Loco Motive is a return to the LucasArts era. Review

Played on PC

Many independent teams start their journey with platformers and metroidvanias – understandable genres that are still loved and will be popular forever. But the British studio Robust Games chose a different direction – its debut project was the quest Loco Motive. The genre seems to be considered dead, but from time to time it is remembered – either Double Fine decides to release remakes of its old games, or suddenly Return to Monkey Island appears, continuing the forgotten series. The creators of Loco Motive were inspired by classic quests of the last century and made a wonderful game that fans of the genre and those simply wanting to feel nostalgic should definitely not miss.

⇡#Murder on the Flight Express

We are transported to the “Reiss Express”, the first steam locomotive train of its kind, built by the Unterwald family. In Loco Motive’s intro, the oldest member of the family, simply called Lady Unterwald, is riding with a large group of people on this express and is preparing to make an address – she will name the heir who will receive her vast fortune. However, everything does not go according to plan – when the train enters a tunnel for a minute and everything around gets dark, someone kills the old woman right on stage and manages to escape. In addition, her legal assistant Arthur loses his will, but this is not such a big problem – we need to find out who committed the crime and why.

At first there are no signs of trouble

There are obvious parallels with “Murder on the Orient Express” – both the detective novel was written in the thirties of the last century, and here the time of action is exactly the same. The era unmistakably emerges even through the cute pixel graphics: hats with feathers, tight-fitting evening dresses for women, white shirts and vests for men and, of course, interesting hairstyles – especially the lush pompadour of lawyer Arthur. The music is also appropriate – if you like the soundtrack of the first Mafia, then you will enjoy most of the compositions here.

Gameplay-wise, Loco Motive is a classic quest. The locations are strewn with objects that you can interact with: either simply look at them while listening to the hero’s comments, or put them in your pocket. Over time, inventory becomes filled with all sorts of rubbish, from a broken hanger and a piece of cheese to books and notes. Well, there are a lot of characters here, one more colorful than the other: an artist who draws with lightning speed, twins who are always arguing, an elderly lady with a huge ear tube, and even members of a secret society whose secret room you really want to get into.

We will also visit outside the train cars

First of all, you fall in love with the game because of its visual style – both the environment is wonderfully drawn and the characters are beautifully animated. The visual side was handled by an artist who previously worked at Chucklefish on Wargroove and Starbound, and his professionalism is obvious. All the characters, even the minor ones, turned out to be very lively: someone throws up their pince-nez when they get scared, someone’s hair “jumps” when they move. Sometimes you get the feeling that there is even lip synchronization here – it sounds strange in the case of a pixel game, but once you notice it, it’s hard to stop paying attention. Since each character was given a lot of attention – even to the nameless casino visitors who rejoice at their victories – you become attached to the characters, and you don’t mind spending time talking to them repeatedly in search of a solution to the next riddle.

⇡#Quest as it is

Surely many people associate the phrase “classic quest” with situations when you just can’t find a solution, you look into the walkthrough, and it says something that you couldn’t think of on your own. Loco Motive also has similar moments – otherwise it wouldn’t be a quest in the spirit of LucasArts games. However, fortunately, you do not encounter difficulties at every step – you will be “stupid” more than once, but in most cases the solution does not seem so crazy, just a little more sophisticated than you thought. Although there are a couple of idiotic moments, and one of them (at least, as it seemed to me) was placed at the very beginning of the game. Sets you in the right mood, so to speak.

It’s a pity that the game has not been translated into Russian – some jokes, like this reference to the Titanic, will pass by many. But the creators are collecting statistics on Steam and are ready to expand the list of languages

At the same time, they tried to make the quest accessible and convenient for a modern audience. If you don’t know what to do next, call the phone and get a hint. If you don’t want to constantly click on the screen, navigate using the keyboard. And if it’s more convenient to move with the mouse, you can hold down the button to make the character run faster. Well, when you press Tab, all interactive objects are highlighted – convenient, since it is not always obvious what you can interact with. It happens that there are many objects of the same type on the screen, but one of them exists separately from the rest – you immediately highlight it with a button. In general, the passage is as comfortable as possible, but the spirit of classic quests does not disappear anywhere.

I just want to praise Loco Motive. You can’t even blame her for the plot – the script is written amazingly. The story is told from the perspective of three train passengers who are being questioned by investigators, and the answer to the main question remains a secret for a long time. First we play for one, then for another, for a third – it will take about nine hours to complete, but it will never be boring. And the characters, as mentioned above, are charming, and there is enough good humor, and you won’t have to constantly be in just one locomotive, although it turns out to be quite large.

In quests, after such remarks, you go looking for everything listed, and Loco Motive was no exception

***

Loco Motive is a wonderful quest that once again proves that even dead genres can be successfully resurrected. Everything fits perfectly here: an intriguing plot in the spirit of Agatha Christie, set at the beginning of the last century, and many voiced characters, and good humor, and mostly normal puzzles. And if difficulties arise with some riddles, you can almost always use a hint – and this is not the only convenience compared to the classic quests of the end of the last century. The project is unlikely to receive any awards or nominations; it came out relatively unnoticed, but it is guaranteed a place in the collection of the best quests of recent years.

Advantages:

• cozy atmosphere of the 30s with characteristic costumes and an appropriate soundtrack;
• an interesting plot, good humor and an intriguing plot in the spirit of Agatha Christie detective stories;
• gameplay of a classic quest – with dialogues, inventory, combining objects and other delights;
• convenient modern “tricks” such as hints right in the game, highlighting of interactive objects, and so on.

Flaws:

• It is difficult to figure out the solution to some riddles without a hint.

More about the rating system

Rating: 9.0/10

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