I am completely unable to review Derail Valley

Channel:

Timberwolf

Subscribers:

4,090

Published on August 9, 2023 11:02:59 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha0Zgbjv5WA

Game:

Derail Valley (2019)

Category:

Review

Duration: 27:49

5,330 views

260

I've started playing Derail Valley and I love it to the point I need to tell you all about it. Which is a problem, because it turns out that the moment the cameras are rolling and I'm gathering gameplay footage I become completely unable to articulate just what it is that sets this aside from the usual pulling of a single lever and waiting for things to happen of supposedly more realistic simulators.

Also I make a sandwich and a flask of tea on... er, somewhere slightly to the left of camera in my neverending quest to find a YouTube niche even smaller than "indie simulators and old PC games". If you're still enjoying things by this point you are a wondrous person and I appreciate you.

List of signals:

0:00 I am late. Again.
0:39 The problem with train simulators
1:43 I make tea in an entirely uncontroversial way
3:03 Finally, some gameplay footage
4:30 I made that tea for a reason
7:07 Ambition
8:14 I am great at shunting. Honest.
9:23 Hilly antagonists
10:42 This video has a problem
12:47 Under pressure
13:12 The economical disco train and its downfall
14:45 Functional naming and more failure
15:45 Life on the edge
17:36 Sensible and proper
19:16 The pleasure of potential failure
22:27 The hopping game
23:25 More safe shunting
24:09 Navigational issues
25:00 The bit with the outcome
25:48 The bit after the outcome
27:05 The sandwich returns

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Additional sound effects CC0 from Freesound.

A brief except of Maple Leaf Rag by E's Jammy Jams is used in this video.

Bonus fact: no, really, this was an absolute horror to record and I found myself consistently unable to say *anything* interesting about what is a rather enjoyable little indie sim with plenty of challenges to keep you busy. It's great fun scuttling across the map in a little shunter delivering all sorts of things to those functionally-named places, whether you bring along sandwiches and tea for extra authenticity or not. Developer altfuture have a roadmap of even more things they'd like to add, including a potential US-themed future DLC pack with beefier locomotives and a different map.

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