Sweet Transit (PC) - Preview

As I’ve made clear when talking about Satisfactory, the influence of Factorio and its overall style is something I’ve enjoyed (despite Michal Kovařík digging himself a hole). I’m also sure I’ve made mention of my love for the 90s/early-2000s management games like Theme Hospital, SimCity, Dungeon Keeper, and so on, and so on. So, what if a game brought that Factorio-style of dense industrial pixelated thing (I don’t have the exact words for it) with the gameplay of those city-building/management strategy games? Sweet Transit is an Early Access project being published by Team17 and developed by Ernestas Norvaišas, a former 3D artist for Factorio.

Sweet Transit doesn’t necessarily focus on the threat of dwindling resources or polluting the hostile local life. Instead, you play God in a world full of resources, and you need to get people to them. The catch is that beyond walking the dirt roads around their ramshackle houses turned homes and to the local fishing shack, the people of your pixelated cities can only get around via trains. Some people playing with their T gauge sets stood up like Aleksandr Orlov and ran to Steam after hearing that. I did too when I got an email about it the other month, so I’ve spent a bit of time swearing at the signal crossings, UI, and other minor issues I’ve had.

Of course, coming into Early Access, teething problems are to be expected in such a project. Functionally working similar to SimCity or other model town builders without the destruction elements, the placement of roads, tracks, and buildings is very easy and something programmed into my brain over more than two decades. There will be a few times while building that the ghost tracks will curve around assuming you want to plow through something neat with what is best described as a horrific catastrophe, but a wiggle of the mouse usually fixes that.

In concept, I can’t necessarily fault Sweet Transit for the idea that it is going for, but in action, that’s another story. The vision that Sweet Transit is going for is very similar but far more relaxed than that of Factorio, a relaxing vibe-focused game that is entirely about making a system of transport networks run like a Swiss watch. Though in practical terms that means that I have save files called: “I’ve finally got it working,” “Jesus, I hate signals,” “this preset world actually works,” and “why oh why can’t I make my worlds this smooth and luxurious?” That, in itself, is a little frustrating when you believe you understand how the game works, but you can’t effectively apply it.

Connecting the three aspects of functioning community hubs, a Shinkansen-like efficient transport system of steam locomotives, and maintaining resources needed to expand is something that just doesn’t click in my head. I think it is the lack of creativity required and the stringent, almost akin to Topham Hatt’s firm nature that for lack of a better word, “confuses” me. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Sweet Transit when I make the systems work properly, it just means that I find it difficult to know where I’ve gone wrong or how to solve the issue.

UI is a particular problem when trying to solve those issues, as yes it is telling you something, but I can’t fully understand as well as I think I should. For example, the signal stations are very easy to place and do all you need them to, but when there is a bit of programming that starts yelling “That doesn’t work!”, I don’t entirely know why or how to correct it. If you have signals placed properly, each rail will be color coded to red, amber, and green depending on if it is safe for a train to go ahead, but a few times (more than a few) I’ve turned that line white which is the color for errors.

I’d also like the UI scaling to be separated off a bit more, as some elements are too significant and others are too diminutive. If I turn the scaling up, it makes the largest elements which I already find too large, larger and turning it down has a similar effect on the smaller elements. That, matched with the auto-scaling when zoomed in or out, makes it difficult to find the perfect balance when trying to find what is enjoyable for you as you play. It isn’t an issue that makes Sweet Transit unplayable, but it certainly is frustrating to contend with. Though there is one good thing about the UI as it stands, pop-up menus are individually placeable, so if something is in the way you can move it.

Overall as an anomaly in the city-builder and optimization game sphere, it is absolutely brilliant at a more relaxed style of game, but I wish I could understand it more. The tutorial missions are good at getting you a base level to work with in terms of how to play Sweet Transit, but I feel like I need a degree in some of the logical steps that need to be taken. At one point every job was lacking workers all of a sudden, and how you’re logically supposed to expand while resources dwindle due to a lack of a workforce is a difficult situation to solve when you don’t logically have the tools to fix that straight away.

There are several instances where similar things happened, and as much as I can be yelled at for not having enough workers but more people than I had when I initially made X sawmill or otherwise is confusing. There are solutions, and there are workarounds, but once again it is frustrating to not have some idea of whatever it is you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to create these vast networks of trains and cities with hundreds, thousands of people, but it can be difficult to get there when you’re unsure how you’ve made a signal crossing go from red, amber, and green to white.

Ultimately, yes, I do enjoy Sweet Transit but being a bit of a complete and utter moron as I am makes it harder than bending Melina over a great table of some Welsh words at level 1. With a soundtrack that is just right for, as the kids say, the vibes, it is challenging to stay mad at Ernestas Norvaišas’ latest project for too long. There is so much right going on here that I wish I could simply understand what it is that isn’t quite clicking to make the relaxing experience of Sweet Transit much easier.

A PC preview copy of Sweet Transit was provided by Team17 for this preview.