You might’ve caught wind of this earlier last week but we’ve got some exciting news…
Loco Motive is fully Steam Deck Verified!🥳
Whether you’re on the go, cozying up on the sofa, or perhaps riding a 1930s steam train, you can now immerse yourself in this captivating mystery adventure without being tethered to your PC! ⛓️💥
We're delivering the same rich puzzles, charming visuals, and witty dialogue you’d expect on any other platform, but in a punchier form factor! 🤏
With Loco Motive in your hands, you can bring the thrill of the Reuss Express and the antics of its eclectic cast of characters anywhere. So pack up your Deck, grab your detective’s hat, and get ready to solve a murder mystery on-the-go when Loco Motive launches on November 21st!🕵️
Loco Motive will be just $17.99 / 17,99€ / £14.99 and as a thank you to early supporters, Loco Motive will also be available for 10% off from launch for 1 week only!
If you’re a streamer and keen to get early access to keys when they’re available you can request access by going to our Press Engine Loco Motive page. You’ll also find answers and basic info about the game in our handy FAQ.
Lastly, if you’re as excited about Loco Motive as we are, come join the community discussion over on our Discord, sign up to our Community Newsletter, or follow us on X for more Chucklefish gaming news!
Full Steam Ahead: Loco Motive Arrives November 21st!
Hi everyone!
Firstly, thank you to everyone who played Loco Motive during Steam Next Fest, and shared kind comments and feedback. It was amazing to see so many of you loving the voice acting too!
Which leaves us only one thing… the release! We’re pleased to announce that Loco Motive is officially pulling into the station on November 21st! Prepare your wits, sharpen your sleuthing skills, and pack your bags for a journey aboard the glamorous 1930s steam train, the Reuss Express 🚂☁️☁️
Loco Motive will be fully playable in English & German (with English voice acting), and yours for just $17.99 / 17,99€ / £14.99 and is coming to Steam, Nintendo Switch, GOG & STOVE. We’ll be pressing the big red ‘Out Now’ button on all platforms at 11:00 GMT / 12:00 CET / 03:00 PST / 06:00 EST.
As a thank you to early supporters, Loco Motive will also be available for 10% off from launch for 1 week only!
Loco Motive is a comedy point-and-click adventure, bringing a modernised twist to the beloved genre with captivating puzzles and an all-star fully voice acted cast of colourful characters. If you love a compelling murder mystery with an off-the-wall sense of humour, Loco Motive is your ticket to a world of adventure!
What’s in Store on the Reuss Express?🚂
Loco Motive takes players into the heart of a murder mystery, putting you in control of three unique characters! You’ll play as Arthur Ackerman, a bumbling, heart-of-gold lawyer, Diana Osterhagen, ambitious secret agent, and Herman Merman – a self professed ‘detective extraordinaire’!
As a nod to the late, great Agatha Christie and other classic mysteries, Loco Motive fills every carriage and corridor with interest & intrigue, interjected with a good dose of humour and mischief to spice things up! Solve item-based puzzles, uncover shocking secrets (some soup-related, some not), and get ready to suspect everyone… maybe even yourself?
You might even learn a thing or two, like how to cheat at roulette, or fuel a motorbike with pencil lead - you know, all the good stuff!
15+ hours satisfying point-and-click adventuring
Fully voice acted with an all-star cast
A deadly mystery to solve, full of twists, turns, and slapstick humour
Steam Deck verified
Beautifully detailed pixel art animations
In-game hint support system, call the Dirk Chiselton Hotline 📲
Choose how you play, with direct character control options
No-blood ‘confetti’ mode & a suitably suspenseful Noir mode
Font and text accessibility options
Featuring the slinky sounds of composer Paul Zimmerman (Wildfrost, Space Haven)
Save the Date for November 21st!📅
Ready to hop aboard the Reuss Express? Loco Motive will be available on PC & Nintendo Switch for $17.99 / 17,99€ / £14.99 on November 21st!
Whether you're a seasoned sleuth or just looking for an unforgettable adventure, Loco Motive promises a train ride like no other. So grab your hat, dust off your magnifying glass, and get ready to board – because the journey to solve this mystery is one you won’t want to miss!
If you’re a streamer and keen to get early access to keys when they’re available you can request access by going to our Press Engine Loco Motive page. You’ll also find answers and basic info about the game in our handy FAQ.
Lastly, if you’re as excited about Loco Motive as we are, come join the community discussion over on our Discord, sign up to our Community Newsletter, or follow us on X for more Chucklefish gaming news!
Let's get straight into it, we've hit our biggest milestone yet! - After several years in development, we're very pleased to confirm that Loco Motive is complete. We'll be continuing to squash any bugs in the lead up to launch, of course, but the work is done. We made an entire video-game, people!
We've had a few questions about whether we are still intending to release Loco Motive in Q4 2024..
Yes! we'll be announcing our release date very soon, so please stay tuned for impending updates!
🎙️Role Call! - Voice Cast Announced🎙️
Earlier last month we gave the green light for our talented voice cast to announce their roles, and they delivered with gusto! we're proud to confirm (in Alphabetical order) that Loco Motive features the vocal talents of:
Jack is a Welsh actor and Voice Actor originally from Cardiff, South Wales. Jack has established himself as a versatile and rising voice actor for video games and character voices having featured in almost 40 video game titles as of 2024, including Baldur’s Gate III and Black Myth: Wukong.
Samantha is a BAFTA and DICE nominated, GANG Award-winning actor. In the world of videogames, they are best known for their role as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate III, but you may also know them as Thomasina in the critically acclaimed adventure game “The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow”.
Sally Beaumont as Beverly Moore, Sister Gretchen, Quinn Morgan, Florence Schreiber, Pearl Wexler, Shelly Gedling
Sally is a voice actor living in Oxford, UK and no stranger to voicing adventure game characters, having played a wide range across 30+ video game titles. This includes The Excavation of Hob's Barrow, a leading role as Fia in the upcoming Old Skies, and a stand out performance as Weeoo in Harold Halibut.
Alasdair is an author, actor, video game writer and award-winning stand-up comedian, winner of the 2017 Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year, and Chortle's Breakthrough Comedian of the Year in 2023. Alasdair is also the creator of the Nelly Cootalot series of adventure games.
Savy is an experienced voice actor and audiobook narrator hailing from Lancashire, UK. In the world of video games, Savy has lent her talents to widely popular titles such as Viewfinder, Cassette Beasts, Fallout: London and more!
Once described as Australia's ‘most enigmatic’ game developer, Jacob Janerka is known as the creator of the surreal adventure game Paradigm and the upcoming The Dungeon Experience.
Dave has previously voiced characters in video games such as The Excavation of Hob's Barrow and Planet Zoo, but he is perhaps best known for his role as Halsin in Baldur’s Gate III. This performance earned him a spot on the BAFTA Game Awards longlist for- Best Performance in a Supporting Role.
Based in South London, Amina is co-founder of the British VO Network and a talented voice over artist who reads across Commercials, Drama, Animation and Gaming. In the field of video games, Amina is known for their roles in Baldur’s Gate III and Read Only Memories: Neurodiver.
James Ross "Jim" Meskimen is an accomplished actor, impressionist and voice actor who has been a fixture in film, TV, animation, games and audiobooks for decades. He has appeared in films for director Ron Howard, Paul Thomas Anderson and Garry Marshall.
Brent is a Japanese American Voice Actor, based in Los Angeles. He brings a decade of experience in film and theatre acting, improv comedy, and stand up comedy. Brent is known in games for his roles in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Genshin Impact, Lost Judgement and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
André is a dual-nationality French-British actor based in London, UK, and has provided a wide range of voices for video game projects from indies to AAAs in both English and French. André is known for their role as Aymeric Cassel in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Will Derenzy-Martin as Doctor Hirsch, Kasper Bergmann, François Tatin, Philately Stamp, Maurice
Will is an award-Winning Voice Actor based in London, UK. Will has played a wide range of characters, including Hercule Poirot in Hercule Poirot: The First Cases and Milil (God of Song) in Baldur's Gate III. Other titles include Black Myth: Wukong and The Excavation of Hob's Barrow.
Maxim is an experienced multilingual British voice artist and actor based in London, UK. They have featured in a number of video games such as Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jagged Alliance 3.
Kaitlyn is an American voice actress, best known for her role as the current voice of Disney’s Minnie Mouse. She is also known for her role as Felicia Sundew on Disney’s Amphibia and Tommy Goodman on Adult Swim’s Mr. Pickles.
Leonie is a multilingual, award winning Voice Actor. Their videogame roles include Aurore Cassel in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and Toka in Assassins’ Creed: Valhalla.
Edwyn is a Voice Actor and writer based in Adelaide, Australia. They have featured in a wide range of video games, including Cassette Beasts, Harold Halibut, Unavowed and Freedom Planet 2. They are also known for their role as Detective Grimoire in Tangle Tower and its upcoming sequel, The Mermaid Mask.
Inel is an actor, TV personality and stand-up comedian from London, UK. Inel is a main cast member in the smash hit show Horrible Histories, he also hosts for Comic Con, BAFTA, Netflix and is the voice of Comedy Central UK. Inel has also voiced for a number of video games, including Final Fantasy XVI and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II.
Adrian Vaughan as The Board, Byron, Thomas Page, Ron, Henry Whistle, Vince Fortune, Brother Brian
Adrian is a voice actor based in Melbourne, Australia. Their voice features in a wide range of video games, including Wargroove, Harold Halibut, Budget Cuts and upcoming adventure game, The Drifter.
Natalie Winter as Susanne Goldschmidt, Ruth, Evelyn, Mary
Natalie is a UK based Voice Actor and Director, with credits spanning stage, screen, games, and radio. She has voiced a number of video games, including Assassins’ Creed: Valhalla, Skull and Bones, and The Excavation Of Hobbs Barrow.
🌟Next Fest Post-Mortem🌟
The dust has finally settled on Steam Next Fest, and we couldn't be happier with the response to the demo! thank you to everyone who played, streamed on Twitch, told a friend and provided feedback!
Loco Motive was in the top 50 titles under the 'Most Wishlisted Upcoming Games' tab, meaning we featured in the top 1.41% of all games that participated!
We also did very well in our chosen categories, with Loco Motive featuring as the #1 game in the Point-And-Click and Investigation categories, and charting #2 in Comedy, #3 in Mystery and #4 in the Puzzle categories.
We also received some kind words in the Press, of which we've curated a few quotes:
"If you're a LucasArts nut or just like a witty murder mystery, Loco Motive is a must play.... The set-up, characters, pixel art, slapstick humor, voice acting, animation – everything is fantastic." - GamesRadar+
"I really recommend checking out Loco Motive. When people say "LucasArts-style adventure" they normally wildly exaggerate. From this ENORMOUS demo, it might finally be time to bring out the accolade." - John Walker, Co-Creator of Rock Paper Shotgun
"Loco Motive throws you headlong into a murder mystery worthy of an Agatha Christie novel but with the wit and slapstick of a classic cartoon...The exquisite animation, snappy soundtrack and soundscapes will have you engrossed." - Thumb Culture
Loco Motive is a throwback adventure game featuring rich characters, lovely sprite art, and plenty of comedy. - PC Mag
🎖️We're nominated in the DevGAMM Awards!🎖️
We're very excited and humbled to announce that Loco Motive has been nominated in three categories at the upcoming DevGAMM Awards 2024 for:
🏆'EXCELLENCE IN NARRATIVE' 🏆'EXCELLENCE IN VISUAL ART' 🏆'THE GRAND PRIZE'
This was a very welcome surprise, and we'll be eagerly attending in Lisbon, Portugal next week with our fingers and toes crossed!
✨Wishlists!✨
We're delighted to announce that we're very close to our dream goal of 100,000 wishlists by launch!
Another shout-out to everyone who added Loco Motive to your wishlists, shared feedback and has supported us throughout development. We're a tiny indie team creating our debut game and this means a lot to us!
If you haven't already, consider wishlisting Loco Motive to receive a notification when the full game launches. It’s just one click, but it really helps us out!
Stay tuned for impending news, you can follow us for regular updates on Twitter or join the official Robust Games Discord.
Loco Motive - AdventureX 2024 - Gameplay Stream 10/11
We'll be broadcasting more Loco Motive gameplay during the AdventureX 2024 Steam sale. Apologies if you're see multiple announcements here!
The AdventureX Steam event has begun! For the entire week, you can check out some of the best recent & upcoming narrative games. We've kept the Loco Motive demo up and running if you missed it last month! There's 140 games on sale and/or with a playable demo, so give them a try!
AdventureX is the UK's only convention dedicated to narrative-driven gaming. Since 2011, AdventureX has been bringing together developers & gamers with a passion for interactive storytelling.
Loco Motive - AdventureX 2024 - Gameplay Stream 9/11
We'll be broadcasting more Loco Motive gameplay during the AdventureX 2024 Steam sale. Apologies if you're see multiple announcements here!
The AdventureX Steam event has begun! For the entire week, you can check out some of the best recent & upcoming narrative games. We've kept the Loco Motive demo up and running if you missed it last month! There's 140 games on sale and/or with a playable demo, so give them a try!
AdventureX is the UK's only convention dedicated to narrative-driven gaming. Since 2011, AdventureX has been bringing together developers & gamers with a passion for interactive storytelling.
Loco Motive - AdventureX 2024 - Gameplay Stream 8/11
We'll be broadcasting more Loco Motive gameplay during the AdventureX 2024 Steam sale. Apologies if you're see multiple announcements here!
The AdventureX Steam event has begun! For the entire week, you can check out some of the best recent & upcoming narrative games. We've kept the Loco Motive demo up and running if you missed it last month! There's 140 games on sale and/or with a playable demo, so give them a try!
AdventureX is the UK's only convention dedicated to narrative-driven gaming. Since 2011, AdventureX has been bringing together developers & gamers with a passion for interactive storytelling.
Hello everyone! This is your official ticket to hop on board for Steam Next Fest!
Our demo is live RIGHT NOW, and we can't wait for you to give it a whirl! It's packed with cheeky British humour, Oscar-worthy voice acting, and a caboose full of charm 🚂✨
You can play the demo until October 21st. Both the demo and full release versions are also playable in German thanks to localiser extraordinaire Marcel Weyers, who also translated Return to Monkey Island.
We’ll be launching Loco Motive very, very soon on PC & Nintendo Switch, but until then, come test your wits and see if you can unscramble the curiosities aboard the Reuss Express. We promise it’s a jolly good time!
Demo Feedback
If you’ve already tackled the demo and want to share your thoughts, feelings and note-worthy moments, we’ve got a Steam Forum thread right here for you!
What will be in the full game?
A comedy adventure that hits like smooth jazz, set onboard a 1930s express train
Take control of three playable characters, in an interlinking comedic adventure
Uncover a deadly mystery, full of twists, turns and slapstick humour
Meet a train-full of quirky and somewhat suspicious fellow passengers
Stop at nothing to solve item-based puzzles, that won’t leave you head-scratching for hours
Choose how you play - take direct interactive character control, or opt for a classic point and click experience
Beautifully detailed pixel art animations
Need a little nudge in the right direction? Telephone for assistance with an in-game hint call-line!
With the slinky sounds of composer Paul Zimmermann (Wildfrost, Space Haven)
It’s been a little while since our last development update, and wow, time really flies! We’ve admittedly been a bit quiet, but that’s only because we’ve been fully heads down and pushing to get the game completed and as polished as possible. That said...
🎊Content Complete!🎊
We’re thrilled to announce another major milestone: Loco Motive is content complete! For the past month, we’ve been fully focused on polishing and bug fixing, making sure every aspect of the game meets our quality standards, and ensuring nothing is overlooked. With the end of development fast approaching, our next milestone is to have a completed build that we can comfortably call a Release Candidate.
In order to help us reach this stage, a dedicated QA team and our volunteer internal testers have been playing through the game in both English and German, providing feedback and helping us to locate and squash any bugs we might have missed!
⏱️Time to Completion⏱️
Based on early playtime feedback from our testers, I can comfortably call Loco Motive a feature-length experience, with an average playtime of around 14-15 hours. There's a lot of content here!
📺We were on the telly!📺
This was a weird one, but we were shocked to see Loco Motive feature as a question on the hugely popular UK quiz show, The Chase!
We're delighted to announce we've hit another wishlist milestone. Thanks to your support, we recently reached over 90,000 outstanding wishlists!
Another huge shout-out to you all for adding Loco Motive to your wishlists, sharing feedback and supporting us throughout our development so far. We're a tiny indie team creating our debut game and this means a lot to us! This gets us closer to our dream goal of 100,000 wishlists by launch!
If you haven't already, consider wishlisting Loco Motive to receive a notification when the full game launches later this year. It’s just one click, but it really helps us out!
We’ll be sharing more progress as we go, but in the meantime, you can follow us for updates on Twitter or join the official Robust Games Discord.
Development Update #11
Hi there!
It’s been another busy few months for the Loco Motive team as we reach the end stages of development, but we're eager to bring you up to speed!
Voice Acting Complete!
Another huge milestone has been reached, as we've now completed all of our recording sessions for the game. All 8000+ lines of dialogue have been implemented, and we're currently processing each line to ensure everything is of a consistent quality and volume level, etc.
We'll be holding off on any casting announcements just a little longer, but we could not be happier with the ensemble we've put together! The final roster features a whopping 23 talented voice artists, who'll be voicing our cast of 60+ characters!
Over the next few weeks, our priority is to get the remaining art and animation into the last chapter of the game, along with any remaining sound effects and music. It's been super satisfying to see that list get shorter every day. Once we reach the content complete stage, we'll be adding the final touches of polish and focusing on squashing any remaining bugs!
Close-ups
One of the elements we've been working on adding periodically throughout the game are close-up shots, which will appear during dramatic moments or to add better context to the narrative.
Close-ups begin as illustrated sketches by the wonderfully talented Loukia Kyriakidou, who also illustrated our key art and characters!
Once each sketch is approved, we scale them down and render over the illustration in pixel art to get the final look. We've shared a few finished examples here:
A massive shout-out to you all for adding Loco Motive to your wishlists! As we mentioned in our last update, we just passed 80,000+ outstanding wishlists, which is a huge milestone on the road to 100,000 wishlists!
If you haven't already, consider wishlisting Loco Motive to receive a notification when the full game launches. It’s just one click, but it really helps us out!
That’s all for now! We're excited to continue sharing updates with you as we reach the final stages of development on the game. We’ll be sharing more progress as we go, but in the meantime, you can follow us for updates on Twitter or join the official Robust Games Discord.
80,000 Wishlists!
We're delighted to announce we've hit another major milestone. Thanks to your support, we've now reached 80,000 outstanding wishlists!
A massive shout-out to you all for adding Loco Motive to your wishlists, sharing feedback and supporting us throughout our development so far. We're a tiny indie team creating our debut game and this means a lot to us!
If you haven't already, consider wishlisting Loco Motive to receive a notification when the full game launches later this year. It’s just one click, but it really helps us out!
[/td][/tr][/table][/center]
[/td]
[/td][td]
[/td]
[/td]
[/td][td]
[/td][/tr][/table][/center]