I've never had a particularly soft spot for train games, but after stumbling into Station to Station for hours on end I'm starting to feel pretty brushed up on my railway skills. Locomoto isn't the next railway simulation game, but it does let you complete the (arguably) best parts of any game involving a vehicle—driving, and decorating it.
That's not all either, there's one pretty significant selling point for me—you're a cute little animal you get to create at the start of the game and you're helping other cute little animals throughout the journey. From what we've seen, rather than picking a premade animal and colouring, you'll get to customise everything down to the ears. I'll immediately be trying to recreate something as close to an opossum as I can, but I'm excited to find out what cutesy combinations I can pull together.
Even though Locomoto has been on my radar for a little while, and I've spent a completely normal amount of time looking at the screenshots available on the Steam page, it's nice to see the world spring to life In the world premiere trailer shown at the Wholesome Snack showcase. This trailer gives us our first look at the world in motion, including an insight into interactions between you and the passengers of your train, and the decorating aspects, which is very Animal Crossing-esque by the looks of things.
In true cozy game fashion, you'll get to customise your experience by redecorating your entire train. Whether it's making everything pink and pastel, or filling each carriage with houseplants and greenery, you'll get to create the sort of train you wouldn't mind paying extortionate ticket prices to ride. I'm sure we haven't seen the full extent of this aspect since all we're going off is screenshots and a premiere trailer, but this is definitely the part I'm most excited to get stuck into.
In addition, gone are the days of needing a weighty handbook to help you know what to do when driving a train. This game is by no means the next train conductor simulator, but I think its simple premise and design is what makes it so appealing. Because of this simplicity, more attention can be put on the more relaxing, decorative, and relationship-building aspects of Locomoto.
Unfortunately, we don't know when exactly we'll be able to sink ourselves into Locomoto, other than that it's coming next year. Hopefully as 2025 rolls in we'll steam closer to a more specific release date, but I think I'd be satisfied getting a deeper look at character and carriage customisations for now.
