Train Sim World 6 is the latest release from Dovetail Games. It will be available on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and consoles including PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One from 30 September 2025. You can play the game five days before it comes out if you pre-order the special or deluxe edition.
We tested the Steam version using a Steam Deck OLED as our test hardware.
Train Sim World 6: All aboard!
Train Sim World 6 is a train simulator that allows players to experience different types of rail vehicles. In fact, we can drive electric, diesel and steam locomotives. The basic version enables us to drive trains along four routes: two in Germany (Leipzig–Dresden and Nahverkehr Dresden), one in Great Britain (Riviera Line) and one in the United States (Morristown Line).
Compared to previous versions, this one includes new features such as random events, enabling us to experience locomotive breakdowns, traffic blockages and temporary speed limits. Audio announcements are also included at stations and inside the train. For example, when we approach a station, we hear the recorded announcement informing passengers that the train is arriving.
Train Sim World 6 also offers tutorials on driving locomotives for beginners, as well as guides on signals and safety procedures. The tutorials on locomotive operation are well structured and help you to learn the basic operating procedures.
The guides explaining the safety systems and signals are slightly vague. They would benefit from a few more descriptions. Perhaps they could even have some images.
I love riding trains!
Compared to flight simulators, train simulators are unfamiliar territory for me. A long time ago, I used to experiment with OpenBVE on my Windows XP PC. However, despite my love for trains, since then I have always played games where you manage railway lines, such as Simutrans and Transport Fever. With the advent of Xbox Game Pass, however, I have reopened a chapter that had been closed for some time. I started playing previous versions of Train Sim World on Xbox again, but with less enthusiasm.
The gameplay has remained largely unchanged, but playing the game with a mouse and keyboard this time has made for a much more immersive and interesting gaming experience.
This version makes immersion its cornerstone. The station announcements, even in German, make you feel as though you are really at the station, ready to open the train doors and welcome the hurried commuters on board. Even the presence of route restrictions forces you to stay alert throughout the journey.
During my gaming sessions, I didn’t experience any breakdowns. However, due to my mistake in configuring the safety systems on the DB BR411 ICE-T, I was slightly delayed. This meant that another train was given priority and I had to stop at a red light. As a result, I arrived 14 minutes late. It was interesting to see how the system managed priorities and let the train pass on time, leaving me behind as I was already late. It’s good that the system simulates timetables so well, too.
Although Steam Train Sim World 6 is not officially supported on Steam Deck, the game runs quite well on Valve’s handheld device. This has been confirmed by Dovetail Games in their FAQ. I personally tried the game on Steam Deck OLED in both mobile mode and when connected to an external screen with a mouse and keyboard. The graphics are good, partly thanks to the console’s upscaling, which provides an acceptable 1080p experience given the hardware. In mobile mode, the game consumes between 22 and 23 Wh with medium graphics settings and has excellent haptic feedback.
I am also very happy with the backward compatibility of add-ons from previous Train Sim World games. As soon as I added the new title to my Steam library, the Train Sim World®: LGV Mediterranee: Marseille – Avignon Route add-on magically appeared in the game without me having to do anything.
The Last Stop
Train Sim World 6 is an excellent train simulator with well-designed graphics. It was great to see passengers getting off the train as soon as the doors opened and to hear the station announcements. It was also exciting to drive the train in all weather conditions. The game also reacts to these conditions: when it rains, the braking distance increases and, when departing, the train skids if too much power is applied. It was interesting to see that we are not always forced to run the same service with fixed timetables; it is also possible to complete event missions involving special conditions along the route (e.g. congested traffic).
One aspect I liked less was the train livery editor. I found it very limited and awkward to use, especially with a mouse and keyboard.
Finally, I am personally grateful to Dovetail Games for using real voices for the announcements instead of generating them using AI. I couldn’t have tolerated another simulator using cold, horrible AI-generated voices, like the disappointing flight simulator released at the end of 2024.
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