Choo Choo Charles It is a 2022 indie horror video game developed and published by Two Star Games. The player controls a monster-hunting archivist with the goa
l of upgrading their train’s defenses in order to battle
and defeat the titular character, Charles, an evil hybrid spider monster that roams the landscape looking for people to eat. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
Gameplay Choo Choo Charles
Gameplay consists of traveling across an open world map in a train, performing tasks for non-player characters, collecting loot, and using that loot to upgrade
the train in order to fight against Charles, who periodically
hunts for the player and can be fought off. using the gun mounted on it. The goal of the game is to coll
ect three glowing eggs that will summon Charles to battle the player as a final boss. The game takes players around three to five hours to fully complete.
Map
The map is an island lined with interconnected
railway tracks, which carry the player’s train to a series of locations where quests can be completed for non-player characters. There are four main NPCs that progress the main quest. Besides Charles, the player also faces armed cultist enemies, who guard the three glowing
eggs needed to complete the game. The games encourages players to use stealth to sneak past these guards to steal the eggs and escape without notice,
although it is also possible to simply run past them
and either kill them with the train’s guns or run them over. The game’s optional
quests generally consist of fetching objects for non-player characters,
in exchange for new weapons and other rewards.
Plot
The player controls an unnamed archivist and monster hunter (simply known as “the Archivist”),
who is summoned to the island of Aranearum to deal with Charles
, who is described as “half train, half giga-spider from hell” by their friend Eugene.
Upon arrival, Charles attacks them, killing Eugene,
but not before he tells the player to find Charles’ eggs
which the Archivist can use to summon and fight Charles, and gives them a train mounted with a machine gun.
Eugene’s son Paul and the inhabitants of the island have f
ormulated a plan to defeat Charles, but they need the Archivist to execute it. The Archivist is given the goal of traversing the island to meet with various non-player characters. These characters give the Archivist keys to the mines where Charles’ glowing eggs are located, scraps with which to upgrade
the train, and weapons like a flamethrower, rocket launcher, and anti-tank cannon to better fend off Charles. The Archivist also comes into contact
with cultists led by Warren Charles III, who apparently plan on using Charles for world domination. The Archivist also learns that
Warren is responsible for causing Charles’ awakening, having owned a mining company that dug too deep, discovering Charles’ eggs.
After collecting all three eggs, the Archivis
t summons Charles, who transforms into “Hell Charles” and kills Warren before attacking the Archivist. After a grueling battle, the Archivist
successfully lures Charles onto a bridge that they and Paul rigged with explosives, and detonates it, sending Charles plummeting face-first onto a large metal pole, instantly killing him.
However, in a post-credits scene, it is
revealed that Charles has multiple eggs hiding in a cavern, indicating his return.
