“Unpacking Loco Motive: A Journey Through Its Intriguing Features”

Loco Motive is a type of video game that is extremely easy to dive into, giving you the impression that you could genuinely be enjoying your time while playing. This point-and-click adventure, reminiscent of classic LucasArts titles, offers a whimsical and delightfully challenging journey through a 1930s Orient Express-like train that brings joy at nearly every turn. At its heart, it’s a murder mystery, albeit one unafraid to joke at its own expense and utilize similar absurd puzzle logic as seen in Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle before it. There is much to adore about this game, so why did I grow increasingly detached by the time I reached the end credits?

I believe part of the issue lies in its fundamental mystery, which essentially revolves around a rather simplistic property dispute, a hint of tax deception, and not much else. Inheritance issues are not the most stimulating of topics even in the best of circumstances, and there’s only so much comedic potential that developer Sturdy Games extracts from jokes about tax evasion and predictably empty treasuries (though credit where it’s due, what they manage to pull from this relatively dry material is quite clever and earned me several chuckles). More broadly, the setup tends to make it easy to identify who the main antagonists and suspects will likely be. Setting aside puns, there is nothing especially ‘loco’ about anyone’s motives here, and when the ultimate reveal does occur, it’s the kind of inevitable shoulder shrug you could foresee from a mile away in the middle of act two.

It’s unfortunate, especially since Loco Motive starts with such a strong introduction. Set against the backdrop of the murder of the wealthy Lady Unterwald – who is mysteriously killed during the reading of her highly anticipated and frequently updated will on a steam-powered train – you initially take control of her bureaucracy-loving estate attorney, Arthur Ackerman. As this clumsy yet kind-hearted character is thrust into the role of a makeshift investigator, he serves as an exceptionally likable protagonist while you navigate the game’s item-based challenges.

Staying true to the traditional adventure game formula, Loco Motive revolves around using the right item for any given problem, grabbing, and occasionally combining objects from your Tardis-like pocket to create innovative and increasingly outlandish gadgets to tackle various tasks. Most clues are relatively obvious. However, some actually stray into that ‘one leap of logic too far’ territory that could leave you tearing your hair out or scrambling to reach for the in-game phone to help you connect the dots. Notably, obvious puzzle components can derive from all sorts of seemingly unlikely places, requiring you to thoroughly explore your environment to uncover precisely what you need.

Indeed, with some items or informational tidbits often hidden behind layers of dialogue, Loco Motive cleverly utilizes this to highlight its witty narrative. The genuinely clever writing carries much of the weight here, giving its characters the feel of having been lifted directly from the pages of an Agatha Christie novel. From snarky wealthy widows and foolish heirs to sleazy con artists, clever accountants, and bewildered chefs, almost every character in Loco Motive works exceptionally hard to keep you entertained. Each line is exquisitely voiced, with even the most minor roles receiving charming and engaging portrayals by their respective voice actors. However, after several hours of thorough exploration, I found the allure of such extensive flavor text began to wear thin. I quickly stopped seeking out these extra lines, limiting my inquiries to the main subject rather than choosing to spend additional time in their company.

The development of the individual puzzle arcs feels somewhat too simplistic ultimately. The focus on solving them is consistently aimed at how items and events relate to the next link in the ongoing puzzle chain, rather than delving into the hows and whys of who really committed the crime. As a result, the murder itself becomes somewhat sidelined, which may explain why the eventual climax feels so underwhelming. Your motivation for assisting these characters is never truly linked to uncovering Lady Unterwald’s killer, but simply to discover what the next humorous puzzle solution might be. Furthermore, Loco Motive has a growing tendency to conclude a character’s storyline as soon as their puzzle arc has been completed, effectively eliminating them as potential suspects and therefore reducing the pool of possible murderers even further.

There’s a commendable effort to play with the overarching timeline of the murder to introduce new key elements and layers of intrigue. Once Arthur’s story concludes, the narrative shifts to not one, but two additional protagonists. First is the somewhat gloomier detective novelist Herman Merman, whose annoying exclamations of “No!” and “That doesn’t work!” with every incorrect puzzle serve to make him an infinitely less appealing companion by comparison.