Railway Empire 2 Review (Erac Mac)
Multiple negative reviews - and they are valid - but I would start mine with this: if you have not played or do not own the Original Railway Empire, this would be a consideration.
As mentioned, there is much that is dumbed down from the previous title. I would argue most of the purchases of this new title will be players familiar with the franchise (such as it is). The tutorials that I completed were EXTREMELY BASIC, but they offered more detail than the original game. Also, there are some hidden gems of updates and upgrades to the gameplay, but if I had not plaid the EXTREMELY BASIC tutorial, I would not have known.
Refund - on hold for now. Although the number of reviews only lend to the dissatisfaction I have purchasing the deluxe version.
What is different - graphics are better (marginally), camera interaction is different but a bit wonky, and there some minor considerations of the gameplay that are improvements both within the mechanics and the UI. The topography of the map is also different - some of it seems exaggerated to real life, but also more varied than the first game.
My biggest issue is with the marketing of this title. I have been watching for the release, and knew the price would be - well, I wasn't surprised with the price. 2 different versions were offered, with the deluxe being very hard to decipher as to the difference and added value. I pre-purchased to save a few $, and find that additional DLCs were also release after the fact. One of the perks of the deluxe was the soundtrack. Ok - fine - I like music. When I go to download that particular perk, I was taken outside of STEAM to download from Kalypso's portal using a code and only had 60 mins to do it.
This little journey with the actual software, and how they have released "extra's" after getting buyers to bite on the pre-purchase really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Understand the mentality of "if you build it, they will come" buying approach, but this has the feeling of bait and switch.