Choo-choo! I’ve bee down the rabbit hole of Train Valley 2 recently, a cute puzzler with a dash of tycoon thrown in for good measure. And yes, it’s something I’d heartily recommend you check out.

It’s a simple game at heart. A city requires some resources, and you have to deliver said resource to the city. Easy! Just build some train tracks, and link together the production locations to the city, right?

Not so fast, this is a puzzle game after all. Anywhere that produces anything needs workers from the city, while the more advanced production facilities require their fair share of raw materials to create their products.

So, tracks are laid, workers are shuffled back and forth, goods are sent to factories and cities and everybody is happy!

That might be so, but then you notice that to reach a key factory you need to build a bridge or a tunnel. Structures which require a whole load of money, money that you don’t have because you bought an extra locomotive to run the rails and had upgraded your starting loco.

There’s no need to panic, you just need to make some money. Every train that reaches a suitable destination will earn you money. A loco pulling three worker carriages will put $3,000 in your account when it arrives at a production facility. A train taking logs to a saw mill will be worth $6,000, regardless of whether you actually need any more planks of wood for delivery, or another factory.

You put your mind to it, and soon enough you have enough money to reach your final destination. Imagine it now, your gold ore has been turned into gold ingots and arrives at your city. You’ve done it! You’ve delivered everything you need to complete the level.

Well done you.

It’s just a shame that you upgraded one of your locomotives in the search for a faster train that could pull more carriages. You’ve realised that by having to scrape together all of your pennies, you’ve spent half an hour on one level.

It dawns on you that despite finishing the level, and moving onwards to the Industrial Age, you didn’t meet any of the mission objectives. It doesn’t matter too much, but that nagging part of your brain shouts “you could do better”.

And you do, you return to the level you have just completed. You pay attention to the objectives, take your time scouring the landscape for the best route to lay your track on and smash your previous best time, earning some lovely stars for your efforts.

It’s then that you realise you’ve been playing for four hours straight, and are only a quarter of the way through the 50 Career levels, and you haven’t even started to make your own or look on the Steam Workshop for more.

Your life, as you know it, is now dedicated to the Valley.

The Verdict – Headshot

Platforms Available/Reviewed – PC

Review based on Steam media account copy. Read here for more on our scoring system.