Loco Motive is our most anticipated game of 2023
As someone who’s never truly been infatuated with any point-and-click mystery game, my time with Loco Motive at EGX 2023 proved a fantastic experience.
The premise is simple: after the murder of the wealthy heiress Lady Unterwald, a lawyer, a crime novelist-turned-rookie-detective, and an undercover spy find themselves pulled into a murder mystery. The twist? The murder happened on the Reuss Express, a locomotive that still has a while to go before it meets its destination. Meaning that yes, everyone, including the murderer, is trapped aboard.
The vibes of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (but make it camp and slapstick) are captured perfectly even in the first few minutes of the demo, with us taking control of a straight-laced, but still humorous, Arthur. We discover it was Arthur who was hired by Lady Unterwald in the first place, mostly to sort out her will. Now that she’s been murdered, however, he is one of the first suspects on the police’s list.
My time with the demo starts with the fateful night of Unterwald’s death, before skipping to Arthur in an interrogation room with detectives. Immediately the tone of the game is set, with slapstick comedy and fast-talking, wise-cracking-but-so-very-dry humour. If you’re into that sort of thing, you’ll definitely enjoy the range of conversation options you have, and how it seeps even into each and every interaction, regardless of whether it’s with an NPC or the various items you find on the Reuss Express.
After you manage to get the detectives to leave the room, Arthur must use his surroundings to get himself out of his handcuffs. As a point-and-click adventure game, this just means interacting with the world around you and figuring out which items will help you. As I’ve said before, I usually find this sort of gameplay stale or uninteresting, but Loco Motive proved itself to be an outlier by simply making each thing you interact with actually add an amount of depth to the world around Arthur.
For example, finding a newspaper lets me know more about Unterwald, and looking at the various pictures that litter the detective’s office gives me more knowledge about what sort of people I’m dealing with. What’s more is that you have your own inventory system, so you can combine items and use them to interact with the world around you. I love this attention to detail, and Loco Motive is a game that has it in spades.
In spite of me being one of the most introverted people alive, listening to video game characters speak gives me joy. Not only is getting to know more about the wacky, weird, and wonderful train residents important for finding out just who killed Lady Unterwald, we get to discover what makes each character tick and their reason for being on the Reuss Express. One of my favourite interactions when playing the demo was Arthur having to be the middle-man between a traveling, high-class woman who simply wants to smoke in peace and an arrogant, slob of a man who wants nothing more but to get in her pants. After the lech gives you a note dripping in cheap cologne to give to his ‘prize’, you get the opportunity to watch her beat his ass. 10/10.
Alongside talking (and subtly interrogating) people, Loco Motive isn’t afraid to throw a puzzle or two your way. I hate puzzles personally, as making me think after a whole day of living just isn’t my thing, but even that comes with its own security blanket. If you get stuck, you can simply head over to the phone on the Reuss Express and ask for help. While that may be mind-boggling for some gamers who don’t believe there should be help at all in a murder mystery, I 100% appreciated the guidance.
Despite only spending 15-20 minutes with Loco Motive, it quickly stood out as one of the more memorable games at EGX 2023. Its personality is, without a doubt, what makes it shine. It doesn’t just want you to have fun, but walks step-by-step alongside you to capture that spirit itself. All in all, it’s nothing short of a fantastic time.
The only downside? There simply wasn’t enough of it.
Loco Motive is set to release sometime this year on PC, Mac and Nintendo Switch.
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