- Primary Subject: Running Train (Version 0.9 Early Access)Steam
- Key Update: The solo-developed Indonesian project Running Train has launched into Steam Early Access, earning an overwhelmingly positive response from the railfan community.Steam
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: June 17, 2026
- Quick Answer: Running Train is a photorealistic Japanese rural train simulator created by a solo developer that focuses on immersive, serene driving mechanics across forty kilometers of track.
It started with a short video clip. A train rounds a bend past cherry blossoms, coastal light catching the carriages just right, and someone in the comments writes: "Is this real footage?"
It is not. It is Running Train, a train simulator made almost entirely by one person in Surabaya, Indonesia. That is the detail that keeps catching people off guard.
Rizky Nova, who goes by Rizu, built everything under the Novatetsu Games banner: the environments, the train models, the physics, the shaders, across three years of solo development before the game hit Steam Early Access on May 25, 2026.
It currently sits at Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, with 97% of over 1,100 reviews in favor. The railfan community in particular has gone loud about it, and spending time with it, it is easy to see why.
Finding Calm Behind the Cab
Running Train does not throw much at you upfront. There are no career modes, no story scaffolding, and no achievement grind nudging you toward the next thing.
You climb into the cab, check your diagram, and drive. That stripped-down focus is what makes it stick.
I spent my first hour running the Coastal Hayamori route, watching the shoreline drift in and out of view.
The game asks you to manage speed, brake accurately at designated stops, and follow timetables, and that is more absorbing than it sounds.
Precision driving without complexity is a harder balance to strike than most games manage, and Running Train largely nails it.
A Hard Mode, a no-UI toggle, and a no-speedometer option are there for players who want the full weight of the simulation.
For everyone else, AI auto-drive hands control to the computer so you can just ride as a passenger and take in the scenery.
Unreal Engine 5 Without the Asterisk
UE5 has a reputation for being technically ambitious and practically punishing. A lot of titles built on it look stunning in screenshots and stutter in motion.
Running Train surprised me. On a mid-range setup, it held steady, not because Rizu sacrificed visual fidelity, but because the game is smartly scoped.
A single-track rural line does not demand the same rendering budget as an open-world city, and the whole project feels built within what the engine can actually deliver rather than against it.
Asset quality holds up at every camera angle. Train interiors are detailed. Track geometry stays consistent. Lighting shifts naturally across the day cycle with no jarring transitions.
For a solo-developed early access title, that level of stability is uncommon.
A World Worth Slowing Down For
The visuals are what went viral first, and they earn every bit of the attention.
Running Train's two routes, Coastal Hayamori Railway and Rural Kofuku Railway, are fictional, but Rizu built them with the kind of specificity that makes you want to cross-reference them against a real map.
Hayamori hugs the coast with sea views and station stops that feel lifted from a Showa-era travel postcard. Kofuku cuts inland through farmland and hillside terrain with a quieter, heavier atmosphere.
Both are available in two seasons: Sakura Spring and Snowy Winter.
The cherry blossom setting is where the game made its name, but the winter version carries its own unhurried mood that is worth experiencing on its own terms.
Photo Mode lets you step out of the driver's seat and frame shots from any angle. I lost a fair amount of time to it.
Forty Kilometers of Track
The railway stretches just over 40km in its current early access state, and the available trains are drawn from real Japanese prototypes.
Rizu has cited inspirations including the JR 115 series, the Choshi Electric Railway 3000 series, and the KiHa 185 diesel.
None of them are licensed replicas, being lovingly interpreted fictional variants, but they look and feel close enough to satisfy anyone with a passing familiarity with Japanese local rail.
Over 40 operational diagrams span local and express services across morning, afternoon, and night shifts, which adds more variety than the raw route length might suggest.
The TSW Conversation
Train Sim World is the market leader, and the community around Running Train has been quick to hold the two up side by side. The comparison that keeps surfacing is some version of "this is what TSW should feel like."
To be fair to Dovetail Games, their catalogue is considerably wider, and their simulation depth in certain areas runs much deeper than what Running Train currently offers.
That said, there is something legitimate in the frustration driving the comparison. TSW has been criticized for years over inconsistent visual quality across its DLC library and a business model that prices individual routes at a premium.
Running Train arrives as a cohesive aesthetic package with no separate upcharges. For railfans who have felt nickel-and-dimed by the franchise approach, that distinction lands.
Where It Can Still Go
The 40km route is genuinely good, but it goes by quickly once you know the line. Rizu's roadmap targets an expansion toward 80km by the 1.0 release in 2027, which would give the railway meaningful depth.
A passenger system and a Conductor Mode are planned for the Q3-Q4 2026 update window, and those additions could shift how the game feels at a fundamental level. What I would personally like to see is more route variety.
The Japanese rural aesthetic is gorgeous, but a third route with a distinctly different character, such as a mountain climb, a dense forest run (anything that changes the visual language, really), would stretch the experience considerably.
The rolling stock roster is also tight for now, and while the diagrams provide scheduling variety, more trains in the base package would help.
Running Train is unfinished, and it says so plainly. What it already is, though, is one of the most quietly impressive simulators in early access.
Built by a single developer, running better than it has any right to, and giving a genre long dominated by but a few major players a real reason to look over their shoulders.
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