Gilded Rails Reviews

The stats were entirely too tedious to actually get anywhere.... and I didn't really appreciate the game either forcing you to be a woman or a gay man. I got through the first chapter before I decided it just wasn't worth even finishing. 1/10. Honestly regret buying this one.

For the time I played, I spent the entire time thinking of how tedious and boring every interaction was. The actual railroad management had potential but the rest I was near falling asleep.

The game duration is very brief and its structure is too rigid to be really interesting. Most events will happen not matter what you do while the available romantic interests are numerous but very poorly fleshed out and combined with the game's limited timetable creates an extremely fast paced and unenjoyable experience.

I don't quite reccomend this game, as I would suggest another Choice of Games selection like Hollywood Visionary or Choice of Robots, however perhaps give it a shot and see how you feel about the game. Having played many other games from CoG, this one I simply couldn't bring myself to finish. It felt like I was having romance shoved down my throat [strike](AND I AM A SUCKER FOR LOTS OF ROMANCE - DUH)[/strike]. I felt like the story was one that could be rather well fleshed out yet it just... felt as though it lacked in some ways certain responses played out. I liked some of the ideas and factions, being the history nerd I am, and just wish things kind of happened differently than they did. I understand romance to be a big part of the game, but I liken this to the game CoG released through their user-made stories via Hosted Games, Love at Elevation - in that with that game, the very OVERLY descriptive way the game and story were written felt shoved down my throat, the romance aspect of this game was smacking me across the face. Perhaps if you've played other CoG games and just want to try yet another one, maybe try this out, but if you're new to Choice of Games, I would personally recommend Choice of Robots, or Hollywood Visionary, or if you really want a good romance then pick The Wayhaven Chronicles from CoG's side publishing through Hosted Games.

I should start by saying that I don't really recommend this... but I also don't, too much, want to discourage people that want to try it either. As mentioned elsewhere, this has many of the same problems that other COG titles have, which shouldn't be too surprising. The story tries to make you balance business and romance, which is an interesting idea, but it prevents either side (or any of the characters) from having enough depth to be really captivating. I also thought pacing could be improved, though that's also a common problem with these games. The topic of trains is unique, and one I liked quite a bit as it gave the author a good vehicle (hah!) to explore the important social and cultural topics of the time period. Bits of it can read like Ayn Rand fan fiction, but I think it's an honest attempt at a balanced (as mentioned in its own historical notes, possibly [i]too[/i] balanced) depiction of life and industry in the late nineteenth century. Overall, I would suggest that anyone new to Choice of Games check out some of their other titles first. Veterans may like this one, though considering its lack of polish and content compared to other titles it probably won't be anyone's favorite. At only 3 hours for the initial read, and I am a very slow reader, I feel like the full price is a bit high; sale price seems appropriate though.

I wanted to enjoy this game, however it was very frustraiting to achieve what you want, choices are presented that are actualy imposible to achive like mariages or arresting th villian, stats barely move and the how you invest money doesnt matter as the game ends as soon as the investment is complete, it ended very abrubtly and awkwardly, a lot of potential and well written but very little character agency,

In general, I am a fan of Choice of Games/Hosted Games, but I can't recommend this entry in the CoG line. First, while I wasn't expecting anything special in the 'running a railroad' aspect, it is quite bare. Sometimes it will even force you into bankruptcy even if you are doing otherwise well (plenty of money, etc.) Second, even if you do well, the game penalizes you on the business side if you don't go down the romance path. Yes, I understand part of the conceit is that your being forced to marry. However, at least one epilogue should have an outside business offer you a position so that as long as you were successful, even if you lost the railroad, you could spite your father. Third, the game didn't really provide enough chances to really interact with the ROs. Part of this is that it tried to present a large number of people, and they mostly ended up forgettable. Fourth, there are still some bugs/misspellings/etc. that were reported, and haven't been fixed. What is also unfortunate is that I actually liked some of the groups, etc. that were mentioned in game and would have liked to see that better integrated.

This had so much potential, but your decisions mean nothing. There is one path shoved down your throat, but you never have any opportunity to take the initiative on anything meaningful. There are two times you get to choose what your character does outside of work over the course of a week, and you are supposed to institute reform, become a member of the social scene, and/or find a wife in that time? How? A game about running a business as a new CEO is interesting. A game about social and romantic life as the head of a business is interesting. Either of those ideas requires time to develop, though. In addition, a choose your own adventure game requires choice. Based on the lack of meaningful choice, I really hate that this game is considered CYOA. As a minor "pro," I will admit that the writing really is decent. Maybe if this were more a video game style story with a completely pre-determined narrative, it could be an interesting one. All I could think about was how I couldn't do anything, though.

Genuinely a bit of a pain. It's hard to raise your stats high enough to do anything, and balancing things almost never works. Rather little variation in paths, despite several playthroughs with different choices; for example, investing in infrastructure does not, in fact, prevent a train from derailing. Some rather odd choices, or perhaps bugs; going "Who are these people?", a request that normally tells you who someone is in a game by Choice of Games without wasting a conversational opportunity, as you're not actually talking to someone, and are simply recalling who they are, does, in fact, waste a conversational opportunity. I suspect part of the issue is the dual nature of the game; by not focusing on either romance or trains, both areas suffer quite a bir. It does have its good points; you can expressly play a person of color, and it's not locked to being straight because of the time period, though the trappings of reality sometimes bog the game down. (I rather wish the game were set in a fully fictional world; I feel this might've given the author more breathing room, so to speak.) In all, the writing is good, but more work needs to be done on the actual game portion of the game.