Islands & Trains - PC Review

Key art for the game Islands & Trains. A colourful, 3D landscape featuring train tracks winding through forests and buildings, with "ISLANDS & TRAINS" prominently displayed.

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Get ready to create beautiful little dioramas in Islands & Trains! Developed by Akos Makovics and published by Future Friends Games, this charming sandbox game invites you to craft your own unique islands and train networks. Just let your creativity run free! The game is set to launch on Steam on May 29th.

All Aboard!

When I was younger, dioramas always fascinated me. They are so small, yet often so detailed it really feels like a piece of the world has been cut out, shrunk down and shoved onto a display table. So when I had the opportunity to try this game out, I was more than excited to put my creativity to the test and see if I would ever be able to build something this elaborate myself. And boy was my creativity being tested. Turns out it’s not that easy. At all.

A screenshot of the game. It shows a mountain with a lighthouse and a train. — When in doubt, add more foliage

Gameplay

As the name suggests, Islands & Trains lets you build…islands and trains. Shocking, I know. The game has no objectives, no timers, no tasks, nothing. It is a true sandbox experience.
You start out by picking your island’s season, then you get handed what is basically a blank canvas. A large, square-shaped ocean that you can then fill with a grassy base, train tracks, and lots of different decorations. You can erect tall mountains, build small towns, farms and even castles!

A lot of the items you place down have a couple of different looks to choose from. The game will automatically cycle through them as you place them, so, for example, your forest won’t be filled with just one tree that has been copy-pasted over and over again. You also have the option to lock in a specific variation or manually pick another one with the press of a button.
And then, after you have built your rail lines, decorated and are happy with your island, you can let your little train run through your tiny paradise and just watch it do its thing.

It is quite a relaxing experience to be able to just build with no pressure, no objectives or restrictions. Though, personally, I’d love to see a couple more decorations added to the game, or some more variations of some of the existing ones. Some more size choices for cliffs and tunnels would also be a great addition for finer details.

A train running by a little lake and a woodcutters lodge — Choo Choo

Graphics & Audio

Islands & Trains art style is really what ties it all together. Its very simple, almost cartoony aesthetic complements the diorama vibe very well. The colours are not too vibrant, adding to the calm feeling, and they change beautifully depending on which season you choose. The items are pretty and feel very cohesive, fitting together seamlessly, so nothing ever looks like it is out of place. The game also has a little feature that lets you toggle rain, which is a nice touch and can help with the ambience.

The game’s music is incredibly calming, perfectly aligning with the relaxing building experience. In fact, I even found myself keeping the game open in the background while doing other tasks just to let the music play a bit longer. There is also a little ‘pop’ sound whenever you place down an item, which is cute and makes placing things down a tad more fun all by itself.

A large town with a train in the background — I wouldn’t want to live in that house right next to the train station.

Longevity

As a pure sandbox game, the longevity and replayability of Islands & Trains is truly up to you. It is a charming game that can provide hours of fun, if you are eager and creative enough. The game offers you enough items to build diverse environments, what you create with it is entirely in your hands.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Islands & Trains is a cute little game that delivers exactly what it promises. It is very on-theme and gives you exactly what you would expect from a sandbox diorama builder. I would personally love a bit more variety in the items, and I did notice rather quickly that I am not quite creative enough to tackle dioramas – but that certainly doesn’t make it a bad game. Not at all, actually! It absolutely lives up to its word. If you are into calm building games or dioramas (and are a bit more creative than me) you will definitely have fun with this one.

Despite my creative shortcomings, Islands & Trains has earned itself the Thumb Culture Gold Award!