Mini Metro

Its a fun single player game, I understand that RNG prevents you from just looking up the solution online and makes it more important to actually understand your strategy. HOWEVER, RNG can also do you really dirty. I don't know if there's a any real solution for this dilemma, but sometimes getting 0 bridge tiles can be really frustrating.

The idea is very simple - stations appear one at a time on the map, and you have a limited number of lines and trains (and tunnels and carriages) to connect them up into a working transport network. As time passes, more and more passengers appear, and your aim is to use your assets as efficiently as possible to prevent overcrowding. The UI is easy to use, and allows editing the network while it is running or when paused. It's very easy to draw lines between stations, and to grab trains and assign them to the lines. (There is no timetabling to worry about - each train just shuttles back and forth along its line, or round and round if it is a loop). Despite the simplicity, the system is very responsive to small changes, and tweaking ot to keep going as long as possible is a super fun challenge. Games are quite quick - you have to be quite good to last more than 20 mins - and there is plenty of variety both because of the random way the stations appear, and because there are a variety of cities with different charateristics to choose from. Strong recommend!

After 5 minut of the game you've noticed that it's already 2 hours pass. Addicting.

Based purely on my love of subways and the game's beautiful design in screenshots, I picked this up on sale recently. I am so glad I did! The game's mechanics are simple, but the gameplay is engaging and addicting. Although the unlocked cities don't represent their real-world versions in regards to population density and transit needs, the various landscapes do make for complex gameplay decisions. Nothing is worse than having a station pop up on an isolated island when you don't have any bridges or tunnels. Also, the use of different train types in different cities makes for dynamic strategies. Design-wise this is a simple and effective, wisely taking inspiration from real-world subway messaging. The London Underground map style and the use of the MTA's ubiquitous Helvetica font are perfect matches for a game which requires simple-yet-clear communication. It's worth it at full price, and there's really no excuse for passing this up when it's on sale.

A game concept reduced to its essentials which simply works. I can imagine that this game is often shown as a great game design example in game programming academies and workshops.