Apocalypse Express has a clever train-management roguelite setup, but right now it feels far better in theory than it does in the early solo hours
Apocalypse Express is yet another roguelite I jumped into recently, and this one immediately has a hook I wanted to like. You are aboard a small train barreling through an apocalyptic wasteland, controlling a tiny character inside it while everything falls apart around you. Think FTL-style crew management, but shrunk down into one frantic little train where you shovel coal, repair broken parts, grab scrap and ammo, switch lanes, and man cannons while raiders try to tear you apart.
That sounds great on paper. For a while, it is. The fantasy of keeping this desperate machine alive while enemies swarm from every side is strong, and the presentation sells the chaos well enough. The problem is that the challenge curve feels off right now, especially if you are playing alone.
Apocalypse Express is hardcore very quickly. I appreciate a hard roguelite, but the best ones hook you early by making every failure feel useful. Here, I too often felt like I was making no real progress during those early hours. Runs collapse fast, the difficulty ramps up sharply, and the rewards you get do not feel impactful enough to keep the loop exciting.
Most runs eventually turned into the same stressful spiral. The arm used to collect scrap and ammo breaks. The cannon breaks. The lever for switching lanes breaks. The engine takes damage. The coal runs low. Stopping is basically death, so you are constantly running between stations while enemies keep shooting holes into everything you just fixed. That pressure can be thrilling, but it becomes exhausting when the game does not give solo players enough tools to stabilize.
The co-op angle is easy to see. Apocalypse Express supports co-op and honestly, it feels balanced around that right now. With one player shoveling coal, repairing modules, and grabbing resources while another focuses on weapons and lane control, I can imagine the game flowing much better. Solo, you are doing all of that yourself, and the juggling act feels more punishing than satisfying.
The upgrade structure is where I wanted more. You earn a special currency after finishing a run, but the first upgrades I bought barely seemed to change anything. In a roguelite, that is a big issue. If the early meta progression feels weak, the grind starts to feel like work before the game has properly earned your patience.
Something as simple as an early AI companion upgrade could make a massive difference. Let a little helper shovel coal, patch a module, or collect nearby scrap while you focus on survival. Or give the starting cannon an early autofire option, even if it is weak. The game already has the foundation for builds, modules, relics, and long-term improvement, but those systems need to make the first few hours feel less repetitive.
On the ROG Xbox Ally X, Apocalypse Express runs extremely well. I had no real performance complaints, and the pixel-art style looks clean on the handheld screen. The controls are less convincing. Analog stick movement works, but it could use another responsiveness and polish pass. When you are trying to dash between coal, repairs, cannons, and lane switches under pressure, any slight looseness stands out.
I like the idea of Apocalypse Express a lot. A tiny train full of breakable systems, raiders outside, scarce resources, and desperate repairs should be exactly my kind of chaos. Right now, though, the solo experience does not quite land. It is too punishing too early, the incremental progression is too slow to feel rewarding, and the upgrades do not yet create that "one more run" feeling a roguelite needs.
There is absolutely a better game inside this Early Access build. If the developers tune the solo balance, make early meta progression easier to earn and more obviously helpful, and tighten the controller feel, Apocalypse Express could become something genuinely compelling. For now, it is a cool concept that runs great on ROG Xbox Ally X, but it needs more balance work before it properly hooks from the beginning. Thanks for reading!
