Loco Motive | Switch Review

Are you a fan of Agatha Christie with a hint of goofball? Wow, do I have a game for you. Do you appreciate the nostalgic pixel art and would appreciate a fully voice-acted game? Stick around. The appropriately named Loco-Motive arrived and charmed me through and through. I had a blast. I hope you try it out!

Story and Gameplay

You are a passenger on the luxurious Reuss Express. The era of the game is vague, although plenty of hints would point to taking place in the 1930s or 1940s. Lady Unterwald, the old, decently honest, and sometimes acerbic heiress of the train company, is going to give a speech outlining her will. Before she can deliver her remarks, the train goes through a tunnel and the lights go out. When the lights return, Lady Unterwald is dead with a rather impressive pixelated stream of blood coming from her neck. Who has killed her?

In the first segment of the Loco-Motive, you play the role of her lawyer, Arthur <BLANK>. With first hand knowledge of the contents of her will, Arthur is a prime suspect who must work to find out who actually killed Lady Unterwald, thus proving his own innocence.

In the second segment, you play the role of wanna-be famous detective and wanna-be author, Herman <BLANK>. Herman wants nothing more than to solve the case so that he can write a book and be as famous as the best selling author, <BLANK>.

In the final segment, you play the role of Diana. She is an agent with the British Internal Income Service. <PLAY THE GAME AND FIND OUT>

All three segments in Loco-Motive take place on the same train. The timelines shift around a little in each segment, but all revolve around Lady Unterwald’s murder. You must use your point and click skills to move from car to car on the train and solve the mystery!

Mechanics

Loco-Motive is, at heart, a pretty standard point and click adventure, as far as the mechanics go. The game highlights the interactive areas on each train car as you stand near them. You can explore, interact, check on your inventory, combine found items together to solve puzzles, and dialogue trees with just about every character you come across.

One early example is trying to find and grab the will that was accidentally blown out of a window. You must grab a hanger from a bedroom, use the cane which you found in Lady Unterwald’s room, combine them together, and grab the will. Sounds like something you’ve done in countless other point-and-click adventures, yes?

We don’t need to focus too long on this part of the game. We will agree that Loco-Motive does the mechanics portion of the game quite well. Buttons work, everything interacts nicely, I loved the item highlights that told me what was interactive in each room. But, most of all? I love that you can run! I’ve lamented in reviews past about point-and-click adventure games that give the character one speed: walk. Not here! If I know the other piece of a puzzle is on the other side of the train, I can run there! 

Visuals/Music

Loco-Motive goes above and beyond your standard point-and-click adventure when it comes to the visuals, sound, and music. I mentioned in the opening paragraph about the pixelated graphics. While a completely different style of game, they reminded me of the rogue-like classic, Children of Morta. I found myself asking, “How can it be both pixelated and so crisp?!?” The gushing blood from the murder scene was comical and perfect in its graphics. Very reminiscent of the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail after his arm is chopped off.

Continuing with the graphics praise, each car of the train is distinct. There is a sleeping car, a lounge car, a casino car, the car where Lady Unterwald stays, and more! The backdrops are programmed with expertise beyond what might be expected from a two person team. I thoroughly enjoyed the exploration aspect of the game.

I need to make sure that I give the highest praise to the voice acting. Loco Motive is 100% voice acted,right down to every single option from every dialogue tree. You tell me that it’s an indie game, and I’m going to expect stilted and amateur delivery. Not even close. The cast is filled with video game voice veterans with hundreds of credits to their names. The investment was worth it. The acting and voice direction creates a fully immersive story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. 

The music by Paul Zimmerman was equally fantastic. Each scene includes a unique song that fits perfectly with the supposed era of the game. The style is reminiscent of the old black and white whodunits. 

Final Verdict

Loco-Motive will certainly wind up on my top 10 of the year. I can say this with confidence because I’m likely only going to be able to fit in two more games before 2024 draws to a close, and this one is going to be, at worst, 8th on my current list and maybe higher.

The voice acting, graphics, music when added to the perfectly executed story and mystery made Loco-Motive a game that I am showering with the best compliments. I beg for each of you to support the independent Robust Games and show them that games like this are appreciated and that we want more!

To hear me talk more about Loco Motive, be sure to listen to the November 28th, 2024 episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 1:41:20 time stamp.

This review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy of Loco Motive provided by Press Engine for coverage purposes. It is also available on PC via Steam and GOG.