Dreadline Express Impressions: Lovecraft | The Gamerheads Podcast

Imagine waking up in a train car, not knowing who you are or how you got there. There’s a rap at the door, and a man tells you that your time’s up and you need to leave. You scurry, trying to figure out what is happening and how to get out of the situation. That’s exactly how Dreadline Express starts. It’s creepy. It’s weird. And it’s really good.

I’m not a fan of scary games. But I am a fan of narrative puzzle games. And that’s exactly what Dreadline Express offers. Interacting with objects provides me with different cards. Using a combination of these cards in situations or with people helps me get through the narrative. Depending on what I use, I get different responses. It’s a really neat twist on the branching narrative genre that I’ve come to love.

The game has a Lovecraft feel to it. There’s some sort of tentacle creature that is haunting the train I’m on. After getting past the guard who came to take me away, I escaped my room, only to be presented with additional questions and puzzles. One being: What the heck is that thing outside of the train? I start to meet other passengers on the train. They, too, seem to have little knowledge of what’s going on. Am I dead? Is this the train to hell?

The art has this grainy pixel style. The colors are these disturbing dark reds and muted yellows that add to the overall creepiness of the game. Setting the atmosphere in a scary game is important, and Dreadline Express does a fantastic job of it.

But what I really loved was the fact that it felt more like a puzzle game than a scary game. And I was driven to understand what was going on. Who am I? Who are these other passengers? And where are we going? The game does a great job of putting the player in control of the narrative, trying different cards in different situations, and seeing the results. If you are a fan of creepy narrative-driven games, Dreadline Express is for you.

Review key provided by Renaissance PR via Press Engine