Railbreak Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

Despite my countless attempts to build a Time Machine sturdy enough to transport me back to the golden age of arcade gaming, the harsh truth is, that era has long gone, which means I, along with a boatload of other joystick ramblers, have little choice but to find solace in the next best thing. In this case, I’m mainly referring to Railbreak, an on-rails shooter that recently touched down on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC. As luck would have it, the IP is far more than mere nostalgia fodder for the masses; it’s actually more of a two-for-one sort of gig, if anything.

Railbreak marks the return of the Outbreak series—a top-down co-op horror in which players would need to band together to survive infinite waves of undead hordes in a post-apocalyptic metropolis. Unlike its predecessor, however, Railbreak instead casts its focus on a different perspective—a first-person on-rails POV in which fledgling fighters must sift through copious amounts of flesh-deprived zombies on a quest to survive the ongoing storm. Needless to say that, conceptually, they both feed from the same troth, which means newcomers needn't fret over which tale to embark on first.

Dead Drop Studios' newest arrival comes loaded with a vast array of modes: a full-fledged campaign, Score Attack, Onslaught Mode, Boss Rush, Glitch Gauntlet, and Shootout Shootout. Suffice it to say, the on-rails shooter has more than enough to chew into, so to speak, and it’s due to the sheer volume of gore-filled festivities that it houses, that’s it’s almost too hard to pass up. But I’m getting ahead of myself — to the point where I’m crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s before drafting the introductory spiel. So, for the sake of adding context, we’ll jump back to the beginning.

It’s Saturday Night, Folks

Railbreak hurls you into the zombie-fueled streets of a post-apocalyptic metropolis—a world in which undead hordes outweigh the living, and the last remaining tokens of humanity come in the form of high-powered assault rifles and projectiles. The goal, in short, is to survive these desperate conditions, and essentially do all in your power to sift through the masses whilst simultaneously coughing up god-awful one-liners and other questionably poor monologues.

To set the record straight, Railbreak is not a serious game; on the contrary, it pays homage to some of the genre’s biggest selling points, which includes terribly short-handed jokes, and not to mention a treasure trove of relatable memoirs, as spoken by the protagonist himself. For example, the opening sections of the campaign immediately strike a chord with our hero, at which point he compares the undead outbreak to an office Christmas party that he once attended. It isn’t exactly award-winning comedy gold, but it does make an otherwise terrifying calamity slightly less frightening. Or at least, it attempts to by adding in the occasional tongue-in-cheek remark, similar to those featured in, I don’t know, Arizona Sunshine.

There’s this old saying: if you’ve romped through one zombie outbreak, then you’ve essentially romped through ‘em all. Well, not to deflate anyone’s balloon or anything, but Railbreak isn’t all that different, as it more or less creates an identical post-apocalyptic ambiance, and with it, generates an instantly recognizable image that’s equally reminiscent of most ex-gen corridor shooters. And that’s, you know, fine.

Load ‘Em Up

As far as on-rails shooters go, Railbreak is definitely one of the better choices available, as it not only allows for players to take full advantage of their Light Guns, but also push their hardware to exceed its potential, too. And while the campaign itself isn’t the glossiest-looking shooter on the market, it’s hard to complain when most of said visuals are bursting at the seams with gory theatrics and brain-smothered displays. As far as all of that goes, I’m all for it. At the end of the day, who doesn’t enjoy popping a few heads and witnessing the splodge and splutter of the impact?

Railbreak is broken up into a myriad of stages, with each chapter coursing you through an environment that’s not only crammed to the core with zombies, but also a number of side activities to embark on, too. Aside from the obvious objective of mindlessly hammering down zombies’ heads with assault rifles, there are also survivors to protect, resources to collect, and of course, a number of hard-hitting bosses to confront. So, quite the banquet, after all.

The good news is, Railbreak does offer a solid amount of replay value, as each stage is essentially made up of collecting points and searching for new ways to execute the undead. There’s also another feature that had me coming back for a few more rounds, too—a sneaky “Glitch Detected” node that ultimately allows you to take full advantage of various perks for a short burst of time, such as infinite ammunition, and a thicker skin to protect you from tougher enemies.

A Love Letter, Clear as Day

For those who’ve poured countless hours into the likes of The House of the Dead, entering Railbreak will feel a lot like coming home after a couple of decades of laying dormant with a Light Gun in one hand, and a heart for the savagery of mindless undead warfare in the other. In many ways, Dead Drop Studios’ Railbreak is a love letter to an era that many believed to have ended long ago, and it fills me with hope to know that, in spite of all the categories that have come and gone over the years, on-rails shooters are still alive and kicking. And of course, I’m all the merrier, knowing that Dead Drop Studios is continuing to chalk up numbers when all odds are against its favor.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of technical flaws that spoil an otherwise nostalgic trip into the corridors of arcade gaming, such as the player character often getting stuck and refusing to progress deeper into a level. Aside from a few audiovisual mishaps and technical bugs, however, the relatively short campaign ran without so much as a major hitch, which in turn led to a surprisingly easygoing journey.

The thing that sells it for me, really, is the game’s additional modes outside of the base campaign. For $20, it almost feels too good to be true, and the fact that such a mouthful of material is the product of a single developer, in all honesty, makes it thrice as impressive, and thus, an absolute steal for those looking to plunge into an independent nightmare that’s evidently chock-full of all the appropriate gadgets and gizmos.

Verdict

I’m not going to say that Railbreak has the power to change the face of the on-rails world, but for what it’s worth, I will say this: there have been millions of love letters to the nineties period, many of them poorly written, but Railbreak, in all fairness, just isn’t one of those letters. And while the game itself does feature a couple of mechanical and audiovisual faults, the lion’s share of the journey is in receipt of a genuinely impressive design, and not to mention enough stages to make the price of admission seem reasonable and, sure enough, worthwhile.

While I’m not about to go out and echo the words and one-liners from my hero’s gory endeavors, I am oddly inclined to agree that such remarks were better suited in the Railbreak affair than anywhere else. Sure, it can be a little cheesy, but then, that’s exactly what Dead Drop Studios aimed to encapsulate — and I’m all for supporting that decision, for sure. It’s almost as if Arizona Sunshine had a baby with The House of the Dead, only it inherited the love of bloodshed from the latter, and the humor from the former. And it works — incredibly well, even.

To answer the question, is Railbreak worth playing in 2023? Yes, it most certainly is. And not just for the sake of reviving an archipelago of old memories, but for the rest of the content that it has wedged in its gore-obsessed world, also. Needless to say that, if you’re after a zany shoot ‘em up chapter with all the bells and whistles of a traditional arcade classic, then you’re sure to find a thing or two to love in this gore-infused carnival of apocalyptic horrors.