Gilded Rails

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.

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,

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 person…

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.

This game is sooooo fun! It is forgiving, and I genuinely have a sense of what my choices do and of my progress.