Choo-Choo Charles is an entertaining and unique survival-horror game that starts you out in the role of 'The Archivist', a monster hunter who was called to the island of Aranearum by your friend Eugene.

Within short order, you learn you were called to help deal with Choo-Choo Charles, a man-eating giant mutant spider, with the body of a locomotive, and a terrifying sharp-toothed grin that would put Pennywise to shame. You're expected to traverse the island by locomotive or foot, talking to the residents, finding clues, applying locomotive upgrades, and discovering how to stop Charles.

It's not a difficult or deep game, and everyone talks telepathically without moving their mouth. But if you're ever too far away from a cave, a building, or your locomotive when Charles comes galloping at you, he'll be using your bones to pick his teeth.

The game ran well on the Steam Deck, and it has 25 achievements. I was able to get all of the achievements except Nightmare Hunter - Defeat Charles in Nightmare Mode, which is designed to make you Rage Quit by giving you just 1 life to take on Hell-Infused Charles. This mode will require you to either get good by 'ragequitting until you finally succeed', or get technical by following this guide:


Either way, Nightmare Mode is not a walk in the park. But still, this game is worth it for a few hours of fun, especially if you grab it on sale!