What is Dwarven Rails?
Imagine a rogue-lite where you're piloting a massive dwarven gun train through bug-infested tunnels. You'll build turrets, mine resources with your weaponry, and fight to deliver a dragon egg to a volcano in this wild hybrid autobattler.
Gameplay
You're the conductor of a massive dwarven gun train with one goal: blast through bug hordes while hauling a dragon egg to a volcano. It's not your usual 'units on a board' autobattler like TFT; think of it as a hybrid between tower defense and a rogue-lite. You'll spend your time building turrets on the train and using your bullets to mine ores, which you then use to upgrade your rig. It's a tight, addictive loop where you're constantly weighing the need for more firepower against the minerals required to survive the next wave.
What really sets this apart is the movement. Instead of sitting in a time-out corner waiting for a fight to end, you're actively managing the train's route and upgrades as you move through the world. If you love the build optimization found in Hearthstone Battlegrounds, you'll dig how you're essentially 'building' your build in real-time. It's a fresh take on the genre that keeps you moving forward.
However, you've got to keep in mind that this is a pre-alpha build. It's definitely unpolished and you'll hit some rough edges. At $9.99, it's a paid entry for a game in a very early state, which is a bit unusual for this kind of indie project. You're paying for the foundation here, not a finished product. It's a 7/10 experience right now because the core loop is great, but the lack of polish is hard to ignore.
Key Features
- Build turrets on a gun train
- Mine ores using bullets
- Haul dragon eggs to volcanoes
- Hybrid tower defense autobattler
Video Review
Screenshots
Verdict
“I saw dwarfs, trains, tower defense, and rogue-lite, I immediately bought. It works perfectly on both my PC and my Macbook Pro 2020, I will be testing on my steamdeck in a bit. EDIT: Works just fine…”
Grab this if you're a genre fan who loves build optimization and doesn't mind a rough pre-alpha experience. If you can't stand unpolished gameplay or think $10 is too much for an early build, you should probably wait for a full release.
View on Steam →* Price at time of publication (checked 26.08.2026). Prices may vary by region and are subject to change. This is an editorial review, not a commercial offer.