It’s that time of the year again, it’s time for another update in everyone’s favourite train simulation game. That’s right, find your conductor hats and wooden whistles, it’s time to dive back into Train Sim World. This is basically every ASD kid’s version of Madden or FIFA, which makes a lot of sense why I will happily sit down and go on a three hour train journey. Plus, for someone that’s working from home, it’s easy enough to do some work while making sure you get to your destination. At least, it used to be.

Train Sim World 6 brings arguably some of the biggest changes to this annual series that make it a lot more involved and hands-on than it’s ever been. This year, trains are able to have random faults and random events can happen across your routes. Faults are generally going to limit your speed until you restart the train, meaning you need to decide if you’re far enough away to justify stopping and doing the old “turn it off and back on” trick that apparently even solves train issues, or do you tough it out and wait until you make it to the station?

Keep in mind that this is all the while random events can happen that also slow you down, like signal delays or speed restrictions. While all this can be turned off, it means you can do some of the same routes multiple times and get a different feel for them. One time there might be no issues at all, the next maybe you’re nearly locked to 30mph because there are constant issues.

Of course, one of the questions will be with the update, does the game look better? I would say it does look pretty much the same. Which arguably, isn’t an issue. Train Sim World has always looked pretty decent, but it does seem like some of the lighting is a lot better than it has been, which during night services or when going through tunnels is a nice improvement. One of the biggest improvements though is the sound quality, specifically the ambient sounds that make a commuter train feel more like a commuter train. The busier a train is, the louder the ambient chatter is from the train, which in turn can maybe throw your focus off a little bit especially for any little dings to inform you of errors or faults.

While Train Sim World 6 is technically sold as a new game, the same way most sports games are, it’s more of an update. After playing the most recent Madden though, it’s clear how much more love and effort is put into Train Sim World each year to bring quality improvements from every aspect, making this update heavily recommended. 

 

Graphics: 6.5 This score doesn’t reflect the fact I think the game looks bad by any means, instead reflecting it looks very similar to the last installment with some updates like improved lighting and shadows.	Gameplay: 8.5 This is a series that has always been a lot of fun to pick up and play, and the addition of random faults and random events makes it more interesting than it has been in previous years. It’s a big improvement that adds a lot of replayibility to the innumerous amounts of routes available.
Sound: 7.0 Much like the graphics, the sounds are quite similar to the previous installment, but the addition to dynamic ambient noise makes the game much more immersive than ever before.	Fun Factor: 8.5 This is a series that has always been a lot of fun, and all the improvements with this years version brings a lot of replayibility and diversity to every time you play a route, while you can still play without the random events if you want the original experience.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Train Sim World 6 is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One.

Reviewed on Xbox Series X.

A copy of Train Sim World 6 was provided by the publisher.