the train trip Saga is a story hidden from the eyes of those fortunate which unfortunately is no longer you it's a story of DLC women time travel horror average Hospital experience avoiding the refund window harder than the euphoric brothers and with six games some of which genuinely absurd it all starts here with train travel simulator train games aren't just for the fans of ancient memes and insane camera angles they're a metaphor for staying on track with light to cruise from one Milestone to another like other simulations it's a hobby that you can nerd out about in the comfort of your home but instead of being the driver you're now the passenger and this is the game it all starts right on the platform and after looking at a missing texture schedule it appears that all trains go to the same location said location will be revealed shortly now to get a little bit technical there is weather in this game and for some reason difficulty settings which I did put to the test kill me that's exactly what happens when you die after hopping on board I found that inside the train itself it didn't seem too bad at least on the surface there are other passengers here some looking quite similar to each other and besides the main Carriage there were some other rooms what's in here I love how they just straight up at like a house toilet in the uh in the train at least it comes with a rubber duck I guess that's for stress related issues although I did notice a little bit of frame loss and this becomes a bit of a trend but thankfully they give you an FPS counter to see how bad it really is like for example this Russian flag decides to mine crypto every time you look at it anyway look there's no level of interaction here the only thing you can do is sit down and that's basically the point which seems like a stupid concept but a game like this has potential to include many twists and turns however as you'll see the dev clearly didn't have much in mind as I started to put two and two together and then two and two turned to three and three oh my God it no way man you can't do this you actually can't do this it's not they've done yeah it's it's all the same it's literally all the hang on is it the same toilet it's the same toilet I don't think I need to make a comment about this it's bad but at least you can jump off the train which I did and that was a mistake I want to go back I can't go back yeah that's it all right so I'm actually well there we go that's what happens when you jump off a train I can get I going to open the door I I'm in oh I okay I'm back no way come on I'm back in all all right I don't know what's going on man but um if I press E Yeah Yeah nah it it was all a lie it was all a lie I've just got to go back you know the worst part about being stuck in the woods isn't that I couldn't get back on a train or it wasn't even the fact that I had to run all the way back to the station even though I could have just restarted the game and got there a lot faster no it was the fact that I couldn't make it out of bounds they actually put an invisible wall there to stop players from running off the map which I guess at this level of dumpster diving is is such a weird thing to experience anyway when I got to the station I hopped on the next train and just sat there waiting to make it to the next destination and after waiting about 15 minutes quite literally just scrolling my phone the term surprised doesn't apply here wait I think it's happening is it the same station I wonder we're just jumping off I think it is yeah I think it is just went around in a giant Circle you know what man um I think I think that guy right there is exactly how I feel right now not happy to be very clear there are no other trains than this so yes you do basically just go around in circles and with that realization there was only one thing left for me to do and that is to satiate myself because for some reason this is a survival game so of course to survive I bought 25 vodka don't tell me this is it don't tell me this is the way I could do it nothing's changed ah I I forgot I probably am a Russian so nothing obviously nothing's going to change is it so yeah great I'm not allowed to get drunk who the hell made this game well this is one of those games made by one of those devs that you'll find on Steam with a question mark for a logo and this one in particular is called monov Vista now apparently train travel simulator wasn't really meant to be like this there were some other features teased well when I say that I mean you could pick up a pizza that was teased on the YouTube channel you could see other stations and they even had a post showing some kind of update that was about to come to improve what is essentially an an alpha test however none of that quite happens because as the reviews rightfully highlight this game was abandoned for another Russian train trip and this is where the rabbit hole brings us to a featureless hollow Cave of pure shame not too featureless though as this one starts you off in an apartment with the meme bear some money a fridge that's always open and outside of the apartment is an area that's actually quite detailed however there's not really much to do or interact with besides more Dy bears and surprisingly enough this thing that I can't remember the name of but once got launched from as a kid probably explains why I can't remember most things but to dwell on this particular thing these were in Garden of band ban they work here let that sink in now thankfully in this game you can speak to NPCs like this woman standing just outside side of your apartment who you'll definitely never see again you've also got who I'd like to call the Vladimir twins on the platform who were there to give you advice what time is it now you have a phone number look at it ah yes I'm going to check my phone number to see what time it is because I couldn't get drunk in the last game my immediate thought turned to alcoholism and what better way to spend child support than on 15 vodka but here's the problem with that you can't drink while satiated a fact that I found out later you also still can't get drunk and because I spent all my money on alcohol I didn't have enough to buy a ticket what a nightmare my life has become but at least I can save that nightmare because I kid you not this game is one of two out of all six games where you can save of which I tested this was the Saving Grace if you would pardon the pun because I discovered upon a new game that I had a ticket in my apartment so I got on the train to see what was new um can I speak no have you seen my husband in a white jacket blonde he sits on the side seat drinks with a buddy thank you I'll talk to him now will she do it is she going to do it let's go to the next Carriage there are no Cuts here so you can see that I'm not I'm not doing any funny business all right this is look it's the same thing again it's it's almost crashed there we go it's Olga same situation how do you do this how like how do you literally copy and paste like this like I understand how but like come on you put so you you you were so close you put some effort in it's just the same thing oh my God now as we already know this is what the dev abandoned the previous game for with updates teas this was essentially meant to be train travel 3.0 or something along those lines this was a niche that no matter how small some people had hope for so there was trust but that was clearly broken and I kid you not when someone called them out about it asking what the difference between these two were the dev straight up just said this it's a completely different game they don't need to be compared you don't compare for example FIFA 20 and FIFA 21 I'm going to be honest I I don't think using FIFA is really strengthening the point like they thought it would but uh at least we now have some insight into the way the dev sees their product that's new that's new there's something new hold on look oh my God it's a place well I've fallen off so I might as well go check it out look at these build invisible wall oh man the best thing about this is that you could see the stock image from shutter stock look at that they even give you like a hill to perch on top of just so you can admire The View wow and let me guess it's going to be an invisible wall for this one right well apparently there is I can't go to the other tracks why would you do that why this was the moment where I initially gave up the thought of starting over sent my remaining brain cells into Panic so I quit but don't you worry I did come back and I did manage to make it to the next station in fact I even beat the game however that's more relevant to share for the next immersive experience [Music] Chinese train trip wow welcome to China saddest thing about this is that I I'm pretty sure they just couldn't be asked to put these kind of mechanics in so I thought ah screw we'll put these machines here but there'll be no prizes can't ride bikes there are no people here it's like a dead end isn't it damn I've got to be honest this is a pretty sad lifeless start I thought China would be better than this but clearly nobody has enough social credit to live here so it's kind of barren at least that's what I thought till I saw one of the Vladimir Twins and his brother's temporary replacement sang Yong of course I forgot how to tell the time and was thankfully reminded just to use my phone number anyway you can clearly see that it's basically the same platform but a bit different the train however is yellow this time and what really amazed me was what was inside because that's what counts rubber ducky toilet my God same woman same no way man you did not have you seen my husband yes he sits in the seat oh God this guy having the best dream of his life it's the it's the it's the same people man right oh God it's all the same again I've never how do people not refund this I've it's taken me 5 minutes to explore all the content copy and pasting carriages is one thing but using the exact same ones from the previous game and just painting the train yellow is comedy if not inexcusable the worst part about this though isn't even here it's not even that it's when you make it to the next station now bear with me I need to simplify this confusing process so let me explain the first train takes you here and if you didn't already buy a ticket to Beijing then you've got to go to the next platform to get one with said ticket for whatever reason it says you need to walk there obviously that's not going to happen but this is where things get a bit confusing because when speaking to an NPC we ask how to get to oral not Beijing and to get to this mysterious location you've got to take the blue train so I thought to myself maybe this was just bonus content another place to explore later and with that thought I stepped back on the yellow train only to find myself 15 minutes later back to where I started you you're not stupid I know you're not I've got a good feeling that you may know where this is going oral or oil is Beijing the blue train takes you to Beijing we finally did it I'm finally arrived let's see what this new station is all about I'm sure it's going to be interesting oh oh it is okay oral station I've made it to oral station holy oh oh no what a blunder this is I've confused the footage from Russian train trip with Chinese train trip this here is in fact Beijing sorry for the confusion yeah these stations are quite literally copy and pasted from the previous game in fact as you may have guessed both games are pretty much the same and the fact that they didn't change the dialogue in Chinese train trip goes to show that they didn't actually play test this I guess sitting there on duplicated carriages for 15 minutes isn't the dev's idea of fun but with this game in particular this marks the end of the FIFA era because now we're moving on to the age of DLC women and immediately the most insane refund Dodge I've ever seen what you saying oh we star on the train this time okay you begin your journey in Vlad s talk it will take you 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to stalsby station really and I'm pretty damn sure that's going to be real time isn't it it is it's uh it's real time for 2 hours and 20 minutes you can't even speak to anyone or go anywhere else the only thing you can do is just sit down and watch the same repetitive scenery as you go around in a big circle I can't believe I'm saying this but the last games were much better because here's the thing this game is the first to have DLC and you can't even access that DLC until you get past the 2 hours and 20 minutes said DLC is the following a beautiful girl in your place VIP seat in the train car fast time posters of Steven seagull's best friend and donation you can donate to this guy while browsing the DLC I noticed on the main store page that there were reviews from Publications in Russia saying that this is a 10 out of 10 even though just to confirm none of these articles gave it any kind of rating apparently this game has also won awards I think we're all smart enough here to know that these are real I don't know if you can see but I I can't really see anything out there I don't really see a station it's almost well it's just gone 20 past that was it we didn't actually travel anywhere we just went around in circles and now why am I small what happened was I a child I can't even like look how slow I the last I could see my body in the last game what happened here all right standing time is 15 minutes train departure in 15 minutes oh my God you know waiting around for a little bit longer that's part of the experience but the scariest thing about this whole experience is that the save button doesn't work you can't save the game imagine the game crashing just after loading into this Station 2 hours and 20 minutes of your life and no refund available gone if this isn't cruelty then I don't know what is I mean the fact that the fast time DLC shows the same train that you start on but you can't even activate it there yet goes to show where the dev's true intentions lie even though in the description of that DLC they do say that you can only use it after but according to them even though it's probably just ingest it's for those who are lazy I'm just going to say it man within context you really can't say that W it's oh yeah I got the fast DLC uh oh how do I slow this down okay buddy calm no no oh God what how do I turn this off this is an image I never thought I'd see in my career but you know what I man um anything's possible at this point so this is it this is the train you spend most your time on the DLC woman the NPCs the posters that possessed my friend and all the junk on the table besides the radio do nothing when it comes to DLC you're basically just paying for assets that should have been there in the first place either way there are other stations to visit and to be honest they're about as good as you'd expect almost at Moscow now we're at Moscow yay is it going to be sped up time again no I visited Moscow this is horrible this is actually horrible it's the same Park area they just put this the people the people in the screenshot oh God man it's like you know stram Hill at least I had a Moes this is just oh my God trust me things will get better because after this they released Russian train trip 3 and this one hits different yeah this one actually starts with a story and it's kind of insane to hear voice acting coming from one of these games now in summary we basically get a letter from a girlfriend and while feeling lonely we get the Night Train to meet her and thankfully it doesn't take 2 hours and 20 minutes to get into because you start in an apartment again and this one's actually not too bad there are things to interact with you can start by drinking beer from a fridge with a door that's always open you can eat sunflower seeds and you can even watch an entire movie well I didn't test this 100% but there is a movie here and I'm pretty damn sure it contains more content than the game we're about to see anyway after exploring the apartment a bit I found a ticket and this is where it all begins there's a train station empty platform only rare Lantern like the way it's cold the wind blows through so this is like a full-blown story now it's the same kind of train station as before so I guess we we're playing the alpha before this yes it's the same train station it' be insane if this turned into like some horror not going to lie what the as I say it it happens who God damn for sake man really like it's just a guy I'm genuinely impressed that they managed to turn this into a horror game I mean the jump scares are crap but obviously that didn't stop me from getting scared now as you may recognize this train is a familiar site but now you can Farm achievements by interacting with some things and unfortunately that's all there really is until you get to the Final Destination although with that being said with a bit of time on my hands I finally understood the potential for something like this as I just laid back in my cabin chilling to the sound of thunder in the background whilst watching that same film but the question I have is is it made better with DLC well first off if the walk to the carriage was a little bit too scary you can buy a torch unfortunately it doesn't really light up too much and I I really didn't find much use for it if you're feeling a little bit lonely on the train you can just buy people who you can't talk to and who just stare out of the window but if you really want to spice things up you can add more assets to your cabin if you prefer to stay in your apartment then why not buy more posters to brighten it up or even better buy an old PC that definitely works I bought this this is a part of the DLC this is a part of the DLC can you play it no looks like no CSO for me and I can tell you why I can't play it because nothing's plugged in I don't even I just got the I've got a monitor there's no oh there it is okay biggest waste ever biggest waste ever there you go that's that's another part of the DLC my God money well spent the final DLC is a funny one because after all that you can just pay to get to the destination you can quite literally pay to win and there you go game over you found your imaginary girlfriend but this is where we can end the era of DLC women and just weird stuff because here we are once again in the same apartment but this time I don't have a PC and there are people outside this is Trans Siberian Legends and after picking up my ticket my backpack and suitcase I was very pleasantly surprised so I'm already Lo there we go I'm on the train already no I'm on a bus now oh wow okay character models have definitely um changed a bit this is what I'm talking about this is this is all I wanted um just just to see just to see the city a little bit you know just to actually sit down and see stuff like there's a person right there there are people walking around this is blowing my mind you can really measure the amount of faith I have in a game or a developer when I point something out like NPCs walking in the street as some impressive achievement that's an indication that I didn't really have too much Faith to start off with but this is great they're actually giving us a journey to the station and at the station there are many more NPCs and thankfully again you can actually talk to some sorry what happened why are you crying my daughter is missing I can't find her please help me don't worry we will find your daughter how does she look she's small with brown hair she was wearing a green t-shirt with a flower design I mean I've got to catch a train but okay I'll I'll help oh here she is is that her that's her hey wait wait how do I speak to this what do I do here I found the child so I found her I'm guessing that I need to just go back and say that she's over here I found her I I I I found I found her I don't know what to do I have no idea she's over there honestly I tried to get this quest to work but it doesn't seem to be wired up in fact for all the NPCs there are conversations still remain to be stationary and on repeat anyway if the station didn't already seem familiar enough the train is just the same as before but this time the outside has a decent view although I do have to say unfortunately I discovered later that we're just flying around in a big circle if you look at the shadow of the train you can't even see the tracks and this will be the same scenery you see after each stop later B you drank someone else's beer and a passenger beat you up you have serious injuries the conductor drops you off at the nearest station so you can go to the hospital visit the hospital what the hell what I I'm I'm amazed does this actually happen I guess if I drank somebody's beer they probably would beat me up wouldn't they God is he okay why are you just sitting there he's clearly he's screaming oh my God I don't know how to handle this I can't process this what the hell man this is this is I'm in hell why is nobody helping her out what the man jeez Jesus Christ this was the experience I was looking for drinking somebody else's beer and ending up in hospital that's the kind of content we need more of now to leave this place you need to speak to the doctor and this is where I step back in amazement because you can actually call for a cab and you have a choice between three with super economy having the most amount of profanity I really shouldn't tell them that I mean I think the recorded on a phone effect works very well here I was genuinely hoping that they wouldn't bring me into it so I sat quiet pretending not to be British when I tried the other options they were pretty chill the same kind of path but this is nice more options is good now when I got back on the train I checked the timetable to see what the next destination would be only to discover that there are DLC stations so of course I logged off and made the investment including more posters and more DLC women I know I said the era of DLC women was over but um whatever man look I found something way better all right check this out check this out you can take pictures in this game oh you can even zoom in I took a picture and now I can see my picture look at this I took I took a picture of people that's cool there there are game mechanics here look at this took a picture of this guy seems suspicious take a picture of this guy over here look at him that guy right there see that always watching it's the same van it's following me oh my God it's Joe Biden wait a minute you see there's a guy right there the next frame he's gone you see that nobody came on or or got off that guy is not real man I swear to God he some paranormal stuff going on here I've got to be honest I feel like the game was getting to me at this point but uh you know what this feature is really cool I feel like this is needed for a travel game there's something about taking pictures of random things and people that adds so much to the experience and while I was having fun with this feature the DLC destination kicked in this is it this is the new place I've actually made it here just had to wait 15 minutes IRL right who can I speak to Invisible wool can't go there okay question is can I die h no and I guess it just goes all the way around there yeah so there's not really much to see it's just insert City I go here no she's talking to somebody as basic as it is actually being able to visit towns for a bit before the next train is appreciated and again this is another thing that I feel is needed for a travel game something that was completely missed in the last yet unfortunately I started to notice something as I visited more and more towns they're all the same what a surprise not entirely but they all basically have the same roads the same reused rearranged buildings this also includes the DLC locations yes maybe the stations might look a bit different but you get the point it's a real shame because the only level of interaction in these towns is just one person you can talk to who gives some history but that's pretty much all there is to look forward to so then what else well I can't believe I'm saying this but you can visit other carriages and this time they're different now to do so you need to speak to the conductor and they tell you that they've lost a key and you need to find the key to unlock the first Carriage to cut things short for a good while I just couldn't find the key anywhere I was looking all around speaking to everybody checking on tables I was trying everything so I thought to myself maybe somebody else had the same problem and lo and behold on the community tab the dev tells you where to find the key it's just here on the window sill anyway with this key we get access to a much more lively Carriage hello I'm your traveling companion on this long journey along the way what are you saying that you will bother me with your questions and whining no I'm not going to question you I just wanted to meet you well no in that case I have determined that you leave me alone okay as you wish brilliant I will I'm going to give him this I'm going to give him this there is a lot of people to talk to yeah there's a lot of people to talk to there's a lot more content here like I'm not going to go through all of it but it's it's it's pretty cool that there is um there's stuff here look at this we got the boys hell yeah I've got to give credit where it's due even though the dialogue is linear and it just repeats each time you initiate the conversation again at least each conversation is unique and kind of funny although I do have to say that we play as a bit of a flirt because with pretty much every woman my guy fails tragically to try and get a number I guess we've got the Bard but we don't have the bankrupt now there is one other Carriage you can visit and it's the restaurant and to get there you just need to go down this Carriage sign a form which takes no effort and there you go you got yourself some more content but I wasn't really prepared for the class issue ahead of me hell yeah look at this wow it's gourmet food okay let's uh let's get some food can I speak to food seller okay did you want something oh how delicious this all looks I'd love to buy something oh sorry but unfortunately today our entire range is sold out you're a little too late you see dear passenger we have special rules in the dining car we try to treat only the most worthy guests and you I'm afraid do not meet our high standards high standards High standards there's not too much to say here besides the staff really didn't want me to eat their gourmet food in fact one of them just wouldn't stop giving me excuses in probably the longest chain of dialogue so far speaking as a British person I've never had to say oh sorry that many times anyway this Carriage does provide some entertainment I mean again it's just really speaking to people I feel like the main reason as to why you couldn't actually get any food is because that would require some more development but the sad part about all of this is that after each stop you just repeat the process you have to find the key again sign the form again and that's it no progression changing character positions or any kind of side quest this already feels like a pretty decent canvas for something bigger but they just never took it any further so after some repetition I was just excited to get to the Final Destination and see something new well I almost fell asleep but we're here we arrived this is the place I mean it looks unique you got this it's pretty cool take a picture of that it's nice get oh get to the hotel okay so this this goes on for a little bit longer then where would the hotel the hotel will be near the station ideally right that's usually where the hotels are oh it's there that's the hotel right there cool uh let's go let's get in hell yeah you've reached the hotel the trip is over congratulations no show me the hotel that can't be the end of it oh my God man oh Christ there's no chapters or anything that's it that was the game oh I just got beat man I just got beat to death with that this was so close to being decent it's like the dev finally caught the ball and then just dropped it because why bother when I cover something I look for the intention behind the game and by extension the developer some people mean well but just aren't there yet but with all the blatant copy and paste the most low effort DLC the 2 hours and 20 minutes sat there on a train just waiting to get to the content and an almost Saving Grace this portfolio serves as an example of taking the path of least resistance to only seek the reward and not be there for the love of The Craft but at the end of the day anything's better than taking the train in the UK thank you so much for watching I hope you enjoyed this totally pointless journey through a random devs portfolio it's been one hell of a ride literally of course a special thanks to all my supporters both here and on patreon you guys helped me to go a little less insane when diving the abyss for content and to sign off a massive shout out to all of my Wicked Slayers and cyber Wizards gibles by the Dozen the cuddlebot neeran the one with sever toes Abby the meatly video gamist basto Spooky arcadius Adam times twice scotched eges big Ram grimber ninja cat 8 letter opener. MP3 edrick 11 Julie bori Chris blogger and Callum and I'll see you guys in the next one where I probably play more wack key games