Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-10-22 12:36 (JST)
Translated by. Ryuki Ishii

ARTDINK announced the Steam version of A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism. It will come out on December 7. This is a port of the game that first came out for the Nintendo Switch in March. The PC version will add new features and high-resolution textures.

* Trailer for the Nintendo Switch version

A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism is the latest title in the A-Train series which is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary. It is a follow-up to the Nintendo 3DS title A-Train 3D: City Simulator. The player takes the role of president in a railroad company to manage its business, engage in urban development, financing, stock trade, and experience the railroad-centric city-building. The character design is handled by Yuji Himukai, who has worked on the Etrian Odyssey series.

A tourism theme has been introduced to this game, allowing for advanced town planning through the development of tourist attractions. More tourists will visit as you connect railroads and bus routes from other cities to tourist spots. With this new tourism theme, it is now possible to not only develop a conventional metropolis, but also to develop a tourism-based city with beautiful sceneries and historical attractions.

The game system and the new tourism theme were well received when the Nintendo Switch version of the game came out, while numerous bugs pulled its legs. Those issues were addressed, and a number of improvements were made through multiple updates, however.

The newly announced Steam version will add new features along with high-resolution textures and expanded graphical options. The number of pedestrians, shadow details, bloom effects, and such can be adjusted in the Nintendo Switch version as well, but the PC version will further add available settings. In addition, the maximum number of buildings, trains, and subsidiaries will increase, and view distance will improve.

As for the newly added features, “stop timer” will allow players to pause the fast-forwarding by specifying a date/time. This will make preparations for tax payments and stock dividends much easier. There’s also the “direction-specific departure” option to specify the direction in which the train will depart from stations or rail yards. This will increase the flexibility of the trains’ schedule/timetables.

The PC version will support mouse & keyboard, controller, and touch controls. In addition to the nine existing scenarios, two completely new ones will be added: “Search for Nessie” and “Reviving the Railroad.” The former is about using an unidentified creature as a tourist attraction, and the latter is about an island where railroads lost its purpose due to the spread of automobiles.

Of course, you can also play the Construction Mode to freely customize terrains and cities. Or make your own scenarios and share them with other players online.

Some of the new features will be introduced to the Nintendo Switch version through a future update, which is scheduled sometime after the Steam version’s release.

A-Train: All Aboard! Tourism is set to come out on Steam on December 7. It is currently available on Nintendo Switch. The Switch version is somewhat held back by the hardware limitations, but the Steam version will hopefully bring out the game’s full potential.

Ayuo Kawase

Related Posts