Train Sim World

Train Sim World (abbreviated to TSW) is a train simulation game series developed by Dovetail Games. It was released on 24 July 2018. For the first time, "Train Sim World" allows players to walk around the game world in first-person mode. This mode is utilised in tutorials, scenarios and services where the first-person mode is required to complete tasks such as refuelling or changing switches.
Releases.
"Train Sim World: CSX Heavy Haul".
During beta release, the game was originally called "Train Sim World: CSX Heavy Haul", which consisted of one playable route, Sand Patch Grade, based in the United States.
"Train Sim World: Founders Edition".
The second version was "Founders Edition", which was available on Xbox One, containing Great Western Express.
"Train Sim World".
The third version, simply "Train Sim World", was available on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, featuring three routes: Great Western Express, Rapid Transit, and Northeast Corridor: New York, as well as Sand Patch Grade for the PC version only.
"Train Sim World 2020".
The fourth version, "Train Sim World 2020", is available for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, featuring four routes: Great Western Express, Long Island Rail Road (Penn Station to Hicksville station), Main-Spessart Bahn (Aschaffenburg to Gemünden), and Northern TransPennine (Manchester Victoria to Leeds route add-on), as well as Sand Patch Grade for PC only. The 2020 edition featured a digital deluxe edition containing a bonus route containing Caltrain’s Peninsula Corridor (San Francisco 4th and King-to-San Jose Diridon route add-on).
On 12 December 2019, Dovetail released an East Coastway line add-on. In addition to the Brighton to Eastbourne route, there is a branch route between Lewes and Seaford. The release includes the Class 377/4 and the Class 66. Further add-on routes included Rhein-Ruhr Osten (Wuppertal to Hagen), Ruhr-Sieg Nord (Hagen to Finnentrop), Haupstrecke Rhein-Ruhr (Bochum to Duisburg), Tees Valley Line (Darlington to Saltburn-by-the-Sea), West Somerset Railway (Minehead to Bishops Lydeard), and Canadian National Oakville Subdivision. Several individual locomotives were also released as DLC, including the British Rail Class 20 "Chopper" and the former East German BR 143 and BR 155.
"Train Sim World 2".
The fifth and current version, "Train Sim World 2", was announced on 9 June 2020, with an original planned release date of 6 August 2020. The announcement promoted new features, including the Livery Editor and Scenario Designer. There were two new routes and multiple trains planned for its release: the ICE 3M and Talent 2 running from Cologne to Aachen, and the London Underground 1972 Stock, with the Bakerloo line. The game also comes with Sand Patch Grade route, featuring the following locomotives: AC4400CW, GP38-2, SD40-2. While the route is not new, it has been updated for PC and now also available on the confirmed console operating systems PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with major optimization to the consoles. The Deluxe Edition also includes East Coastway as a Preserved Collection route.
The Preserved Collection allows players to import their previously owned Train Sim World and Train Sim World 2020 bundled routes and DLC into the new game. This means players can continue using them without the need to pay for them again. DTG announced the game would be delayed on 16 July, with a rescheduled release date of 20 August, from the original 6 August. This was to allow them to make "Preserved Collection" add-ons compatible with their new Scenario Designer. They confirmed that content from this category will not be compatible with their new Livery Designer, due to a change in the way they develop trains, although such compatibility might be provided in a future upgrade (this has since been confirmed; Livery Designer compatibility for East Coastway was included in a February 2021 patch, with more routes to follow). They also announced within one of their Community Q&A livestreams that their Northeast Corridor route add-on, as well as their Amtrak SW1000R and CSX GP40-2 loco addons were not going to be part of the "Preserved Collection" due to technical issues.
Dovetail Games unveiled their first Roadmap on 18 August, which presented their plans for future additions to the game, as well as the timeline for the additional "Preserved Collection" addons.
Train Sim World 2 was released to the public on 20 August, for consoles at midnight local time, and on Steam for PC's at 17:00 UTC. More DLC followed: Hauptstrecke München-Augsburg, LGV Méditerranée: Marseille - Avignon, Southeastern High Speed: London St Pancras - Faversham, and Clinchfield Railroad: Elkhorn City - Dante, together with Isle of Wight: Ryde - Shanklin and Arosa Line: Chur - Arosa from third-party developer Rivet Games.
Editing tools.
"Train Sim World 2" features a livery editor and a scenario editor, with further plans on adding features to the current toolset. While previously stating that trains in the Preserved Collection would not be compatible with the livery editor, Dovetail Games announced on their 10 November 2020 Roadmap that compatibility was in production.
Unreal Engine 4 editing tools.
There were originally plans to bring Unreal Engine 4-based editing tools to "Train Sim World". In a September 2018 studio update, it was revealed that the tools would be the same as that used by Dovetail Games to create content, allowing users to create routes, locomotives, wagons, coaches, scenarios and services. However, it would not have been possible to edit existing routes released by Dovetail Games at launch. It was planned for an open beta of the editing tools to be released. Dovetail Games also planned on creating a series of video tutorials for the editing tools.
However, during a "Train Sim World 2" Q&A Livestream held on 11 June 2020, the developers announced that tools related to Unreal Engine 4 would not be released to the general public. Community managers further confirmed this on Dovetail Games' forums, arguing that "additional considerations make a public release impossible", though the editor has been released to third-party developers.
Reception.
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of "Train Sim World" were released to "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregator Metacritic.