Train Simulator 2016

Train Simulator 2016 is Dovetail Games' annual refresh of their long-running rail simulation platform, released in September 2015. The base package ships with three routes: the Union Pacific Gas Turbine-Electric run over Sherman Hill, the GWR Castle Class on the Riviera Line from Exeter to Kingswear, and the BR 155 along the West Rhine between Cologne and Koblenz. Those are the numbers that matter before you buy. Three routes, two driving modes (Simple and Expert), a scenario-based career structure, a free-roam Quick Drive option, and the TS Academy tutorial with a Drive Assist system for newcomers. That is the full scope of what you are purchasing at the base level. Here is the part that trips up casual buyers: this is a platform, not a complete game in the traditional sense. The DLC ecosystem stretches back to the original Railworks release from around 2007-2008, and every piece of paid content from those earlier annual editions - TS2013, 2014, 2015 and beyond - works inside this installation. That means a catalogue of hundreds of routes and locomotive packs is sitting behind additional purchase decisions. Community discussions point to standout routes like Marias Pass, Canadian Mountain Passes, the Northeast Corridor, and German corridors such as Hamburg-Hannover as high-quality additions worth targeting when they go on heavy sale. Quality control across third-party DLC is uneven, though, with some community-sourced packs praised for accuracy and others criticized for low-effort asset reuse. The physics simulation holds up well. Throttle, brake, and reverser inputs respond with meaningful weight; managing a heavy freight consist up a grade feels genuinely different from sprinting a express passenger service along a flat corridor. The Expert driving mode layers in systems like automatic warning, vigilance, and proper brake pipe management, which is where the simulation earns its credibility. Visuals are a mixed story - the engine was aging at launch, and the promise of an Unreal Engine 4 rebuild that was circulating in the community never materialized for this edition. At high settings and on a capable rig the scenery can look solid, but do not expect the environmental density of a modern open-world title. For a total newcomer to the series, TS2016 is actually a reasonable entry point if approached with patience. The TS Academy walks through cab controls step by step, the Drive Assist system provides real-time prompts during scenarios, and the Simple driving model removes the more demanding secondary systems. Think of it like learning a grand strategy game: spend the first few hours in tutorials, run a handful of guided scenarios, and the depth starts revealing itself instead of overwhelming you. The Railfan mode, which lets you step outside the cab to photograph your trains in motion, is a nice low-stakes way to get comfortable with the world before committing to a timed scenario. The honest concern is value calculus. The base package is thin by any measure - three routes is a short timetable. The aggressive DLC model, including unskippable store prompts that some players report appearing between scenario loads, is a genuine friction point that the community has complained about for years. If your interest in trains is casual, the return on investment is questionable. If you are already rail-inclined, or you are willing to wait for one of the platform's periodic deep-discount sales and pick up a targeted batch of quality routes, there is a deep and oddly meditative simulation here that very few other titles compete with. Diego, Scout Team