Unrailed!
A cooperative railroad-building game with roguelike elements.
Unrailed! is a cooperative construction game developed by Swiss studio Indoor Astronaut and published by Daedalic Entertainment. It entered early access in September 2019 and was fully released in September 2020 for multiple platforms, with a Chinese release handled by Bilibili. The game is notable for its blend of railroad building, resource management, and roguelike elements, supporting up to four players in local or online multiplayer.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Action
- Title
- Unrailed!
- Developer
- Indoor Astronaut
- Publisher
- Daedalic Entertainment
- Engine
- MonoGame
- Platforms
- Linux · macOS · Windows · Nintendo Switch · PlayStation 4 · Xbox One
- Released
- September 23, 2020 / Xbox One / October 27, 2020
- Modes
- Single-player · multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Unrailed! originated as a student project during the Game Programming Lab 2018 at ETH Zurich. After receiving positive feedback at the semester's final presentation, the prototype was selected to join the SwissGames delegation at Gamescom 2018 in Cologne. Indoor Astronaut received support from the Ludicious Business Accelerator and Pro Helvetia, the latter enabling the team to attend Game Connection 2018 in Paris, where they met future publisher Daedalic Entertainment. Daedalic financed the remainder of development and handled promotion and distribution. The game's early access release, originally planned for summer 2019, was postponed after the developers met Chinese publisher Bilibili at GDC 2019 in San Francisco and signed a contract for distribution in China, pushing the release to September 2019. The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 ports were developed by Sickhead Games, while the Nintendo Switch port was handled internally by Indoor Astronaut to maintain quality control. A sequel, Unrailed 2: Back on Track, was announced in November 2023 and entered early access in November 2024, with a full release planned for June 2026.
Reader's Guide
Unrailed! received generally favorable reviews on Windows and mixed or average reviews on Nintendo Switch according to Metacritic, while OpenCritic reported strong approval with 61% of critics recommending the game. Its significance lies in its cooperative gameplay that requires up to four players to gather resources, lay tracks, and upgrade a train to prevent derailment across procedurally generated terrain. The game offers five modes—endless, versus, fast, sandbox, and time—each presenting distinct objectives. Roguelike elements such as limited saves and resource management add replayability. The game's development journey from a student project to a commercially published title, supported by Swiss cultural funding and international partnerships, highlights its context within the indie game scene of the late 2010s. Awards include the Swiss Game Awards Audience Choice Award (2020), Taipei Game Show Best Innovation Award (2020), a nomination for the Deutscher Computerspielpreis (2020), and third place in the TOMMI Children Software Award (2019).
More in Sandbox Games of the 2010s 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced