Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor (2026) – Game Review

Full Steam Ahead to the Sodor I Grew Up With

Thomas & Friends has always worked best when it remembers one simple thing: yes, these are talking trains with faces, but they’re still trains. They have drivers, signals, schedules, passengers, freight, railway rules and tracks they’re physically stuck to.

That’s why Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor is such a fitting idea. Dovetail Games essentially took its experience developing Train Sim World and built a legitimate train simulator around Thomas.

Before we start, I want to explain how I approached this review. I personally played roughly the first 45 minutes of Story Mode, learning the controls and getting a feel for the driving. Afterward, I jumped into Free Roam just for the fun of it.

And holy crap, Sodor is ginormous.

I spent a lot of that time simply exploring and admiring how gorgeous everything looked. I genuinely enjoyed playing it and really should go back. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t; I just haven’t been in the mood.

For the remainder of Story Mode, I watched a no-commentary playthrough. I specifically wanted no commentary because I didn’t want someone else’s opinions being fed to me. I wanted to sit there quietly, watch everything play out and form my own thoughts.

So with that established, full steam ahead.

Let’s Start by Showing Y’all the Trailers, Shall We?

Avaliable on Xbox series X/S, Playstation 4 and 5, Steam and Nintendo Switch, holy crap who thought in 2026 we’d be getting a Thomas The Tank Engine game? I sure as hell wasn’t, what a fever dream.

The trailers immediately showed that this wasn’t going to be some extremely basic Thomas game where you hold forward and occasionally toot the whistle.

Dovetail advertised Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Emily and Diesel alongside Story Mode, Timetable Mode, Free Roam and Shunting Challenges. More importantly, they showed this enormous recreation of Sodor.

The developers even used a 3D scan of P.R. Wickham’s original relief map created for Rev. W. Awdry as part of the geographical foundation. Different locations take inspiration from multiple eras of the books and television series, with some layouts altered slightly to make the railway actually function as a game.

Then we have the price: $39.99 for the standard game, $49.99 for Deluxe, or $16.99 for James separately.

Keep that James price in mind. We’ll be returning to it.

Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

There isn’t one massive overarching story. Instead, Story Mode is an anthology of classic and original Thomas adventures.

The base game includes eight main stories alongside the tutorial, while the James DLC adds four more.

Honestly, that’s exactly how Thomas should work. I don’t need Thomas saving Sodor from some giant supervillain. Give me railway jobs, character conflicts and Troublesome Trucks attempting vehicular homicide.

The stories become interactive versions of traditional Thomas adventures. You’re controlling the throttle, brakes and reverser, coupling rolling stock, operating passenger doors, following signals and occasionally leaving the cab to interact with things on foot.

Essentially:

What if you were the driver inside a Thomas episode?

That’s the game.

Character Rundown

The base playable roster consists of Thomas, Percy, Gordon, Emily and Diesel, with James available through the Deluxe Edition or DLC.

Thomas naturally introduces the mechanics. Percy gets some interesting scenarios involving weather and difficult rolling stock. Gordon feels appropriately huge and powerful when operating Express services. Emily adds another distinctive steam locomotive, while Diesel provides mechanical variety.

But five engines feels light considering how enormous Sodor is.

Where are Edward and Henry?

And I’m especially not crazy about James being DLC. He’s one of the most recognizable Thomas characters, so locking him behind the Deluxe Edition or another purchase feels unnecessary.

Supporting characters include Annie and Clarabel, Bertie, Sir Topham Hatt and the Troublesome Trucks.

And yes, the Troublesome Trucks remain complete assholes.

Perfect characterization.

Pacing / Episode Flow

Story Mode actually captures the rhythm of Thomas quite nicely, largely thanks to Mark Moraghan returning as narrator.

Narration leads into gameplay, character interactions and railway jobs, making scenarios feel like interactive episodes rather than generic missions.

The actual gameplay is considerably slower than most licensed games because this is still a train simulator. You need braking distance, gradients affect your speed, signals matter and weather can affect traction.

Timetable Mode takes the simulation side much further, offering hundreds of ordinary railway services.

Free Roam goes in the opposite direction and basically says:

Here’s Sodor. Have fun.

That ended up being one of my favorite aspects.

Pros

The biggest positive is easily Sodor itself.

It’s enormous, beautiful and surprisingly convincing as an interconnected place rather than a collection of recognizable sets. Stations, countryside, tunnels, bridges, sidings and familiar landmarks are all connected by this huge railway network.

Visually, I also think the game achieves an almost perfect blend between classic model-era Thomas and modern animation.

The original show used physical models on elaborate miniature sets, and the environments here somehow retain that cozy miniature-railway feeling. But the characters benefit from modern technology: expressive animated faces, moving eyes, realistic lighting, steam, smoke and detailed textures.

The best way I can describe it is:

The world looks like classic Thomas while the characters move like modern Thomas.

I love it.

The simulation is also surprisingly detailed. Throttle, reversers, brakes, speed limits, signals, gradients, train weight and weather all matter.

And I’m not a massive train-simulation fan.

That’s important.

These aren’t usually games I sink dozens of hours into, but adding Thomas makes the simulation much more appealing to me. I’d rather learn braking distances while driving Gordon across Sodor than Generic Locomotive #5729 from Somewhere to Somewhere Else.

Free Roam is another major positive. It basically turns Sodor into a giant digital model railway. You can spawn trains, select rolling stock, establish routes, walk around, ride as a passenger or simply explore.

There are also 80 collectibles—20 paintings, 20 conductor hats, 20 whistles and 20 classic Thomas books—alongside Photo Mode.

Finally, the sound design is excellent. Familiar whistles, realistic railway noises and Moraghan’s narration make this genuinely sound like Thomas while preserving the simulator atmosphere.

Cons

First:

Five base-game engines isn’t enough.

The absence of Edward and Henry is noticeable, and James being paid content annoys me.

Then there’s the $39.99 asking price.

Is it worth it?

If you’re buying this exclusively for Story Mode, I’d say that’s expensive. Eight main stories and five playable engines don’t make forty dollars feel particularly cheap.

But Story Mode isn’t the whole package.

You also have this enormous Sodor map, hundreds of timetable services, Free Roam, shunting, collectibles and a genuine railway simulator underneath everything.

If you’re a huge Thomas or railway fan who wants a giant interactive model railway, there’s potentially an absurd amount of entertainment here.

If you’re playing the stories once and leaving?

Wait for a sale.

There’s also a weird audience problem. Thomas naturally attracts children, but underneath the friendly faces is an actual train simulator.

Signals matter. Routes matter. Braking distances matter.

The game thankfully offers simplified controls, but I can absolutely imagine younger players needing help.

There’s also something inherently hilarious about Thomas being a franchise famous for catastrophic railway accidents while the simulator is incredibly strict.

Thomas:

“Accidents happen!”

Game:

END OF SERVICE.

Finally, such a huge Sodor can occasionally feel empty with such a small roster. More playable characters would make the island feel much more alive.

Final Thoughts

Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor surprised me.

I’m not particularly into train simulators, yet I genuinely enjoyed playing this.

Dovetail could have made a cheap children’s game. Instead, they recreated a huge portion of Sodor, dug into actual Awdry history, adapted classic stories, brought back Mark Moraghan and built legitimate railway simulation underneath everything.

I particularly love the presentation. That mixture of classic model-series atmosphere and modern animation feels like exactly how Thomas should look in a game like this.

I really should return and continue playing myself. I don’t have some dramatic explanation for why I haven’t. I simply haven’t been in the mood.

The limited roster bothers me. James being DLC bothers me. Forty dollars isn’t cheap, and the simulation can occasionally conflict with the audience Thomas naturally attracts.

But this game understands something important:

These aren’t merely cartoon characters shaped like trains.

They’re trains.

Building an actual railway simulator around them is weirdly one of the most faithful things you could do with Thomas & Friends.

Rating

8/10

A gorgeous and lovingly constructed recreation of Sodor wrapped around a surprisingly legitimate train simulator.

I’m not suddenly going to spend 500 hours memorizing railway signaling procedures, but combining those mechanics with Thomas made them considerably more enjoyable for me.

The limited roster, DLC structure and price prevent it from going higher, but the gigantic map, beautiful presentation and obvious affection for Thomas make this one of the most interesting Thomas games I’ve played.

Spoiler Warning

Everything below contains full spoilers for Story Mode and the James DLC.

If you want to experience the stories yourself, stop here.

FULL SPOILERS AHEAD.

Spoilers

Thomas and Gordon recreates one of the earliest and most recognizable Thomas stories. Thomas repeatedly mocks Gordon for resting until Gordon gets the perfect opportunity for revenge. Gordon takes off with Thomas still attached behind him, dragging the little tank engine at speeds he absolutely wasn’t designed for.

It’s a perfect early scenario because Gordon’s size and power aren’t merely something the narrator tells you about. After learning to operate Thomas, you actually see the enormous difference between them.

Thomas learns an important lesson:

Don’t repeatedly piss off Gordon.

Thomas Goes Fishing recreates another classic story. Thomas needs water, the normal supply isn’t working, and his crew gets water from the river.

Unfortunately, they also collect fish.

Thomas develops terrible boiler pain before everyone discovers there are fish swimming around inside his water tank.

Only in Thomas can somebody essentially pour an ecosystem into a locomotive and everyone react like this is an inconvenient Tuesday.

I particularly like how this scenario incorporates walking around and interacting with the environment rather than keeping you permanently inside the cab.

Thomas and Bertie naturally adapts their famous race. Bertie challenges Thomas, and you control Thomas while still having to perform his railway duties.

That’s what makes the race work interactively. Thomas can’t simply hold the throttle open indefinitely. He still has passengers and stations.

Bertie has roads.

Thomas has rails.

Transportation infrastructure has never been this dramatic.

Percy’s Troublesome Day is split into two parts and starts pushing the simulation considerably harder.

The first section includes cows blocking the track, forcing you to stop, climb down and move them.

Part Two introduces rain, reduced traction, gradients and troublesome rolling stock pushing Percy downhill.

This is where Dovetail’s simulator background really pays off. The rain isn’t merely visual decoration. Percy genuinely becomes more difficult to control.

And the Troublesome Trucks aren’t annoying simply because the narrator says so.

They’re mechanically annoying.

That’s brilliant.

Gordon & the Troublesome Trucks develops the same idea with Gordon, forcing you to control his speed as the trucks push him downhill.

There’s something deeply satisfying about the game turning the Troublesome Trucks’ personalities into actual train physics.

Emily and the Express gives Emily more time in the spotlight and has her become involved when Gordon runs into trouble. I appreciate having Emily because her locomotive design gives the roster some visual and mechanical variety.

Branching Out puts more emphasis on Diesel and essentially tests several mechanics you’ve learned across the previous scenarios.

I like having Diesel playable because he feels meaningfully different from the steam engines rather than merely being another character skin.

Finally, Shunting Showdown turns shunting into an actual railway puzzle.

You’re competing against Diesel while sorting numbered wagons into the proper order. That means planning which sidings to use, moving wagons around and figuring out how to assemble everything efficiently.

It’s probably one of the most unapologetically train-simulator scenarios in Story Mode.

And I respect that.

Dovetail could have made a Thomas game where you press forward for three hours.

Instead:

Congratulations, small child. Solve this railway logistics problem.

Then we have the James content.

The Deluxe Edition adds Leaves, Jack Frost, James and the Van and First Class Engine, along with James becoming usable elsewhere in the game.

Leaves involves slippery autumn conditions and again uses environmental conditions to affect how the railway behaves.

Jack Frost brings winter weather into the equation and draws from the classic story involving Percy becoming frightened by Thomas’s teasing about Jack Frost.

James and the Van involves considerably more reversing and direction changes, giving James gameplay that isn’t simply Gordon’s mechanics painted red.

And First Class Engine is one of the longer additional stories, incorporating mail duties and requiring you to physically leave the locomotive, collect mail bags and load them into the appropriate van.

That’s exactly the kind of interaction I wish the game did even more often because it breaks up the driving without betraying the railway premise.

And after seeing all of the stories together, that’s probably what I respect most about Wonders of Sodor.

It doesn’t merely recreate Thomas stories visually.

It keeps asking:

How can this story become railway gameplay?

Sometimes the answer is racing Bertie.

Sometimes it’s managing Percy’s traction in the rain.

Sometimes it’s Gordon fighting against the momentum of Troublesome Trucks.

Sometimes it’s shunting wagons into the correct order.

And sometimes it’s getting out of your train because Thomas somehow has fish inside him.

That combination of classic Thomas storytelling and surprisingly serious railway simulation shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does.

But somehow, it does.