Mini Metro

Mini Metro is a puzzle strategy video game where players are tasked with building an efficient rail transit network for one of several playable cities. The game's visual style and interface was designed to resemble modern transit maps with straight lines and bold colours.

Over the course of the game, stations of various 'shapes' randomly appear on the map, while passengers periodically appear as smaller shapes next to stations, their shape matching the type of station they must be delivered to. The player must connect stations with railway lines and trains, which will automatically travel along lines and load and unload passengers at their desired stations.

Mini Metro was developed by Dinosaur Polo Club, a two-man independent video game development studio based in New Zealand. It is the first game from the studio, which was founded in 2013 by brothers Peter and Robert Curry. They had previously worked at video game developer Sidhe, but left in 2006 to pursue a career in developing indie games. Following a series of abandoned projects, Peter Curry recognised that he would have to restrict the scope of his projects in order to complete them, and with hopes of releasing a finished product, the brothers set a number of constraints while proposing ideas for a prototype game.

Minimising the amount of production art was a necessary restriction, as they had little experience in creating art assets. Likewise, they did not want the game's concept to rely on audio content, due to lack of skills in producing music. They also did not want to hand-build each level in the game. Imposing these constraints meant that they could discard most of their potential game ideas immediately, and led to them concentrating on concepts that involved procedurally generated levels and abstract visual styles.

Mini Metro received "generally favourable" reception from critics according to aggregate review website Metacritic. Technology Tell writer Jenni Lada described Mini Metro as "aesthetically pleasing" and found playing the game an oddly relaxing experience, despite the game's attempt to put the player under pressure. com also felt that Mini Metro had a relaxing tone and complimented its intuitive interface. LeRay appreciated changes that were made during the early access phase, noting that audio and the Daily Challenge mode were welcome additions, and the interface improvements had diminished her initial complaints about the game.

Reviewing the PC version, GamesTM thought that the depth of Mini Metro's gameplay along with the difficulty scaling kept the game interesting. However, they did question why the game hadn't been released for smartphones yet, pointing out that such devices would be suited for the game's simple interface. Kill Screen editor Ethan Gach commended the game for its simplicity and elegance, having combined interactive aesthetics with a robust simulation. Alec Meer of Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game for being a "mesmerising challenge of logic and aesthetics".