Best Train Games for PS5 & PS4

Why it's here: Dovetail's current flagship, and the one to buy if you only buy one. Six adds random events and station announcements to the Riviera Line, Leipzig to Dresden and NJ Transit's Morristown Line, so a run stops being a fixed script. Player reviews are split, and split consistently: praise for the routes, frustration with stutter and the price of add-on lines. Start here, then buy routes slowly.

Why it's here: The better first step if you have PS Plus Extra, because Five is included there and Six is not. It carries the West Coast Main Line, the tilting Kinzigtalbahn and Metrolink's San Bernardino Line, plus Conductor Mode and route hopping. Reviewers rate it much as they rate Six, with the same complaints about performance and add-on pricing. Try it on the subscription before paying for the newer one.

Why it's here: The strongest-reviewed game here, and it scratches a different itch: you are not driving the train, you are deciding where the line goes. Two centuries of rolling stock, three campaigns and a free-play mode that will quietly eat a weekend. Players flag the console controls as the fussy part, not the simulation underneath. A PS Plus Premium trial makes this an easy one to test before committing.

Why it's here: The purest railway tycoon on PlayStation, and the only game here with four-player online co-op, so a friend can run freight while you chase passenger contracts across 1800s America and Europe. Reviews are genuinely divided: the progression loop lands, the interface does not, and several players find the sequel simpler than they wanted. Worth it if you enjoy the building more than the driving.

Why it's here: The original is the better-reviewed of the two, and on PS4 it is the one that runs well. Nineteenth-century America, rival companies, and a difficulty slider generous enough to let you treat it as a slow evening rather than a contest. Players praise the strategic depth and say the same thing about the interface that they say about the sequel. Pick this for the calmer, cheaper entry point.

Why it's here: Metro driving rather than mainline, which turns out to be a very different kind of calm: short hops, tight timings, and Berlin and Hamburg U-Bahn lines rebuilt in enough detail to recognise the stations. Reviewers consistently raise performance as the weak point and just as consistently credit the developers for patching it. Take this one if the appeal is the routine of a shift rather than a long-distance run.

Why it's here: Sixteen players, one open valley, and no timetable telling anyone what to do. This is the sandbox pick: lay your own track, haul logs and ore, and rebuild the line after someone derails it. Player reviews are the most polarised on this list, and the complaints land on bugs and the slow pace of updates rather than on the idea. Bring friends, and treat it as a project rather than a finished game.

Why it's here: A PS VR2 title, so check your hardware first, and then enjoy the most charming thing on this page. You build track across a child's bedroom floor at model-railway scale, solving gentle routing puzzles with your hands. Reviews are the warmest here by some distance, and the one repeated criticism is length: ten levels and roughly three hours. Short, but the best single evening on the list if you own the headset.

Why it's here: Trains as a logic puzzle rather than a cab view. You lay track under time pressure, route locomotives past each other without a collision, and unlock a century of rolling stock doing it. The Community Edition bundles player-made levels, so the supply never quite runs out. Reviewers who wanted calm found the timers stressful, which is a fair warning. Take it for the puzzle, not for the simulation.

Why it's here: The one where you never drive anything. Derelict stations arrive covered in grime and graffiti, and you power-wash, clear and redecorate them back into service. It scratches the PowerWash Simulator itch with a railway backdrop. Players who came for the cleaning enjoyed it and players who came for the trains did not, and reviews agree the content runs thin before long. Buy it on sale, for the loop.

Why it's here: Signalling rather than driving: you hold trains, switch points and keep eighty levels of increasingly awkward junctions from turning into a pile-up. It also has four-player split-screen, which is a genuinely funny way to lose a friendship. Reviews are positive and small in number, and the recurring note is that a few late levels tip from tense into frustrating. The cheapest good idea on this list.

Why it's here: Listed because it keeps appearing in these roundups and you deserve to know why to be careful. The Orient-Express route and the Euro Truck-style haulage career are a good idea, and on a quiet run it delivers on them. Player reviews are the weakest here by a wide margin, and the recurring word is abandonware: unfinished systems, signalling bugs and no updates. Worth it deeply discounted, if the concept alone sells you.