Complete playthrough. A short but oh-so-sweet point-and-click puzzle game, created in two weeks for a game jam, Loco Motive is the best third-party attempt to capture the feel of classic LucasArts games that I can remember ever playing. Tasking the player to solve a murder mystery on a train, a streamlined interface minimises any friction in interactions and the puzzles avoid ever becoming excessively obscure. Where the game really excels is in its superb writing, with a sense of humour evident throughout - there are plenty of somewhat 'fourth wall'-breaking asides to camera from the protagonist - and enhanced by expressive pixel-art. Nods to the absurdity of the seemingly bottomless pockets that so many point-and-clicks rely on are a great example of this, for example - in both dialogue and animation. While you'll be done within about an hour, anyone who's even the slightest fan of the genre should definitely be playing this - especially as it's free!

Reviewed on Dec 27, 2022


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