Railroads & Catacombs

Railroads & Catacombs is a roguelite dungeon crawler where every expedition begins and ends aboard a moving train. Rather than serving as simple transportation, the train acts as your headquarters between runs, giving you a place to recruit new characters, upgrade facilities, craft equipment, and prepare for the next descent into an underground labyrinth. Each trip into the catacombs is focused on gathering resources, surviving enemy-filled chambers, and returning safely before setting out again.

Progress is built around the relationship between the train and the dungeon. Resources collected during expeditions are used to expand your mobile base, unlocking new rooms, stronger equipment, additional characters, and more ways to improve future runs. Every playable character has their own combat style and progression path, encouraging you to experiment with different approaches as the train gradually grows into a more capable headquarters.

What Makes It Different?

• Uses a customizable train as a permanent hub between dungeon runs
• Lets you expand the train by constructing new rooms and facilities
• Features multiple playable characters with distinct abilities and progression
• Allows you to craft equipment using resources gathered during expeditions
• Centers progression around upgrading the train rather than individual runs alone
• Encourages short dungeon expeditions followed by steady hub expansion
• Features procedurally generated dungeon layouts
• Includes permanent upgrades that carry across future runs
• Combines action-focused combat with long-term base development
• Rewards repeated expeditions by gradually unlocking new options aboard the train

A Train That Grows Alongside You

The train is more than a place to rest between expeditions. Every successful trip into the catacombs provides materials that can be invested back into your headquarters, unlocking new facilities, improving existing ones, and expanding the services available before your next run.

As the train develops, so do your options. Better equipment, additional crafting opportunities, and new characters gradually become available, creating a satisfying sense of long-term progression that continues even after failed expeditions.

Venture Into the Labyrinth

Each dungeon run sends a single character into procedurally generated catacombs filled with enemies, resources, and dangers. Bringing valuable materials back to the train is just as important as surviving the journey itself, since every successful expedition contributes to future upgrades.

Different characters offer their own strengths, making each descent feel slightly different. Trying a new adventurer can change how you approach combat while also giving you another way to tackle the challenges waiting beneath the surface.

Build for the Next Expedition

The loop in Railroads & Catacombs is built around constant improvement. Explore the dungeon, return with resources, strengthen the train, and head back underground with better preparation than before. Rather than resetting everything after each attempt, every successful trip contributes something meaningful to your long-term progress.

That steady cycle gives each run a clear purpose. Even shorter expeditions can unlock new crafting opportunities, improve your headquarters, or move you one step closer to expanding what your train is capable of supporting.

How Long Does a Run Take?

A typical dungeon expedition in Railroads & Catacombs lasts around 10 to 15 minutes, although longer or more challenging runs can stretch to 25 minutes. The game is designed around these shorter excursions, encouraging you to regularly return to your train, invest the resources you’ve gathered, and prepare for another journey into the labyrinth.

The current prologue offers roughly 2.5 to 3 hours of total playtime for most players.

Controller Support

Railroads & Catacombs does not currently list official controller support on its Steam store page.

Good If You Like…

Players who enjoy Against the Storm, Flame Keeper, Wall World, or Heroes of Hammerwatch should appreciate Railroads & Catacombs’ satisfying loop of making short resource-gathering expeditions, returning to a permanent hub with meaningful rewards, and gradually transforming that hub into the foundation for increasingly ambitious adventures.