As much as my depression has been wanting me to play Football Manager or 7 Days To Die, I have found something new to fixate on. I got Railway Empire and a bunch of DLCs on Humble Bundle, and I have been really enjoying it. For the first time in what feels like forever, I found a title that’s made me feel immeasurable happiness.

For a little backstory, I grew up loving trains. Like most kids in the early 1990’s, I watched a lot of Thomas and Friends and Shining Time Station (also how I discovered George Carlin), but it was more than that. My brother and I sat by the train tracks to catch a rare look at the Southern Pacific 4449 locomotive (also known as the Daylight) as it rolled through my hometown in Ohio. We even had an old camcorder to record it as it passed.

While it may seem like something a lot of kids grow out of completely, I still enjoy it. In fact, two years ago I was in Savannah, Georgia and visited their historical train museum. They were raising money at the museum to refurbish a steam engine and to help I bought a piece of the fire tube they removed. I still have it on my desk at work, and it is something I’m proud of.

I had been looking for a relaxing train game to play and started with Railgrade since it was free on the Epic Games Store. Railgrade took place in a dystopian sci-fi world that had a creepy industrial feel to it. While it had some core components I was looking for, it was more focused on the speed of completing tasks. While sometimes I enjoy that, I needed something where I could just enjoy not being as pressed for time. For that, I turned to the Railway Empire series.

Railway Empire hit the spot as there were some time sensitive campaign missions that balanced things pretty well. There was also the sandbox and free mode if I just wanted to relax. What I liked the most was the accurate history of the steam engines. I’ll be honest, nothing against diesel engines, but I love my old-fashioned steam engines.

It was also great to be able to connect to different cities in every region. For me, I spent a lot of time in Railway Empire in the Great Lakes and Appalachia region. I even had to learn that the cheapest way to make it through the Appalachian Mountains was around the incline and not trying to dig a tunnel from Baltimore to Pittsburgh.

Railway Empire for me was a good way to invoke nostalgia because it allowed me to look fondly back at my youth without trying to monetize it. Then again, it is a dad game and despite not being a dad, I am entering the age where I play nothing but those types of titles. And now I’m going to go watch my trains in Railway Empire move like clockwork.