Choo-Choo Charleshas players step into the shoes of a renowned monster hunter to take down Charles, the demonic half-train, half-spider. Players are given a train of their own and must use it to traverse around the island of Aranearum, meeting NPCs and collecting mysterious eggs toforce a final showdown with the eight-legged locomotive itself.
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With the residents of the island in desperate need of help and the mine boss Warren Charles III up to something sinister, there’s no time to waste in coming to their aid. Here’s how players can get started on the island and prepare themselves for the upcoming battle.
10Navigate The Map
Eugene will give players the map almost immediately, and it’ll be their most essential toolduring their stay on the island. Players can open the map with M, and find out a bunch of useful info, like the path of the train track and where there are splits in the track.
The map also shows the location of various NPCs dotted around the map that will give the player missions and help them in their quest to defeat Charles. Rather conveniently, they’ve even been color-coded to signify what type of mission they give: yellow NPCs are optional side missions, blue are main story missions, and red are missions that reward the player with new weapons.
9Collect Scraps For Upgrades
The train the player is given at the beginning of the game is weak – it’s slow, susceptible to damage, and has limited weaponry options. That’s where the importance of collecting scraps comes in.
Scraps are essentially the game’s currency, which can be spent on useful upgrades to the player’s train, and are used to repair the train if it takes significant damage (both done from the blueprint in the cabin). Scraps can be found all across the island, and are awarded for the completion of most quests, so ensure to collect as many as possible for the best chance against Charles.
8Get Familiar With The Weaponry
The best and only weapon players can wield in their fight against Charles is the gun mounted on the back of their train. Starting off, the player will only have access to the ‘Derailer’ machine gun but will getmore advanced armaments as they progress through the game.
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The machine gun overheats pretty easily, so it’s best not to overdo it or it’ll jam for a moment, wasting valuable time. Shooting Charles awards scraps, and headshots do the most damage, so players will want to be firing in short, accurate bursts for the best effect. That being said, all weapons have unlimited ammo, so spraying and praying is still a fairly viable strategy.
7Switch Those Tracks
During their journey around the island, players will occasionally encounter a split in the track, indicated by a sign with two red arrows pointing in different directions. These splits allow players to choose which direction they want their train to follow.
All they need to do is stop the train, quickly jump out, run over to the lever, and manually select which way they want the train to go – either left or right. Then simply hop back in the cabin and drive forwards to travel down whichever path was chosen.
6Don’t Forget To Reverse
After jumping into their train for the first time, players will quickly notice it has three levers – forward, reverse, and stop. While forward and stop will be used a great deal, it’s easy to overlook the hidden utility of the reverse lever.
Perhaps the player went through a split in the track but missed an important NPC down the other direction. They simply need to reverse back to the split, switch the lever, and drive forward down the other direction to make it to the missed NPC. Backtracking is an important tool to use to ensure players don’t miss out on any important gear or required missions.
5Timing Is Everything When Picking Locks
Choo-Choo Charlesfeatures a lockpicking minigame, which will activate when trying to open any of the various chests found across Aranearum. The minigame involves clicking just at the right moment when the small white circle moves inside the bigger one – click at the wrong time, and players will have to start all over again.
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Do this correctly over three rounds - each time increasing the number of big circles needed to pass – and the chest will unlock. It’s a bit tricky and may take a bit of practice and a few tries to unlock each chest, but itshouldn’t frustrate players too badly.
4Complete Weapon Missions For New Gear
Scattered amongst the various required and optional missions on the island are three red “weapon missions.” Completing each mission unlocks a new and more powerful piece of hardware to mount on the back of the player’s train.
Only one weapon can be mounted at a time, and players can switch between these options just above the blueprint in the cabin. Each one has varying stats and specializes in different ways of dealing damage, with some upsides and some downsides, so it’s up to the player to decide which one they use at which time.
3Use Stealth Or Sprinting To Bypass Enemies
Throughout the game, the player is tasked with delving into mines to retrieve three powerful eggs from their owner, Warren. He’s posted guards outside each one, armed with shotguns to protect them, and as the player’s renowned monster hunter seemingly brought no weapons with them to use on foot, the player’s options are to either sneak by these goons or take their chances running past.
If choosing the first option, players can lean around corners to check for enemies, but seeing as though Warren’s guards attended the stormtrooper school of marksmanship, it’srelatively easy to just sprint past themand grab the egg without taking too much damage.
2Listen Out For Charles
Charles will occasionally appear from the wilderness to give a not-so-welcome greeting to the playeras they journey across the island. When this happens, players must sprint back to the train, floor it, and start doing some damage to Charles if they want any chance of surviving the encounter. It’s important to stay close to the train for this reason.
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Players are usually forewarned of Charles’s appearance with creepy music and his signature whistling sound, notifying them to get back to their train as soon as possible and prepare for a fight.
1Prep For The Final Encounter
It’s advised to do as many quests as possible, collect all weapons, purchase as many upgrades as possible, and have a healthy stash of scrap to repair the train before going into the boss battle with Charles.
Once the player returns the eggs to the temple, Charles absorbs their energy and transforms into a more powerful version of his previous self. This new‘Hell Charles’ is truly demonic, changing the color of the sky into a blood orange, and teleporting both himself and the player all around the map. Players should be prepared for a tough fight if they hope to survive this final test of their mettle.
