Hi all, I’m looking to expand my TSW collection and was wondering if this route was any good. I’ve had my eye on this route since it released but waited for bugs and etc to be fixed. I also don’t have good knowledge about the Netherlands and their safety systems, as I like using them on other routes. Is it worth the 45$ or should I wait for a sale? Thanks! **I posted this in the off topic discussion but was told i would get better responses here**
Its 60miles long its fairly a straight route with some inclines. Trains are OK to drives quite modern. The G6 shunter a d red vectron layer in if you own the right routes. Just a2b jobs realy and depot moves. Scenery is done nice tho . I got bored quick with this one tho. Just my opinion.
it al depends on taste if you are not sure wait for a sale you could always watch a youtube run of it
Much better =-) You can't go wrong with a sale if you're not sure. There's a lot of youtube reviews out there. Ultimately it's up to your personal style.
Wait for a sale, 40-60% off and you'll have a fair deal. Regarding the developing team, have they announced a follow up? First routes are usually just a 'testing the waters, getting your bearings, learning the tools, see how well it sells' sort of affaire. I do not follow roadmap streams very closely, but has anything new Dutch of from this team been announced? Otherwise, once you've played it a few times, it's just another piece of abandonware for your archives, and my collection of DLC has already enough of those.
All depends on the sales. If enough people buy it, they'll probably make more. In any case, I think the "sprinter" could be used on UK routes around the West Midlands with little modification couldn't it? The two-level train is still really neat and unique to this route. I have never seen another like it. Very nice for sight seeing since it sits to high up.
Unless you're looking at buying a route day one and know with certainty you're gonna love it I don't see why anyone would pay full price. Especially when you don't know yourself if you want to commit and it's not that new. At this point any sale's gonna be sooner rather than later, even if the route's perfect I don't see why wouldn't spend less if you can. I can't comment on anything else, as I don't own it, but that sales factor alone I think is enough to advice you just say wait despite that. If somebody's asking they probably don't fully know themselves, that's why their asking, no offense, but I don't really feel answers like this are all that great for recommendation threads. From everything I know, most game sales are in the first short period after launch, and this is true of pretty much all games, or even movies, not just TSW. At this stage either the route's done well enough and it's already got a second greenlit, or it hasn't, not much is gonna change that at this point.
Route and locos are very well done, but I did get bored pretty quickly. Not a lot of variety of runs, pretty flat and not too fast, but it is great to experience something different and again, the dev team did a very good job on it.
It's included in TSW 6 Special Edition, so even if you have just 2 routes missing, wait for a decent sale and you can make a huge bargain. Even now, a few weeks after release, the Special Edition is quite cheap at some resellers, if you are on PC. The route itself is very well done, but as others said, not much variety, so, except for real fans of the Dutch railway, you get bored pretty easy. For a first route this was an easy to make route, but it's not a route which shows the greatness of the Dutch railways I think... Still, I hope for more - hopefully a more urban route or at least with more traffic.
The trains are brilliant, especially the ICMm. Also, the Dutch safety system ATB is the best I have yet driven. Furthermore the execution of the scenery is very high grade. Unfortunately the scenery - as in RL - isn’t the most exciting, and the route is just an AB
It's a good route, the ICM is wonderful to drive, the SNG is a bit more common. It is not most exciting Dutch route but it is very well done, regarding scenery, atmosphere, signalling and safety system. The rolling stock will be used probably in enw Dutch routes, so if you have a discount, why not start enjoying it?
In my view, DTG made a mistake in making Zwolle-Groningen the first Dutch route. When you're introducing a new country, you should build a route involving major cities, in this case Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht or The Hague. Z-G is a well- made route but it's flat, straight and has little diversity or replay value. And there's not much about it that shouts " Dutch " except the occasional windmill.
Have to disagree with earlier comments about the ICM. It seems overpowered and accelerates rapidly even in only throttle position three or four. It has severe inertial drag when you shut off power. Virtually silent in both cabs, not even much track sound. This is one route where I actually prefer the modern EMU though even that has issues with friction when coasting.
Well, I can somehow agree with you, there are better or more scenic options for a Dutch route. However, with only 2 trains included, around the named big cities it will feel empty, lifeless and not correct with those 2 trains. So for a first Dutch route, I think it's fine tp start with a more quiet route.
Just to echo previous comments really, I found it to be a decent well made route at its core, but it’s ultimately not one I go back to much and most of it is a straight flat line through the countryside.
Major cities are also a major investment in dev time (=money), and there is never a guarantee that a new country will sell well., Far better to test the waters with a more modest investment. Austria began with Vorarlberg.
If you can get a discount then absolutely get it, but at full price you may want to avoid it. The route is very well made and the 2 locos are excellent, the timetable is brilliant too. But the actual route itself gets boring quite quickly. I suspect we’ll see another Dutch route soon and the SNG and Koploper will likely layer in, so that’s definitely a good reason to get Zwolle on a discount but I wouldn’t recommend it at full price, unless straight lines with little speed variation are your thing
I know I'm late to the party, but I just bought it on sale. It's a very nice route. Not quite WSR or Shap level, but definitely in the top 10 scenically. On the other hand it only has 5 freight runs, so I guess if you like commuter stuff pick it up. Otherwise.... wait for a sale?
Pros: good looking, interesting/different trains, unique country, performs well with high FPS and no blurring texture issues that I've ever seen. It is a great route if you want to play the European/German-style side of things but want to use a safety system that is simpler than PZB. Cons: not the most varied route, basically a straight A to B without much variety between the different services. The SNG stops at most stations and the ICM doesn't but fundamentally you are just going back and forth mostly in a straight line on flat terrain.
I read that it’s a very linear route and can become boring after a while as it’s just A to B drives with little variety and not much layered in. That’s the reason I haven’t gone for it even in sale.
I think it's worth it. It's a nice route, but if you don't have any affinity with the Dutch railways, there are routes with way more variation. The route is also probably a one-off Dutch route for a very long time to come, so the trains will not add any use to other routes you might have.
I think it’s nicely detailed but it is a bland drive, it’s one of those that’s nice to back to for a couple of runs but not something I’d make a regular. They really needed to capitalise on this route by releasing a follow up to make use of its rolling stock, unfortunately they seem to have dropped the ball on that front. In any case I certainly don’t regret buying it at full price. There are few routes I can say that about.
To be fair, that's a LOT of routes in TSW, even the remastered ones Koln-Aachen and Great Western. Very few are non-linear and they stand out because of that. SEHS for example, Cardiff, SPG and HSC (not full networks but branch lines) That's why I like to go back to routes like HSC/SPG, SEHS or the new Mittenwalden which have a curves, grade changes, branches and plenty of different landmarks.
When it comes to stability and attractiveness this route is up there. The one thing that lets this route down is replay ability, it gets boring real quickly. I do fire this route up from time to time, but I couldn’t do runs on it back to back like I can on other routes that offer more variety.
I love Dutch railways and trains and the two included are great. But I waited until a sale before I got it because the choice of route wasn't great as I feared it would get boring quickly. Which it did. So hoping for a better choice of route in the future as like Double Yellow said, the replay ability lets it down.
It's kind of let down in the way Peak Forest was... lack of stock and variety. It's a beautiful route (just like PFR) but yeah it's a lot of back and forth. However, as I said that's not just this route. TSW has a lot of routes that lack variety. Ironically, the lack of freight runs stands out here. There's only 5 and only 3 use most of the route. Since there's so many linking branches that aren't modeled, it'd be realistic to at least have you "exit" or "enter" the map at any of those branching off points since that's what would happen irl. It's not even unrealistic that coming onto the map for example you'd be stopped at a signal before proceeding onto the map so they're natural "enter" points for the route. For commuter stuff... I dunno dutch railways at all so don't know. However, the beauty of freight is that it's a good counterpart to passenger stuff and has a lot more flexibility to "fill in the gaps" whereas passenger traffic is much more controlled. In the European context, it's also a lot more compatible because the DB BR 193 for example is used all over (even here) and the shunters are ubiquitous, whereas again the commuter stuff is often very regional and localized in livery. In my opinion, not enough is being made of that universal nature to "connect" routes more immersively.
