Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor!

Thomas and his friends are embarking on a brand new adventure with Dovetail Games and they are going to take you on a journey to discover the 'Wonders of Sodor' in this brand new game adventure!

Check Out The Trailer!

Wonders of Sodor - Key Details

·         Games Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games and Microsoft Game Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X​, PlayStation 4/5 & Nintendo Switch (Switch 2 via Backwards compatibility​)​

·         Age Rating: E for everyone / 3+​​

·         Release Date: To Be Announced

Our Verdict

Having seen previews of what the Dovetail team have produced, this game is going to be a must have for fans of Thomas the Tank Engine. A lot of time, effort and love has gone into the production, the models and sets capture the aesthetic of the classic and CGI series, and the Story Mode will keep fans older and young engaged and entertained throughout.

The game has been produced by fans of the characters and stories, and features a ton of little Easter Eggs and fun features throughout, which you will need to keep your eyes open for!

Launch Pricing:

·         Standard: £29.99 / €34.99 / $39.99 - Core Game including 8 Stories in Story Mode, Shunting Challenge mini game, Timetable Mode, Explore Mode, 5 Engine Characters – Thomas, Percy, Emily, Gordon, and Diesel 

·         Deluxe: £39.99 / €44.99 / $49.99 - Core Game including 12 Stories in Story Mode, Shunting Challenge mini game, Timetable Mode, Explore Mode, 6 Engine Characters – Thomas, Percy, Emily, Gordon, Diesel, and James. 

·         James Add-on: £12.99 / €15.99 / $16.99 - 4 Stories in Story Mode, inclusion into Timetable Mode and Tanker Stock.

Wonders of Sodor – Key FAQS

What content is included with Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor?

There are 8 Stories to play along in Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor, as well as 3 other Game Modes: Timetable Mode, Explore Mode, and a Shunting Challenge.

·         Story Mode – This is where you play along with some of your favourite Thomas & Friends™ characters through a story, doing tasks along the way.

·         Timetable Mode – This is where you select a character and drive a day in the life of that character on the Island of Sodor. You can select a service at certain times of the day you would like to drive.

·         Explore Mode – This is a mode where you can walk, ride and drive trains around the island at your freedom. 

·         Shunting Challenge – This is where you get a challenge to shunt Troublesome Trucks into a certain order in as few moves as possible to try and beat your personal best.

In addition to these modes, players will be able to take screenshots of their experiences with Photo Mode, allowing them lots of options to capture their favourite moments of Thomas & Friends™.

What future content can we expect from Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor? 

We will support Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor, taking on board any feedback from the community following launch and ensuring the best experience possible. We are excited to share this brand-new journey with you all, and following the release, we will be back to talk more about any future developments we have in mind.

How have you re-created the Island of Sodor? 

The team looked at locations throughout all eras of the brand, from publishing to content, to build the best version of Sodor. Examples include: Elsbridge Station, Tidmouth Station, and Vicarstown Station, which are variants from the publishing and content series. Some locations have had to be modified to make them fit and work with how the game works, but we have recreated these locations as faithfully as possible to the original.  

We have also used an original 3D map made by P.R. Wickham in 1950 for the Rev Wilbert Awdry, based on his sketches and design. Awdry used this map when introducing new railways and branch lines into the books, finding places that made sense in the topology and where they would fit. The map was 3D scanned for Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor to get the topology of the Island of Sodor. The Relief Map currently hangs on the wall in the recreation of Rev. Awdry's Study in the Narrow-Gauge Railway Museum at the Talyllyn Railway.

The Island of Sodor has been slightly scaled down to allow for all audiences to play. However, we have made sure all your favourite locations are in the routes, and you get the same timeless feeling of what the books and TV series showed.    

One of the main location differences is Knapford Station, which has had its platforms on the middle roads changed to through platforms. This is to allow it to work with the Timetable Mode and the flow of the station.  

Also, in some locations, the platforms and stations will seem larger and longer than in the book and TV series; this is to allow for stopping locations and to fit larger trains.  

What characteristics do the characters in Thomas & Friends™: Wonders of Sodor have? 

To provide an authentic railway experience, we've made some adjustments to the characters to reflect their real-life locomotive designs (for example, Emily being a GNR Stirling Single, and Gordon being an LNER Pacific locomotive).

The sounds of each of the engines have come from the Thomas & Friends™ TV series, alongside our vast library of real-life railway sounds, to provide true immersion and railway ambience.

For those who have played Thomas & Friends™ Visit the West Somerset Railway on Train Sim World, we've made some changes to the characters featured in that Add-on, including:  

·         Rivets – Resizing and changing to fit closer to the real loco basis  

·         Cabs – Adding real-life loco-based cabs to the characters and making controls usable

·         Weathering – Adding coal dust to the back of bunkers and around the top of tenders

·         Handrails – Repainted and redesigned to match the real-life locomotives

·         Additionally, arriving in a post-release update (current release date unconfirmed):

·          All-new changeable facial expressions - when in Explore and Timetable Modes. These will be different depending on the character, and can be chosen by the player using a selectable wheel when inside the character

Important Links

·         Wonders of Sodor Website: https://www.wondersofsodor.com

·        Wonders of Sodor Dovetail Forum: https://forums.dovetailgames.com/

·         Official Dovetail Discord: https://discord.gg/Db7JFEJgCn