Dead Rails is a Roblox survival game set in a post-apocalyptic Wild West. The story places you in 1899, inside a fortified town surrounded by desolation and hordes of the undead, with a mission that's simple to state but brutally hard to pull off: make it to Mexico aboard a steam locomotive, with a single carriage and something heavy to swing along the way.

How the run starts

When you spawn in the Fortified Town, you get a gold bar you can sell at the Trading Post, giving you around $50 in starting capital. From there you have to pick your priority: buy coal to guarantee a smooth start to the journey, or spend it on a revolver and ammo so you can fight off enemies from the get-go and earn bounties for taking them down.

How the train works

The journey runs on rails, so you move in a single direction until you reach the next town. The train constantly burns fuel, and you can refill it with coal, corpses, or scrap. When you run out of fuel mid-route, you've got two options: dip into your saved coal stock or head out and kill enemies to use as emergency fuel. If you're playing multiplayer, the most efficient setup is splitting fixed roles among the group: someone drives, someone keeps the train fueled, someone loots for money, and someone else handles fighting off attacks.

Horses as an alternative

If you find a saddle, you can use it on wild horses roaming the desert. The catch is these horses bolt the moment they see you, so you have to herd them back toward the train first before you can saddle one. The payoff for a tamed horse is that it's fast and doesn't need fuel, making it a useful alternative for getting around without relying on the train for certain stretches.

How the town economy works

Every town has a fixed set of businesses: the Trading Post, where you sell valuables and collect bounty rewards for captured outlaws; the General Store, where you buy coal and supplies; the Gunsmith, where you get weapons and ammo; and the Doctor, where you buy healing items. Learning to move quickly between these four spots at every stop saves you valuable time before night falls.

There are several ways to make money beyond selling your starting gold bar. Looting ruined houses gets you items marked as valuable that spawn randomly, and if you find a bank you're guaranteed to walk away with something — gold bars sell for $50 and silver bars for $25. Hunting monsters also pays off: vampire corpses are worth $15 and werewolf corpses $20. City walls are equipped with automatic machine guns that take out enemies who get too close, which makes cities decent, relatively safe hunting grounds. Bounty hunting is another steady income source: capturing or killing a wanted outlaw pays between $35 and $150, and you can repeat it as many times as you find targets. For those chasing bigger risk, robbing banks offers much larger payouts, though with a very real chance it goes badly wrong.

The enemies you'll run into

Dead Rails has several enemy types, each with its own danger pattern. Vampires show up during Blood Moons and near the Castle; their teleportation ability can catch you completely off guard, so learning to recognize the audio cue that announces their arrival is key to reacting in time. If vampires are nearby, make sure your train is properly barricaded, because they can quite literally teleport right next to you.

Werewolves are among the toughest enemies in the game. They spawn during Full Moons or in packs, and they're fast, resilient, and hit hard, so you'll need several shotgun blasts to bring one down — it's best to fight them from a distance rather than up close.

Outlaws can show up almost anywhere in the desert, often on horseback, which makes them fast and lethal. They carry firearms and can end your run quickly if you underestimate them. The safest way to deal with them is to shoot from far away with a rifle — a headshot kills them instantly.

On top of these, there are special bosses like Nikola Tesla, who represent a much bigger challenge than the regular enemies you meet along the route.

Survival tips

Fortifying the train is essential: use weldable resources like newspapers or metal sheets to barricade the carriage's entrances, ramps, and windows, especially before nightfall hits. Reaching a safe zone before dark saves you from most unnecessary scares. At the Trading Post you can exchange zombie or werewolf corpses for fuel, and if you take down outlaws, you can report their bodies at the sheriff's office for extra cash. As for gear, the shotgun is your best friend at close range, while the rifle is the right tool whenever the danger is far away.