resilience of your network

Iron Roads will not have

• Buses, boats, planes or any other form of transport
  
• 3D graphics: our focus is on allowing you to build large networks easily, and we find 2D better for that
  
• NFTs, lootboxes or microtransactions

Games we were inspired by

• OpenTTD
  
• Mini Metro
  
• Two Point Hospital
  
• Lets Build a Zoo
  
• Opus Magnum

Iron Roads is being developed by a BAFTA-nominated husband-and-wife team, Marina and Duncan. You can find out more about us and our work on our website.