Train Simulator - Liverpool-Manchester Route Add-On (DLC)

Let's be clear about what this DLC actually is before you click anything. Despite the Liverpool-Manchester branding and Dovetail Games publishing, the developer here is 汐留姉妹, a Japanese studio, and the route is a realistic-but-fictional railcar experience rather than a historically reconstructed British main line. If you loaded this up expecting Class 66s and Lime Street station announcements, recalibrate immediately. What you get instead is a Japanese-style regional railcar sim with over 70 km of varied track, tunnels, open scenery transitions, and single-track sections that demand real attention to timetable and signaling logic. From a simulation mechanics standpoint, the core driving loop is what you would expect from this sub-genre: master power notches, braking curves, and station stop precision. The route variety across those 70-plus kilometers does give you enough track geometry to practice meaningful skill progression. Single-track sections in particular are where the sim earns its keep, since you have to respect passing loops and timing in ways that multi-track mainlines never force you to confront. That is genuinely good teaching material for anyone building cab-driving fundamentals. The Early Access status is the number that matters most here. The developer's roadmap mentions future train types and additional track content, which means the current build is a slice rather than a complete product. Three Steam reviews at 100 percent positive is an almost meaningless sample size for a purchasing decision. Early Access simulations live or die by how consistently the developer ships updates, and there is not yet enough patch history to judge momentum. The mod ecosystem is effectively nonexistent at this stage, which is a real gap for a sim title where community-made timetables and consists usually double the replay value. Who should actually consider this? Patient sim fans who want a low-traffic, low-drama railcar experience and are comfortable buying into an unfinished route. If you treat the current content as a proving ground for clean station stops and single-track operational discipline, there is a legitimate 10-to-20 hour foundation here. Newcomers to train simulation will find the focused scope less overwhelming than a sprawling network add-on, which is a genuine point in its favor. But if you need a complete, polished product with documented AI traffic behavior and a reliable tutorial, the Early Access flag should give you pause. Watch the update cadence for another few months before committing.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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