International transport tycoon game Worldwide Rush gets multiplayer, and it's an impressive achievement

Transport tycoon sim Worldwide Rush just opened its doors to full multiplayer mayhem. If you’ve already mastered your way around managing logistics at a global scale and want some real competition, grab a few friends to give it to you. Alternatively, you can join hands and work together to build your international empire. This new addition is part of the third major Worldwide Rush update, which also introduces improvements to the tycoon game’s rival AI and late-game balance, along with eleven new vehicles.

If you haven’t already experienced what Worldwide Rush brings to the table, it expands classic strategy games like Transport Tycoon to a global scale. Combining trains, planes, automobiles, and ships, you’re free to set up your infrastructure however you wish. The goal is making as much profit as possible, of course, and that means optimizing routes to connect lucrative pathways in and out of the most high-demand cities across the world.

While the default map is based on the real world, Worldwide Rush’s ‘organic’ procedural generation lays out destinations in a way to ensure different challenges with each playthrough. Passengers are all individually simulated and will attempt to find the most efficient paths to their chosen destination, so it’s up to you to decide if you’re going to attempt to cater fully to entire regions or specialize in specific modes of transport. Whether you’re aiming to build a sky monopoly, or sail the seas with a fleet of industrious ferries and luxury cruise ships, it’s a giant sandbox to play in.

The new Worldwide Rush update adds multiplayer support across all game modes, allowing you to choose between co-op and competitive PvP. “We are really excited to share the new and improved version,” developer Memel Games writes, “Working on multiplayer and its systems definitely felt like a nice change of pace.” It recommends enabling in-game analytics to ensure you are sharing saves as efficiently as possible, otherwise attempting to download a map when joining a host can take a long time. Given the sheer number of moving parts in play here, the fact it works at all is an impressive feat.

“We also did not forget the single-player experience,” Memel adds. The update introduces 11 new vehicles – five planes, three road vehicles, and three trains, including the classic three-wheeled Tuk Tuk taxis seen in Thailand and Southeast Asia. It also improves the logic of AI tycoons, with better hub-buying logic, smarter vehicle choices, and faster decision making. There are also some balance changes to help smooth out the late-game progression, and additional mod support.

Worldwide Rush update three is live now, and you can get the game at a 33% discount on Steam through Saturday May 2, meaning you’ll pay $13.39 / £11.22. Get it here while the discount lasts, or download the free demo to try it out first.

Memel Games has been responsive to suggestions since the launch of Worldwide Rush, and it’s great to see multiplayer up and running. It’s not been easy – due to the heavy simulation nature of Worldwide Rush, the developer has compared it to trying to run “Battlefield with 10,000 to 100,000 players on a single map at one time.”

It’s even implemented desync protection to account for the rare occasions where things fall slightly off the tracks. There are currently no plans for dedicated servers or a server browser, but that could change in the future if there’s enough demand for it. For now, Memel says to think of Worldwide Rush multiplayer as “an experience between friends, due to how long games can take.”