Train-hopping PvP sandbox Enginefall has a truly ambitious premise and I can't wait to backstab all my friends in it

Those fat cats at the top got it made. They run the show while you and I toil to keep everything running—even though they need us. Ever wonder how you might handle all that power if you were in charge? Enginefall, a "social sandbox" game about tenuous worker-boss relations set aboard a fleet of ever-moving trains, lets you do just that; assuming you can keep any germinating revolutions in check, of course.

In it, a conductor seals himself inside his control room to hide from his trigger-happy passengers, so they summarily drive him out of the office with a bomb, shoot him on his way out, and flee to a neighboring train. It's the exact sort of gleeful backstabbing I'd hope for in a game where social dynamics are center stage.

As you amass resources you can upgrade your train with new carriages and take down other trains, assuming you're the conductor or you're happy with whoever's at the helm. There's strength in numbers and thus an incentive to keep things in a happy equilibrium; but knowing how most online lobbies end up, it'll be a chaotic mess of informal alliances and bloody mutinies. Just how I like it.

It's a mighty ambitious concept, so I'm eager to see if the folks at Red Rover Interactive can pull it off. Games like The Ship and Among Us have shown that mere seeds of distrust are enough to get players eagerly leaping at each other's throats, so I do wonder how long peace will last. Enginefall sees a full-on worker class running around with machine guns only a train car away from The Man. Either way, I'd love to see "bloodless coup" manifest as a speedrun category.

If all that sounds tantalizing, say no more; Enginefall has a playtest inbound and set for June 13-15. You can sign up for that now and wishlist the game, which is set to release next year, on Steam.

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Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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