Over the past year or two, the market for cheap co-op games to play with friends has become so crowded that it is getting difficult to remember which is which: Lethal Company, Content Warning, R.E.P.O., PEAK, and others. A new one comes out almost every few months, everyone plays it for a week, and then moves on to the next. Stream Train comes from this same wave. The game was developed by Copenhagen-based Danish studio Half Past Yellow and released on Steam on October 16.
The idea is simple. You board an old steam train, travel along an abandoned railway toward a place called “Uncanny Valley,” and livestream the entire journey. Along the way, you get off at stops to explore the surroundings, collect items, and encounter strange creatures and ghosts. But if you ask me, they are not the game’s real “enemy.” The real enemy is the chat.
On the edge of the screen is a chat filled with artificial viewers. It is almost identical to the interface you know from Twitch or Kick streams. Viewers give you tasks, expect you to do dangerous things, and openly write that they are bored when nothing happens. Your viewers’ donations also pay for the train’s fuel and equipment. In other words, if you cannot entertain people, you cannot get very far. As the studio itself puts it, the rule is this: do not annoy the monsters, and if you do, at least get it on camera.
This mechanic felt very familiar to me. As someone who also livestreams, I know that content creators always have the same question running through their heads: what can I do now to keep people from leaving? Stream Train turns this question directly into a game mechanic. In Content Warning, you recorded and uploaded the video first, and only saw the view count afterward. Here, the audience is inside the game and is constantly telling you something. The difference may seem small, but it changes the entire rhythm of the game. I should also mention that some of the chat messages were generated with artificial intelligence. The studio does not hide this and says it wrote the main text itself.
One of the details I liked most as someone who streams in real life was the phone in your hand. Streamers who broadcast from the street hold their phones while filming and reading the chat. The same is true here: you stream with the phone, follow what the chat wants through it, and largely control the course of the game with it. It is almost impossible to do anything in this game without the phone. This creates a pleasant tension: when you look at the phone, you cannot see your surroundings, and when you look around, you miss what the chat is saying. Anyone who streams knows this feeling.
The train carries this entire streaming adventure. That is where the game’s name comes from: “steam train” means a steam-powered train in English, while “stream” refers to a livestream. Like an ordinary steam train, this one does not move on its own. You have to throw coal or logs into its furnace to get it moving. One of the game’s main objectives is exactly that: find fuel and get the train to the next area. But to be honest, the game is far from generous in this regard. Finding coal and logs is much harder than you might expect, and it often feels as though the game deliberately gives you too little. On one hand, this creates tension, because at every stop you keep wondering, “Will we make it to the next place?” On the other hand, it can sometimes become frustrating, because the most entertaining part, the livestream, fades into the background and you turn into someone who is simply searching for fuel.
I initially played the game alone for about 40 minutes. The game feels incomplete when played solo. The person who sent me the key had written in their letter, “It is better with friends, just so you know,” and they were right. When you are alone, the phone, the train, and the search for fuel all fall on one person, and the game turns into simply walking around a dark place and collecting items.
Then four of us got together to play, and the game opened up in a completely different way. As soon as the chat gives an objective, everyone immediately starts passing tasks around: who will go, who will hold the camera, who will stay on the train and watch the fuel. At first, everyone volunteers, but two minutes later, everyone is running to rescue the person who went ahead to explore. This is where the funniest moments emerge. The chat wants you to go closer, common sense tells you to run, and someone always listens to the chat. Before you know it, everyone is panicking because of one person’s stupid decision, but the donations start pouring in at that exact moment. This is the game’s greatest strength: more than fear, it is the joy of making fools of yourselves together. You cannot find that feeling when playing alone.
The game’s other problem is that it does not have much content yet. The locations, creatures, and items are shuffled around in every run, which somewhat reduces the feeling that you are taking the same route every time. However, there are not many creatures to encounter or places to explore. After a few runs, you start seeing the same things again, and the game stops showing you anything new. You notice this later when playing with friends because laughter fills the gaps, but you still feel it. The studio says it will add new items, creatures, cosmetics, and locations in the coming months. If these additions arrive, the game could change considerably.
The numbers confirm this picture as well. In the first few days, Steam reviews were “Mixed,” but they have now risen to “Mostly Positive,” at around 74 percent. On the day of release, 369 people were playing the game simultaneously on Steam. Now, that number is around 100. In other words, the game is neither a complete failure nor the next hit in the genre.
The game costs $7.99, but until October 30, it is available for $5.19 with a 35 percent discount. There is no Azerbaijani language support, but the interface includes Turkish, which should be enough for our players.
Conclusion
Stream Train is a game with a good idea, but it is not fully fleshed out yet. The idea of livestreaming with your phone and satisfying the chat is fresh, and as someone who streams, it made me laugh a lot, but the lack of fuel sometimes gets in the way of the fun. It is easily worth $5 for laughing with three or four friends over one or two evenings. I do not recommend playing it alone. If the studio delivers the updates it has promised, this game will be worth revisiting in a few months.
6.5
Author’s rating
The review key was provided by the PR company for us to review the game.
You can visit the game’s Steam page here.