Whew… At first I was worried we weren’t getting a top 10 list this year, but a top 10 list with great Tom write-ups for each game is even better and worth the wait. Thanks Tom!
I’ve been thinking a lot about your Surviving Mars comparison, Craig, because Surviving Mars didn’t work for me for a couple of reasons. The main one was that I was knee deep into Aven Colony at the time, which has a lot of sci-fi whimsy whereas Surviving Mars was leaning into harder science. But I think the main distinction for me is one of motion and action. You make a great point in comparing Surviving Mars and Transport Fever 2 in terms of difficulty level, and I think they also compare for how much brain bandwidth they require, their levels of detail, and just their general lean-back-in-your-seat vibe.
But an important difference for me is that something is always moving around in Transport Fever 2. There’s always a train to watch, or a truck to ride. There’s always an impending delivery. There’s some of that in Surviving Mars, of course, with the little boxes being shuffled around by robots. That’s some sweet-ass logistics there. But a little robot drone is no match for a huffing rumbling locomotive dragging eight cars of coal through a bustling town.
I think that’s one of the reasons I responded more warmly to Transport Fever 2 than Surviving Mars. But I can see how both appeal on the same level.
-Tom
That’s so weird to me. It feels like a game system that got arbitrarily cut off at the knees. I wondered if anyone had done any modding to make a vehicle’s age more widely relevant, but browsing Steam mods, I just see a bunch of new trains and trucks and whatnot.
-Tom
Oh I very much get the appeal. I don’t get much gaming time, but what time I had from January to about April was solely spent playing Railroad Tycoon 3. So the raw kinetic appeal of a freight engine rumbling down the Napa Valley? I am totally on board. One of my favorite things to do, once I had ‘beaten’ a scenario and was waiting for the numbers to officially catch up was to pick a train and watch it end to end. Especially through the mountains. Going into the third person chase cam was sweet.
Surviving Mars hit both a mechanical style I enjoy, even mediocre or thematically uninvested tycoon style games have a baseline appeal of positive for me. 3 of the 4 games I played this year fit the type after all! But Surviving Mars is a theme near and dear to me, that I played at a time where I was all in on the setting. The fall into winter season for me this year has been dominated by it. Watching The Expanse seasons 3&4, reading Artemis and Red Mars, watching The Martian for the umpteenth time, Terraforming Mars, Surviving Mars, you get the idea. Truth is I have no earthly idea if Surviving Mars is even a good game. I don’t even actually care. All I know is I really enjoyed those cute little drones trundling over the Martian surface carrying cargo over their heads. Watching the first settlers come bounding joyous leaps over the Martian soil.
So the truth is Transport Fever is absolutely moving to the top of my Steam wishlist. Because when my near future space colonization interest wanes to merely very high from its current all encompassing state, I am certain I would enjoy watching that horse cart deliver cargo to the airport.
Even if that makes zero sense.
Right? It’s so funny how context has a hand in what we play/watch/enjoy. In fact, given a) how much I dig Terraforming Mars (it’s probably one of the most-played games in this house) and b) how I think I’m going to have to give the Expanse another shot (I bailed partway into the first season when it originally aired), and c) how much Paradox games change after they’re released, I suspect I’ll be revisiting Surviving Mars before too long.
I love how you put this, Craig. I think this should be the starting point for every discussion about any entertainment ever. :)
-Tom
Anyone played since the big patch this week? I dropped this a while back so I could actually make some progress on my backlog, and skimming the Steam forums it sounds a bit crashy. I’m also curious about the changes they say they made to line management.
Seems they’ve fixed a couple of my biggest interface complaints, which is good news.
I see planes, trains, and automobiles mentioned a lot. Does it feature much in the way of maritime logistics?