SimRail - The Railway Simulator

[b]As a railway enthusiast, I really wanted to love SimRail. And to be fair, the game has a very solid foundation and moments where it truly shines.[/b] The train models are beautifully detailed, and the driving physics are satisfying. Driving through familiar regions brings a genuine smile to my face - at least initially (more on that later). Another huge plus is the dispatcher mode, which is incredibly engaging and quickly became one of my favorite features. But the absolute peak of SimRail is the multiplayer. Listening to the player radio chatter and experiencing unscripted situations with other players breathes some much-needed life into the game. [b]However, that illusion of life shatters pretty quickly when you look closer.[/b] Even the multiplayer, which I praise for its concept, suffers from severe immersion-breaking issues. For starters, there are NO passengers inside the trains - you are essentially driving empty ghost trains across the map. To make matters worse, train movement is often noticeably laggy and stuttery, which is a total immersion killer in a game that relies so heavily on realism. Then there are the technical issues. We are dealing with occasional bugs - some of which have been known for years - where the community's accepted workaround is still just "restart the game." Remember those familiar routes I praised earlier? They are becoming severely outdated. The areas around Katowice, Sosnowiec, and Będzin have undergone massive changes in reality over the last few years, but the game is stuck with the old track layouts and outdated city scenery. And this leads me to my biggest problem with SimRail... [b]Is the base game even being actively developed anymore?[/b] The map is full of holes. We are missing crucial features like shunting, and various systems remain completely unimplemented. Rail track in base game is quite short. It’s incredibly hard to find a clear roadmap or see what the developer is actually preparing next - except for DLCs. SimRail is slowly turning into a "DLC simulator." Every "update" seems to just be paid content. Normally, I have no problem supporting developers for ongoing development, but here, that core development is missing. Old bugs aren't being fixed, and optimization leaves a lot to be desired in many areas (which might be tied to an outdated version of the Unity engine). [b]Conclusion:[/b] I sincerely hope the developers come to their senses and return to fixing and developing their game. Until the base game gets the love and updates it desperately needs, I have zero interest in buying DLCs for a product in this state. I cannot recommend SimRail at this moment. Honestly, I kind of regret not buying Derail Valley instead.