But the island is home to much more than just Charles. Exploring the various caverns, buildings, and hills will reveal previously unknown secrets about the world, characters, and game, as well as some unique Easter eggs. Here are a few that players might have missed in their travels.
10 Mysterious Rocks
Throughout the game, players may stumble across some unusual rock piles dotted across the map. Each one is dedicated to a particular person. Two Star, the solo developer behind Choo-Choo Charles, streamed much of the development process on Twitch, and for every person who subscribed to him, he added a rock tower in their honor.
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Such a small detail is easily missed by most. For those who subscribe, though, it’s neat to think that their contributions to the development process are now permanently immortalized in the world of Choo-Choo Charles.
9 Giant Rubber Ducky
Here’s a peculiar sight on the horizon of Aranearum. If players go to the very northwest corner of the map, they’ll be able to see a giant yellow rubber ducky floating in the water.
There will be several of Warren’s goons lingering about on the way, and of course there’s the ever-looming threat of Charles to worry about. But if players manage to make it there alive, they’ll be treated to a view of this majestic rubber ducky. What secrets does it hold? Could it be Charles’s waterborne cousin? We may never know.
8 Caught Red-Handed
In a cabin on the northeast of the map, the player can find a hidden message from the developer. It’s tucked away behind a locked door that can’t be opened, and is only accessible by hacking the game.
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If the player cheats their way in, they’ll be caught red-handed by the developer, with a note that simply reads, ‘You are not supposed to be here’, in a strange, scrawled font. Going largely unseen by most players, it’s a nice little detail that calls out cheaters for their devious activities.
7 Strange Carving
Should players choose to visit Darryl, the guy who gives them a lockpick kit, they’ll find a strange carving within the chest he asks them to unlock. It appears to show a bunch of stick men fighting a giant spider, although the monstrous arachnid doesn’t seem to have Charles’s signature train engine body.
Described as an ancient tablet, the carving is perhaps a call-back to the renowned dragonstone in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a similar artifact with archaic secrets etched into its stone. Either way, it gives some interesting clues into the island’s past, suggesting this isn’t the first time the island’s inhabitants have come across a spider-like monster.
6 Cultist Mania
It is soon revealed that the mine boss Warren, a controversial figure on the island, has placed armed guards in specific locations to protect the glowing eggs. The player will encounter them often during their travels, and will quickly realize they appear to be wearing large Charles-like masks over their faces.
These goons seem to be part of a cult surrounding the murderous locomotive, and will hunt the player tirelessly if they spot them. Fortunately, the train’s weapons work even better on the cultists than their master. The player can easily blow them apart (or even run them over) should they get too close.
5 In A Pickle
With a craving for pickles that can’t be sated, the gollum-esque Pickle Lady is one of the more unusual personalities that can be found within the world of Choo-Choo Charles. She tasks the player with going inside her pickle cave and retrieving the last jar of pickles on the island to become her ‘pickle hero.’
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With a little exploration, players can find notes in her cabin and cave that speak to her utter obsession with the vinegary fruit. She writes that pickles make her feel the happiness, and signs off by calling herself ‘Pickle.’ She’s an odd woman to say the least, but with Charles roaming about the island, perhaps it’s sensible to enjoy the little things.
4 Fire Burn And Cauldron Bubble
One of the optional side missions in Choo-Choo Charles involves the player scavenging for fresh meat to put in a ‘stew.’ Lizbeth Murkwater, the quest giver, looks rather witchy, and her pot of stew is suspiciously cauldron-shaped. Combine that with the swamp, and it leaves no room for doubt – a hag resides on Aranearum.
Players can find the recipe for her stew, which — alongside the fish carcass obtained for her — contains three helpings of salt, some dirt, and a dash of swamp water. It may not be the most gourmet of dishes, but it beats being eaten by Barry the swamp monster, who can be found in the water near Lizbeth’s marsh hut.
3 Slenderman Returns
In a callback to 2012 Slender: The Eight Pages game, players can stumble across Sasha. This character is being tormented by strange sounds and visions, and keeps finding creepy drawings pinned up near her house. Players are tasked with collecting the remaining eight drawings whilst being hunted by a glowing ghost-like entity.
Should it catch up to the player, they’ll start hearing static and be teleported around in a fitting nod to Slender and the urban legend that inspired it. Many fans will recognize the scenario outright, but if they hadn’t, it’s a good opportunity to relive the nostalgic terror of that old game.
2 Origin Of The Charles Crisis
Players can find a bunch of notes around the island that give them clues about the backstory and how the situation with Charles has unfolded. These notes suggest that Warren’s mining company was originally looking for gold but wasn’t successful, and that their fortunes changed after discovering some strange ruins. This led to a catastrophic cave-in which killed several employees, but also revealed the glowing eggs deep underground.
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Ronny, an employee of Warren, explains how the cave-in was kept a secret from the mainland, and confirms that Warren turned his attention to these strange eggs. It becomes apparent during the game that the workers were extracting energy from the eggs, until Charles attacked them and Warren ordered the workers to stop. Charles is intrinsically linked to the glowing eggs, and it is believed that he either hatched from one or was created from their unique power.
1 Warren Charles III
A mysterious and elusive mine boss, little is known of Warren’s true motives, but a couple of NPCs propose their takes on him. Greg, the island’s resident conspiracy theorist, believes Warren is hoarding the eggs because he wants to create an army of monsters like Charles. Gale, a worker for Warren, disagrees, instead believing that Warren is trying to protect the populace by hiding the eggs and thereby preventing Charles from attacking.
Ultimately, after defeating Charles, players are presented with a cutscene where hundreds of glowing eggs are crowded in a cavern waiting to hatch. Could this be Warren’s plan all along? Or is Gale right, and are his motives more benevolent? And what’s with the weird cult working for him? Players will likely be left theorizing, at least until a sequel or DLC releases that may shed more light on the secretive figure that is Warren Charles III.
Choo-Choo Charles is available now on Steam.
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