Loco Motive turns two with Mac and Linux builds, Steam Deck touch controls and an iOS version for 2027

The developer marked its murder mystery's second anniversary with the free 1.1.0 'Hands On' update: macOS, Linux, Korean, a rebuilt handheld interface and touch on Steam Deck.

AI-drafted from 4 sources. This story was written with AI from the outside reporting listed under Sources, and checked by automated tools before it went up. The originals have the full detail.

Loco Motive, the pixel art murder mystery set aboard the Reuss Express, came out on 21 November 2024. Two years on, its developer Robust Games has marked the anniversary with update 1.1.0, which it calls the 'Hands On' update. It was posted on Steam on 10 November and it is free for everyone who already owns the game.

The biggest change for a lot of players is the platform list. Loco Motive is now officially supported on macOS, on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and on Linux. The studio says Mac and Linux were 'a longstanding request from our community', and the Steam store page now lists Windows, macOS and Linux side by side.

Touch on Steam Deck, and a new handheld interface

The update's name comes from the other headline feature: full touch controls on Steam Deck, with dedicated Deck button prompts. Touch works alongside the existing mouse and controller options, and the developers say you can switch between them on the fly. To make room for it, the handheld interface has been redesigned, with new interaction strips and rebuilt inventory and settings screens.

There is more under the hood. The patch notes list new character poses, better lip sync and lighting refinements, plus fixes for several persistent freezes and scenes where the game could get stuck. Korean is now a selectable language, with the localisation credited to Yeonjung Noh and the STOVE team.

Going mobile in 2027

The same post ends with an announcement: Loco Motive is coming to iOS in 2027. The developer did not give a date or a price, only that more details will follow.

If you have not met it, Loco Motive is a comedy point and click adventure published by Chucklefish. Someone has been murdered on a luxury steam train, the late Lady Unterwald, and the three people you play are all suspects who need to prove their innocence. It is fully voiced and has an in-game hint line for when a puzzle has you stuck.

It has done well for a small team. In an end of summer post on 30 August, the studio said the game had passed 60,000 lifetime copies across PC and Nintendo Switch, and that it had secured money from the UK Games Fund for its next project, a game that mixes deduction, puzzle solving and choices. That one is still in early development, so for now the train is the place to be.

Loco Motive is on Steam, and GamingOnLinux has its own write-up of the update.

Sources

• 1.1.0 - The 'Hands On' Update is here! (Steam (Robust Games))
• Loco Motive on Steam (Steam)
• Award-winning point and click Loco Motive adds Linux and macOS support (GamingOnLinux)
• End Of Summer Blog (Steam (Robust Games))

Image: Image: Robust Games / Chucklefish