I assumed Locomoto can be the right recreation for me amidst the Change 2 chaos. With all the joy of opening new video games and rushing across the observe in Mario Kart World, I wanted one thing a lot slower, calmer, and cosier.
And, for the primary 5 hours, Locomoto slotted into that function completely. You are the conductor of your individual prepare which you employ to experience throughout a surprisingly sprawling countryside setting, populated by anthropomorphic characters. It is Animal Crossing-meets-train sim, however with a concentrate on neighborhood constructing and quests.
You spend a lot of the recreation serving to residents with their issues, driving them round, and delivering mail. You receives a commission in tokens which you employ to purchase supplies (which you may also harvest with instruments) to craft furnishings. Initially, I adored this gameplay loop. I may take my time making my prepare look fairly and provides my passengers the comfiest seats. I loved speaking to the characters as a result of every of them had their very own private dramas that usually spilled out.
It is all very low stakes, and that works for a 5-10 hour recreation, however Locomoto is greater than double that in case you take time to do deliveries and quests. When each prepare journey is identical rotation, and each activity is a few variant of a fetch quest, it is now not stress-free, it is exhausting. Ultimately, I simply marked my vacation spot on my map and popped my Change all the way down to let the journey keep on, often checking to see if I wanted to gas up.
The customisation is vastly spectacular, and you may create the cutest animal avatar of your desires. I went for a pink panda named Ruby, as a result of c’mon, take a look at how irresistible they’re. There are tons of garments to gather all through the sport too, and I used to be altering outfits mainly each hour.
You possibly can beautify your prepare too, filling it with furnishings or portray the skin. It is one other nice little method of expressing your self in-game, but it surely’s somewhat awkward, with stiff-feeling controls as you attempt to shift furnishings throughout the grid-based ornament system. And in case your prepare is just too lengthy, then overlook about portray these again carriages.
Lastly, whereas the sport’s pastel look is beautiful, efficiency is somewhat shaky on Change, even after a day-one patch. More often than not, it runs at sub-30fps, with climate, busier prepare journeys, and late-game stations tanking that extra. There are additionally visible bugs too, like suitcases showing on prepare tracks, lacking textures, characters strolling in mid-air, and objects spawning inside characters. You probably have a Change 2, play it on there — the sport runs at 60fps, and appears higher because of this.
Locomoto is clearly a recreation that places the ‘vibes’ first. For a slice of its runtime, it was completely nice, however by the tip, I used to be working on fumes. But, if it is a sedate and regular journey with strong characters and a comfy environment you are after, you may love this. Simply do not anticipate quite a lot of selection.
