Gilded Rails

About the game

A closer look.

It's speed dating for the railway-tycoon monopolist robber baron! To obliterate your competition, you must marry a suitable partner before time runs out. Gilded Rails is a 340,000-word interactive dating-management novel by Anaea Lay, where your choices control the story. It's entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination. Some kids get a model train set from their parents—your daddy gave you his railroad line. Find a spouse and you’ll win control of the family business, but fail to marry and you could lose it all! Can you lead the company to greatness and get hitched before time runs out? Blaze through an epic tale of business expansion, family life, and love in a time when everyone wants more and many wind up with less. How will you choose to run your business? Will you honor contracts and commitments, or betray your enemies and your principles? Are you a natural-born leader, or will your workers laugh at you behind your back? Blow the whistle on corruption in your industry, or unleash your hidden tycoon and rule the railroads! Just make sure you find a marriage partner along the way, or Daddy might push you out of the company! Play as male, female, or non-binary, pursuing men, women, or both. Triumph over strikes, sabotage, and social scandal. Sharpen your business acumen and connections. Choose from eleven romance options! Court everyone from your childhood best friend to the villainous head of a rival company. Become the poster child for modern reform, or the bootheel that needs reforming. Discover your father's checkered past. Embrace your inner robber baron—or Robin Hood. Choose between romance and business partnership. Pet your kitty.

From the game