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Station to Station may be one of the most beautiful games I have ever seen. But it’s so much more than just charming visuals. Look under the tracks and there’s a compelling, incredibly addictive puzzle game that tests you just enough to garner a sense of achievement.
I was lucky enough to get a preview with the game’s publisher PRISMATIKA, who kindly walked me through the in-game mechanics. As an outsider, my initial thoughts were that Station to Station was an open-world ‘sandbox’ style game. However, it’s actually far more structured.
Despite me thinking this could lead to a overly-linear experience, within minutes I was proven wrong. Watching the team gracefully connect key landmarks on the small map to each other, and then sit back and watch the old trains creep along the track instantly made it all make sense.
While the tutorial level provided a basic introduction of the track mechanics, and the underlying objectives, things gently ramp up soon after. Whilst in the first map you’re only expected to join a couple of buildings to each other via train tracks, soon you’re dealing with multiple points of interest, which makes things far more challenging. As you complete a successful connection, the small world map, or biome as they’re called in the game. begins to get more colourful until eventually the world is alive with colour.
Completing successful connections earns you bonuses, while there are also optional objectives to net you even more points. But all of this feels secondary to just how Station to Station made me feel while watching it. It’s impossible not to feel chilled – I’m actually smiling about it as I write this.
In a world where it’s so hard sometimes to take a break and have time to recover, Station to Station is a refreshing tonic. Even through such a limited exposure of the game, I left feeling as though I had seen something special – an eclectic mix of very simple but well thought-out puzzle mechanics, combined with stunning, gentle sound design and exquisite voxel-art visuals.
There’s plenty of variation too, with biomes coming in all shapes and sizes. These range from dry deserts to countrysides and mountains. The more connections you build, the more you’ll see these worlds come alive with flora and fauna.
Station To Station arrives on October 3 on Steam. It’s being developed by the brilliant Galaxy Grove. You can download the Station to Station demo on Steam right now.
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