Loco Motive
PC/SWITCH
11/21/24
Robust Games/Chucklefish
All aboard the murder express! Ladies and gentlemen get ready to strap on your detective caps and grab your magnifying glasses, because we’ve got a mystery to solve! Somebody's dead on this train, and EVERYONE is a suspect! This is Loco Motive, the latest point and click adventure to hit the indie gaming scene coming to us from developer Robust Games and publisher Chucklefish. Is Loco Motive a case worth cracking? Or is it better left an unsolved mystery? Let’s find out in our full review!
Loco Motive is a point and click adventure game that, as the title implies, takes place on a classic express train known as the Reuss. As a full moon lights the sky, a sense of uneasiness lingers over a room full of guests, wherein Lady Unterwald, a rich older woman, is delivering a speech that will declare the heir to her fortune. Just as she is about to announce her successor, the train suddenly passes through a tunnel, allowing for an assailant to strike down Lady Unterwald under the cover of darkness, killing her in cold blood. Now, everyone is a suspect, including attorney Arthur Ackerman, whom you begin playing as.
While Loco Motive is a murder mystery, there is a sense of comedy to the storytelling that keeps the tone in balance. From the aforementioned straight shooting lawyer Arthur to an undercover spy named Diana, the diverse cast of characters are extremely well written, and endlessly entertaining. You’ll come across all walks of life including total sleazebags, wacky doctors, and goofy alcoholics that all help to bring life to what is an expertly crafted script, rife with side splitting hilarity. Loco Motive has more laugh out loud moments than any game that I've played this year, making its world, story, and characters the strongest aspect of the entire experience. Whether you are learning an awkward secret handshake to join an exclusive club, or stealing counterfeit poker chips, Loco Motive’s narrative will keep you on the edge of your seat while tickling your funny bone all along the way.
As a gameplay experience, Loco Motive is a point and click adventure in its truest form, albeit a very well made one. Obscure items to grab across various locations? Check! Sifting through dialogue choices while gathering clues from characters? You know it! Mashing together items to solve somewhat nonsensical puzzles? Absolutely. Everything can be controlled with your mouse just as you would expect, with an easily accessible inventory just a click away. On a few occasions you will have control of more than one character at a time. While characters don’t play any differently from one another, they do have individual inventories which leads to some entertaining solutions.. Make no mistake, this is very much a point and click adventure, and won’t change the mind of anyone who has a pre-existing distaste for the genre
That said, Loco Motive at least tries to ease many of the pains that come with classic point and click adventures, and is mostly successful in doing so. For starters, all available interactive points can be highlighted at any time with a press of the tab key. This means that you’ll always have a good idea of where you should be clicking as opposed to aimlessly gliding your mouse cursor around the screen. There is also a hint system available by using an in-game phone that will help to point befuddled players in the right direction. Not only are these calls quite funny, they will ease some of the aimlessness that can come from being completely lost for an extended period of time. Sure, walkthroughs are an inevitability, but at least players who want to challenge themselves and solve every last puzzle on their own, will find that to be very much possible with enough perseverance and patience. Even still, Loco Motive can still be a nonsensical experience at times with solutions that may leave you scratching your head. At the least, those moments are less of a problem here than they can be in similar titles, which deserves some recognition in and of itself.
I would argue that too much of a good thing can still be too much, and in the case of Loco Motive, the train runs a bit long. As much as I loved the writing, world, characters, visuals, and sounds, a runtime of 15 hours depending on your skill level starts to feel like a drag as you approach the proverbial station. Your mileage may vary on how long you like your games to be, but I am personally at a point in my life where I like a nice 7–10-hour experience, especially from a point and click adventure. I wouldn’t have minded if Robust Games shaved off a chapter or two and got to their conclusion a few hours earlier. Again, some players may be able to roll credits sooner, but for your average player not using a walkthrough, for as charming as it tends to be, Loco Motive can feel long.
As I alluded to earlier, Loco Motive looks and sounds great. The gorgeous pixel art animates beautifully. The Reuss is wonderfully detailed, and the jazzy soundtrack featured throughout the game acts as the perfect backdrop for the murder mystery. The humor and personality truly shine through in the art, which features an impressive number of unique animations that other games within the genre don’t come close to matching. For a game about a murder, everything feels alive in this world with character’s mouths moving to the dialogue, overhead fans slowly spinning, balloons gently swaying, and so much more. The attention to detail is impressive throughout, with sound effects such as the train running along its tracks only serving to further heighten the experience. Coming from composer Paul Zimmermann of Wildfrost fame, it is no surprise that Loco Motive sounds just as good as it looks. The game itself is well made, too, with no performance issues or glitches to speak of, and full Steam Deck support for those that prefer a portable experience.
Overall Loco Motive is a well made point and click adventure game with a great sense of humor. Its charming pixel art and animations impress, while the jazzy soundtrack brings its silly world to life. The characters are memorable, and the writing top notch.While it won’t win over any players who don’t inherently love the point and click adventure genre, it will delight those that do. Modern touches and accessibility features at the least make it approachable for newcomers. This is one murder mystery worth getting to the bottom of, even if it takes a bit long to crack the case.
GREAT
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