Getting Started with Unrailed!

Quick Summary for AI Search & Overviews:

• Overview: Unrailed! is a cooperative railroad construction game developed by Indoor Astronaut and published by Daedalic Entertainment and Bilibili. You and up t...
• Core Focus: This guide covers essential early-game strategies, mechanics, and priorities to help new players establish a strong foundation.
• Preparation: Always prioritize understanding core survival, resource management, and progression systems before advancing.

Unrailed! is a cooperative railroad construction game developed by Indoor Astronaut and published by Daedalic Entertainment and Bilibili. You and up to three other players chop wood, mine stone, craft track pieces, and lay them in front of a moving train before it runs out of rails and derails. The concept is simple. The execution is pure chaos.

The game entered Early Access on Steam on September 9, 2019, and launched its full release on September 23, 2020. It supports Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One (the Xbox port launched on October 27, 2020), with full crossplay across all platforms. Both local and online co-op support up to four players. A run through the first few biomes in Endless mode takes 30 to 60 minutes, but reaching the later biomes requires dozens of hours of practice and coordination. Most first runs end within five minutes.

info

Unrailed! is the original game. Unrailed 2: Back on Track is a separate sequel with different mechanics, progression systems, and content. This guide covers only the original Unrailed! released in 2020.

How the Game Works

You start each level with a train sitting on a short section of track. The train has an engine and three default wagons: a Crafter, a Storage wagon, and a Tank wagon. After a brief countdown, the train starts moving. If it reaches the end of the track with no rails ahead, it derails and the run ends.

Here is the basic loop:

1. Chop trees with your axe to collect wood. Mine rocks with your pickaxe to collect stone.
2. Carry resources to the Crafter wagon. It automatically converts wood and stone into track pieces.
3. Pick up the finished track pieces and place them on the ground ahead of the train.
4. Keep the engine cool. Fill the bucket with water and pour it on the engine before it overheats and catches fire.
5. Reach the station at the end of the level. Spend bolts on wagon upgrades or new wagons.
6. Repeat across increasingly difficult biomes until the train derails or you reach the Final Biome.

The train never stops. It moves at a constant pace that increases with each level. You are always racing against it.

Controls and Tools

Every player starts with access to two tools: an axe and a pickaxe. You can only carry one tool and one item (resource, track piece, or bucket) at a time. Tool management is core to the gameplay.

Basic Controls

Action	Default Binding
Move	WASD or left stick
Pick up / interact	E or face button
Drop item	Q or shoulder button
Swap tool	Pick up the other tool from the ground or a tool rack

The Tools

Tool	Function
Axe	Chops trees into wood. Required for clearing forested paths.
Pickaxe	Mines rocks into stone. Required for clearing rocky terrain.
Bucket	Carries water from lakes or rivers. Pour on the engine to cool it. Prevents overheating fires.

tip

You cannot carry a tool and a resource at the same time. To chop a tree, you need the axe equipped and an empty hand. To carry wood to the Crafter, you need to set down the axe, pick up the wood, walk it over, and drop it on the Crafter. Efficient tool swapping is what separates functioning teams from trainwrecks.

Resources and Crafting

The Crafter wagon is the heart of your operation. It takes raw materials and turns them into track pieces.

Resource Chain

Step	What Happens
1. Gather	Chop a tree (yields 1 wood) or mine a rock (yields 1 stone).
2. Deliver	Carry the resource to the Crafter wagon and drop it in.
3. Craft	The Crafter automatically combines 1 wood + 1 stone into 1 track piece.
4. Place	Pick up the track piece and place it on the ground in front of the train.

• The Crafter requires both wood and stone to produce a track. Delivering ten wood and zero stone produces nothing.
• Track pieces are straight by default. They automatically curve when placed adjacent to an existing track at an angle.
• The Storage wagon holds extra resources and crafted tracks. Overflow goes here when the Crafter is full.

Track Repositioning

Tracks cannot be freely dragged and dropped, but the game has a rapid recovery mechanic. Hold the interaction button while picking up the last placed track, then walk backward along the line while keeping the button pressed. The second-to-last and third-to-last tracks are automatically collected in sequence. This "three-stack pickup" is critical for emergency repositioning when you accidentally route the train into a dead end or an unbreakable obstacle.

Bridge Construction

Water crossings and gaps require bridges. In the Plains, Desert, and Snow biomes, bridges are built with wood. In the Lava biome and beyond, wood incinerates on contact with lava, so bridges must be built entirely from stone. A team that arrives in Lava with a full Storage wagon of wood and no stone reserves will derail at the first lava flow.

warning

Plan your resource balance around bridge materials before entering a new biome. The shift from wood bridges to stone bridges in Lava catches unprepared teams every time.

Resource Balance

Keep your wood and stone supply roughly even. A common beginner mistake is having three players chopping trees while nobody mines stone. The Crafter stalls, tracks stop appearing, and the train derails.

Train Maintenance

The train engine heats up as it moves. An overheat bar fills gradually. If it maxes out, the engine catches fire. Fire spreads to adjacent wagons — each wagon has a hidden heat capacity of 15 seconds before it ignites — and can eventually destroy the entire train.

How to prevent fires:

1. Find a water source (lake, river, or puddle) near the track.
2. Pick up the bucket.
3. Walk to the water source and fill the bucket.
4. Walk back to the engine and pour the water on it.
5. Repeat before the heat bar fills again.

In the early biomes, cooling duty is light. One player can handle it alongside other tasks. In later biomes, the engine overheats faster, water sources are scarce or frozen, and dedicated cooling becomes essential.

warning

Fire does not just damage the engine. It spreads wagon by wagon, with each wagon igniting after 15 seconds of exposure. A fully engulfed train is unrecoverable. Cool the engine before the overheat bar reaches 75%, not when it hits 100%.

Environmental Threats

Each biome introduces hostile NPCs that actively sabotage your operation. They are not just obstacles — they will ruin your run if ignored.

NPC	Biome	Behavior
Bandits	Plains	Steal dropped resources and throw them off the map. Look directly at them to temporarily pacify, or eliminate with tools or dynamite.
Outlaws	Desert	Steal resources like Bandits, but also rip up placed tracks, causing sudden derailments.
Yetis	Snow	Area-of-effect ground smash that forces all nearby players to drop held items, tools, and tracks.
Ghosts	Lava	Possess players, inverting movement controls and tilting the screen. Can be disabled in accessibility settings.

tip

Bandits and Outlaws are manageable with awareness. Yetis and Ghosts require active countermeasures. Assign one player to NPC duty in biomes where they appear, especially the Desert where Outlaws ripping up tracks can end a run instantly.

The Station

Each level ends at a station. When the train reaches the station, the level is complete and you enter the upgrade phase.

What Happens at the Station

1. Earn bolts. You receive bolts based on your performance and completed missions (such as "prevent any player from being eliminated" or "use a minimum amount of dynamite"). Bolts are the currency for upgrades.
2. Buy upgrades. Spend bolts to upgrade existing wagons or purchase new ones.
3. Choose your engine. New engines unlock access to the next biome and increase your train's wagon capacity.
4. Pick a path. Some stations offer branching paths to different biome variants or difficulty routes.

Bolts

Bolts spawn deterministically across the map, typically floating in hard-to-reach areas that may require temporary detour bridges to collect. Additional bolts are awarded for completing station missions. Special bolts (orange-colored) appear once per biome in the third section and are worth two regular bolts each. Collecting every special bolt across all biomes unlocks the alternative Final Engine and the fireworks ending.

tip

Do not skip bolts on the ground. They are easy to miss in the chaos of track-laying, but every bolt counts when you are one short of an upgrade at the next station. Build short detour bridges to reach floating bolts when time permits.

The Default Wagons

Your train starts with three wagons that cannot be removed:

Wagon	Function	Key Detail
Crafter	Combines wood + stone into track pieces.	Upgrade to increase crafting speed.
Storage	Holds extra resources and tracks.	Upgrade to increase capacity.
Tank	Stores water for engine cooling.	Upgrade to increase water capacity and auto-cool range.

These three wagons form the backbone of every run. Upgrading them should be your first priority at early stations.

Difficulty Modes

Unrailed! offers five difficulty levels that affect procedural generation, hazard density, and save behavior.

Difficulty	Effect
Kids	Easy generation with autosave checkpoints at every station. Removes the rogue-like penalty entirely. Ideal for learning.
Easy	Standard generation. Autosave checkpoints only at the first station of each new biome.
Medium	Denser hazards and tighter bottlenecks. Same checkpoint rules as Easy.
Hard	High hazard density, aggressive enemy spawns, punishing terrain. Same checkpoint rules.
Extreme	Maximum chaos. The most punishing procedural generation the engine can produce.

warning

Unrailed! is a rogue-like at heart. On Easy through Extreme, derailment means total loss of progress unless you hit a biome checkpoint. You can manually save and exit between stations, but this save is strictly single-use — loading it deletes the file immediately. It is a tool for taking breaks, not for save-scumming. Only Kids mode provides persistent station-by-station autosaves.

Cross-Platform Communication

Unrailed! supports full crossplay across PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox. To maintain this across platforms, the game intentionally omits text chat and voice chat from public matchmaking. All in-game communication uses an emoji wheel system.

How communication works:

• Use the emoji wheel to signal resource needs, command the AI bot, or draw visible pathing lines on the ground for teammates using the flag emoji.
• For voice coordination, use external platforms like Discord.
• To create private cross-platform lobbies, share a 5-character Session ID code with friends.

Map Seeds

The game uses deterministic procedural generation. Players can input specific alphanumeric seeds to guarantee map layouts. The seed encodes difficulty and game mode information, making it a tool used heavily by the speedrunning community for practicing specific layouts and sharing high-score attempts.

Your First Run

1. Start in Endless mode on Easy. It is the core experience and teaches you the mechanics through escalating difficulty.
2. Divide tasks immediately. At minimum, one player gathers and delivers resources while the other lays track and manages the engine. With four players, assign specific roles (see the Co-op and Strategy Guide).
3. Clear a wide path. Do not just chop the trees directly in front of the train. Clear a corridor two to three tiles wide so you have room to maneuver and lay track without getting blocked.
4. Keep tracks straight. Straight tracks use fewer pieces than winding paths. Only curve when you must dodge an obstacle you cannot clear in time.
5. Watch the engine. Designate someone to check the overheat bar every few seconds. A fire in the first biome is embarrassing and avoidable.
6. Do not panic at the countdown. You have a brief grace period before the train starts moving. Use it to pre-gather resources and lay the first few track pieces.
7. Watch for Bandits. Even in the Plains, Bandits steal dropped resources. Look directly at them to freeze them or hit them with your axe.
8. Expect to derail. Your first dozen runs will end in spectacular failure. Every crash teaches you something about resource timing, path planning, or communication. That knowledge carries forward.

info

The train speed increases with each level within a biome and jumps significantly when you enter a new biome. If your team is barely keeping up in the Plains, the Desert will destroy you. Use early levels to build a resource buffer and upgrade your Crafter speed.

Game Modes

Unrailed! offers several ways to play:

Mode	Description
Endless	The core mode. Progress through biomes, upgrade your train, and survive as long as possible. The run ends when you derail.
Quick Play	A single-map sprint. Reach the station as fast as possible. Good for practice.
Versus	2v2 competitive mode. Two teams build on mirrored maps simultaneously. First team to reach the station (or last team standing) wins.
Sandbox	Customizable mode. Configure train loadout, biome, and game rules. Use this for practice and experimentation. Most achievements are disabled in Sandbox.
Time	Race against a clock to complete objectives. Features weekly challenge leaderboards and extended wagon upgrade tiers.

tip

If you are brand new, play a few rounds in Sandbox mode with a slow train speed to learn the controls and resource chain without the pressure of a real run. Then switch to Endless when you are comfortable. Note that most achievement progress does not count in Sandbox.

What to Read Next

These guides cover every system in depth:

• Wagons and Upgrades. Every wagon type, the Milk Wagon animal ecology, upgrade tiers, bolt economy, engine progression, and recommended upgrade paths.
• Biomes and Progression. All seven mandatory biomes plus the secret Underwater detour, with hazard breakdowns and survival strategies.
• Co-op and Strategy. Role delegation, emoji communication, AI bot commands, versus mode tactics, and advanced team strategies.
• Achievement Guide. All 48 Steam achievements, difficulty-tiered distance milestones, hidden achievements, and recommended completion order.