I believed Locomoto could be the right recreation for me amidst the Swap 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 utilize to trip throughout a surprisingly sprawling countryside setting, populated by anthropomorphic characters. It is Animal Crossing-meets-train sim, however with a give attention to group 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 utilize to purchase supplies (which you too can harvest with instruments) to craft furnishings. Initially, I adored this gameplay loop. I might 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 always spilled out.
It is all very low stakes, and that works for a 5-10 hour recreation, however Locomoto is greater than double that for those who take time to do deliveries and quests. When each prepare journey is identical rotation, and each job is a few variant of a fetch quest, it is not enjoyable, it is exhausting. Ultimately, I simply marked my vacation spot on my map and popped my Swap all the way down to let the journey keep on, sometimes checking to see if I wanted to gasoline up.
The customisation is massively spectacular, and you may create the cutest animal avatar of your desires. I went for a crimson 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 principally each hour.
You’ll be able to embellish your prepare too, filling it with furnishings or portray the surface. It is one other nice little means of expressing your self in-game, nevertheless it’s just a little 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 neglect about portray these again carriages.
Lastly, whereas the sport’s pastel look is gorgeous, efficiency is just a little shaky on Swap, 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 Swap 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 operating on fumes. But, if it is a sedate and regular journey with stable characters and a comfy environment you are after, you will love this. Simply do not anticipate loads of selection.
