Sometimes it amuses me how cheaply you can get DLC in certain situations. A couple of examples from this week: I already owned some US content from buying anual release packs in the past, but it’s not really my thing. Especially after reading all the terrible reviews about the NEC: New York–Trenton route, I never considered buying it, even when it was on sale. Just now, I saw on Steam that the route was 60% off its regular price. Oh well… still not interested. But then, scrolling down the page, I noticed the “summer bundle,” which showed up at just €2. I thought, okay, why is that? Turns out I already owned everything in the bundle except NEC, and the combination of the 60% sale plus the bundle discount brought it down to €2 for the NEC. So, I bought the bundle—and now NEC is in my collection for just €2. I picked up the Acela for €1 (90% discount) during the last big Steam sale. So, in the end, I got both NEC and Acela for a total of €3. This one’s from TSC, but it’s still a fun story: there’s currently a Steam key on Kinguin for the Miami–West Palm Beach route for 30 cents. Yes, you read that right. What are your stories about getting DLC dirt cheap???
My one is that I topped my Microsoft account up ahead of pre ordering tsw6 which I did and I had some lolly left so thought ok what don’t I have and what could be useful now personally for me my go to and area of interest is uk routes with occasional bit of uk freight and originally I wasn’t big fan of loco add on packs but it’s incredible when looking into finer details of how much they do actually add into game so what I did using some lolly I had as account balance after pre order tsw6 I then discovered that through game pass all cargo line packs were discounted so I snapped all of them up and even when not doing any freight it’s nice to see them padding out routes and in yards and sometimes seeing them running up n down lines alongside the RHTT tanker trains one of the best is the ones with the graffiti on the wagons as this is very realistic for uk freight scene
I somehow found a CDKeys coupon a few years back, and the already heavily discounted TSW M3 EMU add-on ($3 USD) was down to $1 in my cart. Best purchase ever HAHA
I feel happy for everyone to get content for a bargain. With these huge discounts even people with a smaler budget can get content for TSW. But I hope DTG and co did these discounts after they met the ROI on the content. In the end the price reflects the value the content has and I don't think even with all the flaws and shortcomings we often complaine about they are not this worthless.
Yet another sale on Steam... I know it's out of DTG's hands, but it would be nice to have some parity between platforms regarding sales.
Another thing I don’t understand is why, in the absence of control over sale slots, DTG don’t just drop the RRP of the oldest DLC, e.g. TSW2 routes and locos. I see the 1938 tube stock DLC at £11.99 and shake my head, but I’d be tempted at a fiver. Same for the DB 187. The oldest routes aren’t as pretty or advanced as newer ones, and I’m not shelling out £24.99 for them in 2025, but would bite at £9.99.
I have often argued for this but it seems DTG are not listening. Back in the days of boxed games you would often see titles a year or two old discounted or even rereleased on a budget label in a smaller box with a cut down manual.
I just looked at the NE Corridor route that's currently on 60% off, and saw it was in the 'Retro Rewind Bundle'. Because I already had everything else in that bundle, the price came to £2.40 - Worth having a look at it for that price.
There are loads of games offered for free on Xbox. Also you can earn points from browsing to get free content from any game, so that is probably why there are infrequent deals.
There are many more games offered for free on PC than on XBOX but that doesn't seem to impact the frequency and depth of discounts. And as for MS Rewards, it's true that if I use Bing for searches every day, and play Game Pass every day, and open the XBOX app every day, I can eventually earn enough Rewards points to buy some DLC. Even as a frequent XBOX player and Game Pass member, however, I've barely earned £20 in Rewards so far this year, so I'd need to play XBOX as a full time job for a few years to afford a decent chunk of TSW DLC!
Took me a full year just to get £25 for free which will just be going to tsw deluxe edition since it’s cheaper than buying what I actually want individually
Steam have actually made it quite hard to find the bundles, they don't seem to appear if you just bring up the product - other than core starter bundles.
Indeed. I do a search for 'train sim world bundle' whenever there's a sale, to see if there are extra savings to be made. My story is I got Cardiff City Network for free, thanks to winning a free DLC in a competition. I'd parked getting that one for a sale, so a nice bonus.
New York to Trenton is already a very good route! They have fixed a lot and its absolute fun to drive. So i can say those reviews already behind in what this is route now days!
So being an Xbox player I do only have 1 story. My favourite was purchasing one of the first UK Regional additions of TSW despite owning that version of TSW already and getting myself TVL, the 20 and the 31 for less than £15 which isn't great compared to some of the Steam sales. But good for Xbox I think I also got GWE cheaply in a one off sale many moons ago too. Fast become one of my favourite routes and the 31 is absolutely beautiful!
This is some DTG do desperately need to look at. Reviewing the pricing on older content would actually probably make them more in sales than just leaving it at the current price.
Train Sim World 2 for £4.99 on the PSN store was the start of my train sim journey. East Coastway for £3.74 followed soon after.
I did the same thing last night! As a PC player, it´s really worth it to go around the Internet looking for cheap steam keys. Heck, let Chat GPT do it for you. Old TSC routes have a lower price. I don´t understand why this does not apply to TSW.
Thanks for this! I was in exactly the same situation as you, having never really been super interested in the New York - Trenton route due to the feedback it had gotten here. Thanks to you I was also able to grab it for 2€ through the Retro Rewind Route bundle. I would have missed this opportunity if it wasn't for your message.
I too just got the Trenton route for £2.40 though I passed on Acela at £5.99, unless someone wants to convince me otherwise. Ona first drive it’s essentially the WCMLS for the NE Corridor. Far too short for a high speed route particularly as it takes half the journey to get onto the fast section which is then about 12 minutes before Trenton. Should have gone much further.
The acela is pretty much the us version of a pendolino. Does not get to stretch his legs even though n2t is 60 miles.
That's pretty much my thoughts after giving it a spin last night. It looks a bit tired now and could do with a proper upgrade and extension. I was thinking about the Acela, but will probably not bother - I've spent too much recently after buying the 'Special Edition' of TSW6 and the new routes on that should give me more than enough to keep me busy for the next few weeks.
The two things you notice that could spice it up a bit are… 1. TOD4 and 2. Bridge reverb. Also those big girder bridges could do with a bit of rattle (underverb?!) as you pass over. The experience is therefore a bit flat not helped by the avenue of trees on the fast section to Trenton.
