Hello! It’s been a full two months since our last update. We’re back with a huge number of changes. With so many updates, the game balance may feel a bit rough in places. We plan to gather data and gradually fine-tune things, so we kindly ask for your understanding. Please note that the demo will be closed before January 9, so we encourage you to enjoy it as much as possible before then!
We’ve put a lot of work into this update. There are many changes not fully covered in the patch notes, so please dive in, enjoy the game freely, and share as much feedback as you can. Thank you!
Balance Changes
Trains
Children of the Engine
You can now choose to refuse gifts from the Children of the Engine. However, refusing a gift will permanently increase the Faith requirement for receiving the next one.
Gifts now only contain Artifacts.
Shadow Traders Association
Shops are now exclusive to the Shadow Traders Association. General Artifacts, Shadow Trader–exclusive Artifacts, and Shadow Trader train cars can appear.
Each purchase now increases the price of subsequent items.
Happiness is no longer used for purchases. Instead, a new currency called Mileage is required, which can be obtained through Shadow Trader synergies.
Knights of the Red Frost
Many faction synergies had taken the form of “slowly ramping up” power. While this can be fun as a growth mechanic, it also makes switching to other synergies mid-run difficult. To address this, we’ve redistributed power that was overly concentrated in growth, making it easier to transition between synergies.
Knights of the Red Frost (4): Max Training increased to 500% → Deployed Knights of the Red Frost trains gain an additional 300% Training.
Knights of the Red Frost trains now gain additional Training based on their floor level. Lower-floor trains generate less Training, while higher-floor trains generate more.
Guild of Explorers
If you wanted to push efficiency to the extreme, you could swap to Guild of Explorers trains right before reaching a hub, then immediately switch back to other trains that generate more Happiness after arrival. While effective, this kind of play strongly encourages tedious micromanagement and quickly exhausts players.
Additionally, stack-based mechanics of this type tend to concentrate power entirely within the synergy itself, reducing the incentive to upgrade trains. While not strictly a flaw, it’s also not ideal game design. This update aims to address those issues.
Exploration Records have been completely redesigned. Abilities are now unlocked in stages based on the number of Exploration Records you have.
Press
The Press now affects Overperformance Chance and Overperformance Productivity. What is Overperformance? Think of it as a critical hit.
Similar to the Guild of Explorers changes, this rework aims to prevent fatigue-heavy play patterns where players swap trains right before reaching a new hub, while still allowing synergy with the Guild of Explorers. We truly hope this change achieves that goal.
Press: Gain Happiness proportional to train length upon reaching a new hub → Grants Overperformance Chance to all trains. Press trains gain higher Overperformance Chance and Overperformance Productivity.
Press (2): +5 → Removed
Press (3): +12 → Overperformance Chance +8%, Press trains +15%, Productivity +5%
Press (4): +26 → Overperformance Chance +15%, Press trains +30%, Productivity +12%
Press (5): +56 → Overperformance Chance +23%, Press trains +45%, Productivity +30%
Press (6): New! Overperformance Chance +30%, Press trains +60%, Productivity +60%
Artifacts
Many existing Artifacts have been updated.
Around 100 new Artifacts have been added.
Game Updates
Artifacts
All numerical values displayed on Artifacts are now presented in a unified format.
Events
All event illustrations have been replaced. AI-generated artwork is no longer used. Replacing every event illustration will take time, and some events are temporarily using illustrations drawn by me personally (…in MS Paint). These may look a bit rough, but they will be replaced in future updates once our artist’s work is complete. Thank you for your understanding.
Events now trigger based on days rather than hubs.
6 new events have been added.
Event text has been revised to be more concise overall.
Choi Soon-ja
Choi Soon-ja now starts with two Artifacts:
Perfect Workmanship: Increases the number of deployable trains by 2.
Melser Strap: Start with 2 Slum Cars and gain 4 passengers.
Choi Soon-ja now has a completely redesigned Decision Tree, allowing you to eliminate or upgrade Slum Cars.
Landmarks
14 new Landmarks have been added.
Landmarks now appear in fixed, predetermined locations.
Localization
The following languages have been added:
Russian (beta)
Ukrainian (beta)
Czech
Polish
Our sincere thanks to all users who helped with localization!
Game Summary
At the end of each run, you can now view a summary of the game results.
Bug Fixes
Fixed a crash that could occur when playing multiple runs consecutively.
Fixed a critical bug that could cause severe performance slowdown during gameplay.