The Last Express

The Last Express is a 1997 adventure game for PC, created by Jordan Mechner and released by Broderbund. Players control an American who boards the Orient Express after a friend’s invitation, just days before World War I begins. Once on the train, he is swept into a tangle of betrayal, lies, political schemes, personal motives, romance, and murder. The game stands out for its development approach, its branching story, and the way events unfold in real time. Commercially, it underperformed at launch, but critics praised it highly, and it gained a strong following afterward. A PlayStation port was started but never finished. Mechner later regained the rights and worked with DotEmu to create mobile versions for iOS and Android, followed by a remastered Steam release called *The Last Express – Gold Edition*.

**Gameplay** The player sees the world from the protagonist’s first-person perspective while exploring the train, with cutscenes shown in third-person. Almost all gameplay happens in real time, though sped up six times faster than normal. The only exceptions are when the character sleeps at set points or when the player opens the pause menu. Events are scripted to occur at specific times on the in-game clock—for instance, a character might leave their compartment for lunch at a scheduled hour. From the pause menu, the player can rewind time to a precise moment or to a specific stop on the route, like Paris. They can also fast-forward up to the story’s current point. The main playable areas are the train’s carriages, where the player can look around, walk through corridors, enter and exit compartments, knock on doors, and speak with other characters. Items can be examined or sometimes collected for later use. The story involves about thirty characters, each with their own artificial intelligence and personal goals. They act independently to achieve their aims, only altering their plans if the player interferes. The narrative is non-linear, meaning the player’s choices—or lack of them—shape how events unfold. This complexity required a script of roughly 800 pages. The game offers multiple endings. Around thirty are game-overs, where the main character dies or is arrested. Four are alternate endings, and only one of those is considered the “true” ending.