"Frantic train defence that sings in co-op, strains solo"
About
Apocalypse Express is an action-management roguelite that puts you in charge of an armored train crossing a Mad Max wasteland. You run the length of the train yourself, loading coal into the boiler, firing autocannons and missile launchers at incoming waves, and patching modules the moment they take damage. Runs are structured around escalating danger levels and shop stops where scrap buys new modules and upgrades, with boss fights like the rat and the wasteland boss punctuating the journey. It supports solo play and local co-op, and the split-attention loop of fighting while repairing while feeding fuel is the whole point. It's currently in Early Access.
Verdict
Apocalypse Express has a strong idea and the reflexes to back it: running the length of your own war train, feeding the boiler while missiles rain in, is a loop few other roguelites offer. In co-op it sings, because the workload finally has enough hands. Solo, it asks one person to be everywhere at once, and the boss fights make that worse by leaving no room to shoot while you scramble to douse fires. Balance wobbles and the Early Access rough edges (no rebinding, cluttered fonts, the odd mechanic-breaking bug) hold it back from the game it clearly wants to become. Worth boarding now, better once the solo curve and the shop odds get another pass.
You'll like it if …
- +You want a frantic wave-defence roguelite best played with a partner passing jobs back and forth
- +You enjoy hunting for build synergies across module upgrades run to run
- +You like a game that trusts you to read chaos rather than explaining itself
You'll dislike it if …
- −You mostly play solo and dislike being stretched across four tasks at once
- −A single bad upgrade draw ruining a run frustrates you
- −You need rebindable controls or clean, high-contrast UI
Breakdown
- +The core panic of firing a cannon, sprinting to reload the boiler, then throwing yourself at a burning module lands when the plates line up
- +Fast, chaotic wave defence that rewards knowing which module to save first
- +Local co-op turns the frantic multitasking into a division of labour that works
- −Solo play stretches one person across too many jobs, and reviewers describe death-spirals with no way to claw back
- −Bosses flip the loop sourly: you spend the fight running repairs instead of shooting, with no window to fight back
- −Difficulty spikes at boss encounters feel like a wall rather than a ramp
- +Module and upgrade combinations invite real experimentation, with burnattack and armored-train builds standing out
- +Meta-progression and scrap-shop encounters give runs a reason to continue past a loss
- −Balance is lopsided: some items are effectively mandatory while others are dead weight
- −A bad early upgrade draw can doom a run before it gets going
- −Replay value thins out once the endgame content is exhausted
- +Deliberately sparse: no intrusive lore events interrupt a run, which suits the pace
- +Worldbuilding rides on atmosphere rather than text, and the wasteland framing carries it
- −The one story beat that exists, the ending, struck players as odd and unearned
- +The soundtrack sits between desolate wasteland and Mad Max chase energy and draws consistent praise
- +Sprite work and particle effects are clean and readable in motion
- +Art direction holds a coherent post-apocalyptic look throughout
- −Fonts and heavy black UI frames are hard to read for some players
- −On-screen clutter fights the visual clarity during busy waves
- +Interactions respond crisply with little jank, and the polish shows in normal play
- +Menus and module handling are mostly smooth
- −No key rebinding, which shuts out left-handed and disabled players
- −Module entry needing a double-tap of E or F feels inconsistent
- −Unclear selection states in the UI and occasional bugs that hit core mechanics
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