TL;DR: games good but too short, wait for a sale

I beat the game in less than 3 hours, and got all but 1 achievement in that time.

It's a good game although the price is kinda steep how long it is. I get this game took a little over a year to make by a single guy so i'm not gonna over commit to making the price a key point here, but i would recommend getting this game on sale if you can.

Bugs:
so the only major bug i dealt with was opening my map and all of a sudden im in the middle of nowhere and my train is still going, usually the train stops when you jump out, but i guess the code for that is a hollowed out cylinder around the train that you can jump over, somehow.
This is also where i learned charles follows near the train and not the player, thats really the only reason i could live long enough to hunt down my own train and hop aboard

the second and least impactful bug was a lighting issue underneath the bridge you plant 8 explosives on, for some reason the second coming of christ was happening and i couldn't see where to plant the bomb without burning out my retinas.

mechanics:
there are plenty, most of which have already been shown off even in the trailers, but i want to put a pin in sneaking for a minute. It feels incredibly under-cooked, there's no exposed meter that you can use to know if the cultists can see you, they just, see you. and since you never get a weapon that isn't connected to your train, you're better off making a b-line to whatever your objective was and run back to the train, and since they can easily corner you, you're more than likely going to die since there shotguns hurt, alot.
I think the dev knew this since dying really isn't a punishment, that most scrap i've lost from dying is 3 and by the halfway point, i was basically loaded and my train fully upgraded.

upgrading is very satifying, except maybe weapon damage, never really felt like i was doing anymore damage at level 1 than i was at level 10, but i can understand why, if maxed out damage did too much, the final boss would be a joke, which is kinda funny since its a meme game with a slenderman mission. all-in-all tho, the upgrading felt good, especially speed, you're zooming by level 4

Speaking of weapons, the only ones I ended up using, at least in the final boss section was flamethrower and rocket, one to slow, one to damage, works great. u just gotta be quick to switch them out.

The way you get the weapons is pretty nice too, but some of those optional quests are just so slow to trudge through, im looking at you witch. Thankfully they reward you a ♥♥♥♥ load of scrap

final thought:
Could this game be more polished, absolutely, but it's better quality than a lot of AAA games i've played in the past. so congrats dev, you're already doing better than most. keep it up.

TLDR Version: Short, sweet and to the point. A fantastic little horror game. 9/10

The game is a great time start to finish. Charles is terrifying. The island is fun to explore and the sense of danger that comes with leaving the train knowing he could shamble over the horizon at any moment never left me.

A personal favourite detail is how, organic Charles felt. It never felt like he popped up just for a cheap scare. Often I would hear or see him roaming around in the distance and he'd just wander off and leave me alone. But other times he would notice and give chase. I never got the feeling there was some invisible timer counting down till his next attack.

The only complaint I could give is the stealth sections felt a bit clunky at times. Simply tapping the sprint key would mean they'd spot me from miles away, but then they could walk within inches of me with no cover and not notice at times. Not a massive issue, just a tad frustrating at times.

Overall: This game is simply fantastic. I loved every minute of it. It was short but it didn't outstay it's welcome and get tedious. And the scare factor never wore off like other games I've played. It stayed tense from beginning to end. Highly recommend it!

Sometimes, you want a deep and complex psychological horror that burrows into your very soul, reframing your entire perspective on the world.

Sometimes, you want Choo-Choo Charles.

I'm not going to lie. This game has its issues. Visual things like the fact that the characters' mouths don't move and the stealth gameplay leave a lot to be desired. But this game is clearly a labor of love and the person (yes this was all mostly done by one person) who made it clearly had a LOT of fun bringing their vision of Charles to life, and was completely unashamed of that. That's more then I can say for most AAA games these days.

And the parts of it that are bad are often excusable. For instance, he probably tried to do the lip syncing at some point but found that he just wasn't up to it - he couldn't make it look right. He then made the decision to not do it at all. Not having people move their lips while they talk is weird, sure - but horrific lip syncing would have looked worse. It takes guts - and brains - to make that sort of decision. Dude's got good instincts.

The only real complaint I have is the afformentioned stealth game play. A lot of people don't like stealth game play, and I'm actually not one of them. When it's done well it can really exhilarating for me. But I didn't like it here and the reason for that is just how awkward it was. For instance, maybe this was just my impatience, but the enemies were often timed in such a way that they'd appear as soon as I thought the coast was clear. But the biggest suggestion I have is a way to deal with the enemies. It doesn't even have to be combat, but once you sneak past a guard it would be nice to not have to worry about them anymore.

I keep talking about the bad, and I forgot to mention the whole REST OF THE GAME. Choo-Choo Charles is at once horrifying and hilarious. You'll be talking to the Pickle Lady about her Pickle Mission and suddenly the bellow of Charles' whistle will break through the night and his bloodstreaked face will climb the hill on its ambling spider legs. This is a fairly occurance. Plenty of references to other horror games litter the world, but they're done in a tasteful way where if you didn't recognize them you'd just think it was just another part of this weird, strange island.

Charles himself, as the centerpiece of the game, deserves to be commented on. A meme come to life, he embodies the mix of terror and humor that this game goes for. He is always a possible threat, and hearing his whistle when I wasn't prepared for it filled me with legitimate panic on more than one occasion. A horror game that can do that is doing something right, and one that can still keep those moments scary with all the whackiness around it is even better.

My suggestions for the next game would include a knife that can only be used to stealth kill guards you've sneaked past, more guns, and more train customization. Imagine if you could choose a pattern for the colors on your train!

TL;DR: Don't expect any AAA quality graphics or deep and compelling lore - though there is an interesting story to find if you look. But if you're looking for a good laugh and a good scream, possibly at the same time, Choo-Choo Charles has got you covered. It's a simple labor of love that knows what it wants to be an is not ashamed to be it.

[[Edited because this got some attention and then I realized that I never properly finished it]]

I guarantee you will will not find a better evil spider train game.

this game needs to be muiltplayer

Very fun game and the fact that IGN gave this a 4/10 proves they are a dead corporate site.

Imagine how sick it would have been if none of the trailers or marketing for this game had shown what Charles actually looked like and only alluded to it being a murderous train. Sure it wouldn't have had as much hype behind it, but dang would that have been such a great horror reveal if we didn't know what to expect.

I waited a very long time for this game, but it was worth it.
The first feeling is great.

Please add COOP !!, I really want to play it with my friend.
I WANNA SEE HOW DEVIL TRAIN EATING HIM
(while I'm running away from him :D :D )

yeah, really nice work man !!

IGN gave it a four so its a 10

You know what? This is damn fine.

This game is remarkably well put together for a fresh indie release. Game is solid. No bugs worth mentioning, game mechanics are clearly explained with plenty of time to get to grips with them before Charles starts coming for you, the atmosphere is ominous, the locales are unique enough to be individually identifiable, and combat is tense. The game's whole premise is inherently ridiculous, and it leans into that while playing it dead straight (most of the time).

Basically, game good, worth money.