Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon
Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon is a 1990 business simulation game developed by MicroProse, designed by Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley. Players build and manage a railroad empire across historically flavored maps of regions like the eastern United States and Europe, laying track between cities, building stations, scheduling trains, and transporting goods and passengers while competing economically and navigating the industry's development.
Blending construction, economics, and light stock-market and industrial strategy, it offered deep, open-ended gameplay that helped define the tycoon and management genre. Players could buy and sell company shares, trigger price wars, and manage supply chains, and the balance of accessibility and depth earned wide acclaim and inspired many imitators, while the design lessons Sid Meier drew from it fed directly into Civilization.
The Railroad Tycoon series continued with several sequels over the years, and the original stands as a foundational classic of the business-simulation genre, still studied and enjoyed by strategy fans.
Play it today
Modern alternatives to Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, with the devices they run on and their price. Ordered editorially by how well each one stands in for the original, with community votes weighted in as they accumulate.
Prices, platform availability and Steam Deck compatibility can change at any time. Always check the store page before buying.
| Alternative | Price | Steam Deck | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Railway Empire 2 | € 49,99 | Steam Deck Verified | PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox |
| Rail Route Indie | € 24,99 | Steam Deck Verified | PC, Mac, Linux |
| Sid Meier's Railroads! | € 9,99 | Steam Deck Playable | PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad |
| Sweet Transit Indie | € 24,99 | Steam Deck Verified | PC |
| Mashinky | € 24,99 | Steam Deck Untested | PC |
Railway Empire 2
€ 49,99A polished modern railway tycoon with a huge world map.
Railway Empire 2 runs on PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation, Xbox. Not available on iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, Switch.
Rail Route Indie
€ 24,99A signalling and dispatch game about keeping timetables running, the operations side of railway management.
Rail Route runs on PC, Mac, Linux. Not available on iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch.
Sid Meier's Railroads!
€ 9,99Sid Meier's own 3D follow-up to Railroad Tycoon, with the same track laying and stock market.
Sid Meier's Railroads! runs on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad. Not available on Linux, Android phone, Android tablet, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch.
Sweet Transit Indie
€ 24,99An indie railway-driven city-builder from a Factorio developer.
Sweet Transit runs on PC. Not available on Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch.
Mashinky
€ 24,99A charming indie transport-and-rail builder.
Mashinky runs on PC. Not available on Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch.
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