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Spooky Express – ReviewAll aboard! Spooky Express, a new cryptid-themed puzzle game developed and published by Draknek and Friends, is departing from the station straight to Steam, Google Play, iOS, and itch.io! In this review, we will have a look at this relatively simple yet fun occult puzzle title. Story There isn’t much of a story featured in Spooky Express, simply due to it not being necessary. The game begins with a lovely song written by Priscilla Snow that explains how creatures such as vampires and zombies also need to take the train sometimes. But because they’re different, they get kicked off and thus comes the Spooky Express. As the levels of the game progress and more puzzles are unlocked, so too does the story get extra layers to weave these puzzles in. Ironically enough, regular humans also wish to take the train, much to the vampires’ and zombies’ joy. (Don’t worry, there’s no biting or gnawing involved!) Graphics The art style of Spooky Express is very distinct in that it makes famous horror creatures cute and cartoon-esque. The map design consists mainly of tiles with a surrounding background that changes depending on which level you’re on. Each world is basically a recolor of the other, with the exception of some assets outside of the tiles. One thing that is very admirable, however, is that despite the rather simplistic graphics, the world still feels alive, and the characters aren’t just static dolls waiting to be picked up or dropped off. They each have their own unique animations and even interactions when passing others. A monster will hiss at a human, or a zombie will try to grab them as they quiver in fear. All in all, Spooky Express’ graphics feel like an adult storybook for the lighthearted who still wish to enjoy some horror elements without anything grotesque or really scary happening. Sound As mentioned earlier, Priscilla Snow is responsible for most, if not all, of the music in Spooky Express. The main soundtrack has 26 songs, with ‘Have You Ever Toured Trainsylvania?’ being the titular track that explains the main gist of the game. Due to the number of different tracks, the player is sure not to get bored or have a repetitive feeling during gameplay. The soundtrack itself can be described as Halloween-sounds, mixed with a more modern beat to create a loop that perfectly fits the small puzzle levels without getting boring. Draknek and Friends didn’t shy away from some subtle humor either, making it obvious how much fun they had with making this game. Zombies, when picked up, will scream “Traaaains” instead of the usual “Braaaains”, making us chuckle just a little bit once we took note of this. Gameplay The essence of Spooky Express is that it’s a tiled puzzle game. The player is tasked to click and drag the train across the map to pick up and drop off the passengers before going to the next track. As the player progresses through the levels, more mechanics will be added. Initially, you will only see zombies, then onward there will be vampires as well, then humans, and so on. This means that puzzles will get more difficult in each world. If the player finds themself struggling, there is the option to showcase a hint. This comes in the shape of a partially highlighted area, indicating how the train track should be drawn on the showcased tiles. Whilst this is a great way of not simply spoiling or spoon-feeding tips to the player, the fact that this is the only hint may cause people to get stuck at certain levels, as you cannot skip levels. It is quite evident that this game was initially meant to be a mobile game, based on the click-and-drag controls featured in the PC port. Undoing a track requires you to drag your train backwards, the same way you’d do on your mobile phone. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as less is sometimes more after all, but the game doesn’t feature a tutorial, which may make casual gamers confused and left to their own devices to figure things out. Conclusion Spooky Express is a fun, casual puzzle game that, despite its thematics, can be enjoyed throughout the year thanks to its beautiful simplicity. There’s clearly a lot of love and care put into it, which is evident by small details that make the game feel alive and colorful, whilst staying true to its theme. We do recommend getting the game on a mobile platform instead, due to the game initially being free, with a less costly upgrade to unlock the full game. On top of that, the controls are still more geared towards mobile games than PC players. All in all, anyone who enjoys a simple yet fun puzzle game will enjoy Spooky Express, as well as the fun soundtrack that comes with it.

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