Puzzleworks, 11: Spooky Express

Okay: I had a deep, intimate and possibly unnatural relationship with Cosmic Express (Draknek & Friends, 2017) and I’ve already written about how much it meant to me. I’ve also criticised it too, mainly due to my experience with Nova 7, its final level.

But it stands out as a puzzle game that clicked hard for me, more than any other title Draknek head honcho Alan Hazelden was involved in, although Bonfire Peaks (2021) comes close.

It was a genuine surprise to learn a followup had been commissioned: Spooky Express, which is finally out! I’ve already played it and not-quite-finished it. Do I think it’s great? Yes. How does it compare to Cosmic Express? Ah, now. That be a tricky beast to wrestle, but wrestle we must and read more I insist.

Nutshell: Okay, fine, I’ll tell you. It’s better than Cosmic Express.

Initially, Spooky feels very Cosmic. You’ve got humans, who need to catch the train to the exit, zombies who want to be dropped off at a nearby grave and vampires who seek an open coffin. Your train has just one seat and it’s all about threading track in just the right way to get everybody to their correct resting places. I solved the first 30 or so levels at lightning speed.

However, Spooky gradually transforms into a different game which is about, uh, transformations. Humans will flee the train when a monster threatens them and, if cornered, get transformed into a zombie or vampire. Later, cultists and demons deepen the complexity. This isn’t just Cosmic Express returning with a cool, black cape.

I’ve talked about how a rail-placement game like Cosmic can feel like an algorithm-building game in disguise. While Spooky is also an algorithm-building game, it gives off the vibes of a puzzle roguelike because everything can and does change as your train snakes across the grid. Passengers hop on and off your train at different points and sometimes you’re trying to drive a transformation, other times you’re trying to avoid one. The UI amplifies this because the train moves as you draw the track, so everything happens immediately instead of sitting back and hitting a play button – something we still saw in recent Cosmic spinoff Sokobond Express (Draknek & Friends, 2024).

Something I did not twig until at least halfway through the main game was the need to focus on the endpoints not the passengers. You may find, for example, there are three graves but only two zombies – and the level is only complete if all the endpoints have been satiated with a visitor. Naturally, it’s also a problem if you have two graves and three zombies…

This brings me to one issue I have with clarity. On the whole, Spooky‘s presentation is clean although there are a bunch of silly objects around the outside of the playfield like skulls or furniture that you can click-and-squeak. However, some of the endpoints are scattered outside the grid and occasionally my brain parsed them as external decoration, meaning I was solving the wrong puzzle. In time, I learnt to look more carefully but the frustration before this was real.

Spooky has an adorable art style with short comic book vignettes between chapters – although they’re not really telling a joined-up story which is totes fine: I doubt a detailed story would noticeably nudge the needle on the fun meter. But I’m still not altogether sure how I feel about the humans as children because… they get turned into monsters? I mean, that’s fine. They all look like kids dressed up for All Hallow’s Eve – but then you discover some of the creepy characters can be destroyed. I suspect the team have worked hard to avoid a configuration where a child can be turned into a monster and then destroyed because, so far, I have not been able to find a level where this can happen. Let me know in the comments if you pulled this off.

Regardless, I absolutely dig the funky soundtrack and some of the character cues make me snigger. Like when a zombie says “Traiiiiinssss” or a vampire, after converting a human, might mutter, “Refreshing!”

Let’s get back to the puzzles. No surprise that the Draknek & Friends team have got difficulty structure down to a fine art. There is a core route of puzzles you need to travel through to reach the end, but there is a dense forest of optional content around it, much more than you might expect. And I’ve played Spooky for nearly 20 hours because the hard puzzles are hard. Can it be too hard? Well, there is a hint system which I have drawn on occasionally, which shows you where some key track needs to be in place. Each level offers just one key hint; it won’t necessarily give the game away but will help you focus.

What I appreciate most of all is that Spooky has largely avoided design agoraphobia – where developers are forced into weaving larger and larger levels as the compact level ideas become exhausted. This is because the mechanics come from passenger interactions rather than spatial complexity meaning so many puzzle possibilities can be found in a small space. Sure, Spooky does not avoid this problem entirely and there are a few puzzles where you’re dragging the rail around only to discover, right at the end you’ve deprived yourself of a space you really need.

Having a lot of small levels means you will occasionally solve a puzzle by accident, but do not worry, you will not solve many this way. According to the credits, Lucas le Slo was at the helm on the level design and I have to say he’s done a terrific job.

I have one more quibble. There is a minor mechanic that only becomes useful during late-game optional levels , which is something along the lines of “seating priority” – I’m happy to get into detail in the comments – but unfortunately it felt like bureaucratic detail instead of an exciting new note added to Spooky‘s melody. I have not enjoyed these levels as much, but this is hardly a stinging criticism.

Spooky cannot bump Cosmic from the special place it has in my heart, simply because I played Cosmic at a particular time when I needed it. I also played Cosmic leisurely through weeks of commutes instead of trying to hit a review deadline, which can make any game feel like a job, a task. But I have zero doubts as I write that Spooky Express is the superior game.

If you enjoyed Cosmic Express, you will fall absolutely dead over heels for Spooky Express.

Spooky Express is available on Windows and Mac from Steam, and also mobile through the App Store and Google Play. A free review key was provided by the developer.

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