As you might expect from the title and box art, Terminus is thematically a railway game but, tho' you are indeed laying track and building a network of subway lines, the underlying core of the game is one of optimising your management of resources because this is a game where money and resources are both pretty tight.
Actions, including your access to resources, are determined by your meeple's position on a rondel, and the game is played for three rounds, each made up of three complete circuits of the rondel. Unlike the majority of rondel games, Terminus offers players a completely free choice of action: you can move your meeple forward as few or as many places as you like - but moving a long way forward means you'll more quickly complete your three circuits for the round and so you'll inevitably be taking fewer actions. And - unlike for example, Windmill Valley (Board&Dice) - in this game there's only a small bonus (1 coin) for being the first to complete a round.
Players will need to collect resources on the rondel in order to be able to lay track and build stops, but the resources are in a dynamic market where the price you pay is determined by supply & demand. The track laying will feel familiar to anyone who has played the similarly themed On The Underground (Ludicreations) or even the avian-themed Fly-A-Way (Playlogue Creations) but you can also link to other players' stops.
There are project and agenda objectives that you can claim in order to add to your scoring, and each game will offer particular development cards. Claiming one of these gives you a special ability - in effect, an enhanced version of one of the rondel actions - tho' other players may be able to make use of them too if they build an adjacent stop.
Terminus is a heavyweight eurogame where you need to carefully plan and synergise your actions if you are going to do well. Fail to plan and/or read the board well and you can find yourself lacking the money or the permits to take an effective action, which could mean a punishingly wasted turn. The game is notably heavier than Inside Up's other titles to date but it's accessible because it benefits from a clear and well-presented rulebook that means players can be up and running relatively quickly without having to assimilate a heavy up-front rules overload. That said, the need to plan ahead yet still respond to the dynamics of the board and market means this is probably not a game to play with those who are overly prone to Analysis Paralysis (AP).
Tho' it's very much a competitive game, we found in our plays at Board's Eye View that the interaction between players often felt semi-cooperative: of course there were occasions when a player's actions hampered the plans of another but there were many more situations where players made use of stops and developments that others had placed out.
There's a solitaire option but Terminus is primarily for 2-5 players, and even the two-player game involves the addition of a bot. The game is probably at its interactive best with four players, tho' from our experience you should expect most games to run to around 3 hours.