Dovetail Games Season Of Reveals 2025 - Week 3

I would be happy if at least on each platform would be a hopping marker. Because that would make it possible "only" to exit the loco, walk some metres on the platform; hopping to the next route, walking to the loco and get in again. So you dont need to change the platform to get the hopping marker

Who knows, perhaps some day someone brings Birmingham - Rugby - Northampton - Milton Keynes. Then the gaps would be filled.

 

Really pleased with the latest additions in particular the trent valley and jt routes they will be day 1 purchases for me.

 

week 3 reveals hold a lot of promise, much better than last years efforts. The return of Steam is great news and I for one fully support the WCML extensions. It will be great to have a full run up the WCML. Lets hope its all delivered in a timely manner now

 

And what would the expected timescales be?

 

What a somewhat strange announcement...some kind of...well...just a short look at the map...


(Von kjunix and MCMC - derived from Image:Karte Neckartalbahn.svg and Image:Topografie Baden-Wuerttemberg Nord.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1774356)

Two Geman releases (Back-to-back...,Stuttgart-Heilbronn, Neckarelz-Heidelberg) with a gap of somewhat 25 km-30 km in it...and well, a gap of somewhat 30 years for the timetable...and yes, in both years, there were trains like Stuttgart-Heilbronn-Neckarelz-Eberbach(-Hanau/Darmstadt-Frankfurt (called 'Odenwald-Neckar-Express')) in the timetable (changing locos (BR 110 to BR 215/216/218) in Eberbach).

Well, how about three in a row...next german route Hessische Odenwaldbahn Hanau/Darmstadt to Wiebelsbach-Heubach or something alike...^^.

 

Most excited for the Cumbrian coast. All we need now is more East Coast content. Perhaps Carlisle to Newcastle via the Tyne Valley, then Newcastle - Doncaster - Leeds

 

You are mistaken. The week 1 article said, for week 3, "Expect 3 New Add-on announcements, 2 Add-on Updates". No mention of region.

 

So that's it then, still no new Scottish route. Sigh.

 

I was wondering the same and looking at my Steam Wallet. As regards JT well they haven't even given a date for Preston to Crewe yet so I'm guessing Carlisle to Whitehaven would be summer at the earliest.

For the German route, trying to remember when Mittenwald released, could we be looking at 12 months on from that?

And got a feeling the AABS route will definitely be pushing into TSW7 territory, I mean they still have work to do patching up B2C before turning focus to the next project.

 

It's sad that I can't be hyped for these releases as I know know that every piece of DLC will be a blurry mess. (JT route may evade it as neither of their routes suffer it)

 

Can't wait for Lisbon Setubal. This CP 3500 EMU reminds me previous generation of french TER Z2N. I'd love to see more routes from France (maybe one day Cannes-Ventimiglia in TSW, my dream...) so in the meantime, I hope to have a lot of fun with this Portuguese route.
I love the sound of this train, I hope they can record real sounds for the game.

 

Some people get excited doing the same thing all the time. I know people who go on holiday to the same place every year.
I think people like that are dull and suffer from a complete lack of adventure and imagination.

The same is happening with TSW. It would be nice at this stage to get some comments from DTG about why there is this avalanche of WCML content and whether other areas of the network are going to get their turn. This was how it used to be in the good old days of TSC. I'd love to think that I've invested hundreds of pounds on this franchise because a line that's in my top ten might get a look in at some point but this feels more and more remote with each London Midland Region DLC announced.

And for those who've shown excitement about more of the same. I'm pleased for you, enjoy your holiday at the same resort as last time.

 

For me the BR23 announcement is the best news of this reveal. I have been standing at a 1 meter distance of this loco and this is so impressive.

 

As I mentioned in the Q&A, is it just me or is this pretty much all 3P stuff, nothing from DTG themselves?

 

Yeah, I noticed no mid-cycle title from DTG.
We got Cardiff Network last year, GOBLIN the year before. It's all third party stuff.
This at least gives me some hope that someone will release something genuinely different and imaginative for those of us who didn't grow up obsessed with rail services in the North West.

 

Focus on new, fundamental improvements.

This suggests that the old, long-buggy improvements won't be fixed.

 

Though we know Cardiff was outsourced to Rivet, who it seems have nothing under their own banner on the Roadmap. Does this mean DTG and Rivet are now effectively co-working together as one unit. Even if not very good, I’m surprised there’s not either a Scottish route and/or new Swiss route to come from their stable.

 

To be honest, I find this promising. Let 3Ps release routes and DLC, while DTG predominately works on fixing the core. Sounds like a good interim solution to me - so glad to see it is what they are doing.

 

Very, very quiet on 1P content from DTG this year in general.

Now is it more likely they're all working away on "core improvements", which will generate zero revenue for Focus, or are they in early stages of developing a new train sim based in UE5?

I know which one i'd lean towards if i was a betting man

 

Yes I find it very unlikely that DTG would cease almost all content production to work on stabilisation. I don’t want to be that guy who complains no matter what & put DTG into a position where they can’t win either way, but this scenario is too good to be true. I especially don’t believe they’d take such a path without making a song & dance out of announcing it.

Every single time the content from DTG dries up, it’s always been followed by the announcement of a bigger product to sell, so I suspect that’s what is really going on. If it’s that arcade thing they’re working on I don’t know, but almost anything is more likely than them halting the conveyer belt of production.

 

Yup, because afaik the conveyor belt CAN'T be stopped- it's literally the only thing keeping the lights on, especially with them offering a free upgrade path with the past two iterations.

Mayyyybe 3P revenue has become substantial and reliable enough to where that's no longer true? I certainly don't know what kind of revenue split is in place there, so it's a possibility.

I still say where there's smoke, there's fire, though. My prediction (so i can look really stupid in the future lol) is that TSWUE5 releases in Fall 2027 around the time we'd expect to see TSW8.

 

I must admit I'm left with a much better feeling after this reveal than last year's. A little light on the US content, but atleast a new freight route has been announced. For all the criticism HIS get, their routes in TSC are actually pretty good, so I hope their TSW route will be as well.

The biggest highlight for me is the return of steam and seeing there might be improvements to the simulation was a nice surprise. I think it is a good strategy to release steam content together with another form of traction like done here, so the risk of selling steam might be reduced. I'm also surprised to see a new JT route being announced so early. From how much time the previous routes has taken to release, the lack of images, and that the Preston-Crewe route hasn't released yet, it makes me wonder if it will be out before TSW 7. Regardless, I'm hyped for another JT 80s route and finally another 1st gen DMU as well.

You also have to take into account that most of the people producing the DLCs probably aren't the same people fixing the core issues. It might be that DTG has over a period of time changed their employees to have more people who work on the core and way less on DLCs, but from DTGs history I kinda doubt it.