A Train to Piccadilly

Adapted from a Review-A-Thon 26 Review

Style: Parser
Played: 7/16/26
Playtime: 5hr, finished with MANY hints

It has been a while since I have had my russophiliasis tweaked. Turns out it is not an affliction that time can cure. In Piccadilly we are thrown into an alternate history where Germany won WWII. But wait! This is no modern-Nazi tale, perhaps the most traveled of alternate histories. No, the Third Reich ignobly collapsed after Hitler’s death, though not before dealing America a fatal blow, ushering in a global SOVIET hegemony! Better, it is nominally set in 1986, conjuring late Cold War atmosphere and paranoia. Our protag is a member of the resistance (hell yeah!), sent on a mission to somehow undo this historical anomaly.

I should start out by saying the setup is simultaneously confused and concise. Confused in that technologies are wildly anachronistic, including some ridiculous time warp/teleportation fantasy tech. Concise in that cut scenes, discovered histories and environmental details are CONSTANTLY reinforcing the oppressive soviet atmosphere and bona fides, to my sensibilities via well chosen and economical details. What it does oh so right is straight-face its bizarre and discordant elements, and improbably weaves them into the dystopian political elements super effectively. If the strongest reaction wild dissonances prompt in me is ‘Why not?’ I consider that evidence that the author is fully succeeding in crafting the desired atmosphere. An atmosphere with a particular hold over this reviewer.

This confused/concise dichotomy most definitely extends to game play as well. You see all this wonderful setting work is in service of, as you must have guessed, a puzzle fest. It is probably exactly what you picture: mostly (though satisfyingly-when-not) logic-puzzle-setpieces that could be grafted onto ANY setup. Except they TOO are simultaneously confused and concise. On the one hand, the piece role models implementation horizon discipline. You almost NEVER get the information you need without digging, but that digging is almost always rewarded, crafting a consistent play space of exploration. Where it requires put-thing-in-other-thing, the mechanics and text cuing lead you pretty seamlessly. Ditto its pick-up-whatever-moves-you’ll-know-why-later ethos. All that makes for smooth gameplay until BOOM, puzzle designs take wild turns into metagame (or completely outside game!) knowledge, incredible logical leaps and confusing cuing. Take the example of manipulating something out of reach, where you possess several long items. The sequence plays out:

> get card
The panel is out of range.

> get panel with broom
Impossible, it doesn't have a hook.

> get panel with poker
Impossible, it doesn't have a hook.

Now, how I read that cuing was "find a way to fashion a hook onto your broom, and pretend fire pokers DON’T HAVE HOOKS. It was actually attempting to cue something entirely different: (Spoiler - click to show)push panel with broom instead. So, so many puzzles played out like this. Smooth sailing of interesting puzzles, with satisfying gameplay, punctuated by long stretches of grappling with puzzles just beyond my reach. Thankfully, there are brighter IF lights out there. Do not attempt to play this without RJ Kowalski's invisiclues. And be prepared to forgive when the solution makes no sense to you even after revealed, nevermind the diegetic justification for the construction of the puzzle in the first place.

Also, hey, are you a stickler for protagonist backstory? Because if your soviet-revolutionary protag needed to fend on the strength of his own knowledge to solve these puzzles (let alone even manipulate some of the objects!) there is NO WAY it could happen. It is only you the player, bringing your out-of-world skills and knowledge to bear that make the plot even feasible.

AND YET, in the full acknowledgement of ALL THAT, and adding my own legendary incompetence to the mix, this was an absolute HOOT to play. It magically steamed past all its contradictions, frustrations and confusions to STILL deliver a satisfying story and puzzle experience. It earned forgiveness for its excesses via all the times it did things right, and by steadfastly maintaining its straight, brutalist face through it all despite the wild stuff it was throwing at you.

Could it be better? Yeah, probably a lot better. Was it already AWESOME, though? PEKLO DA, COMRADE!!!