What is Choo-Choo Charles? The Story Explained

Does this game even have a Lore to begin with? I have no Idea but that's not going to stop me from speculating!

The fact that James went from doing theories on a game about a dystopian world filled with cannibalism and body horrors to a game about a monster hunter gunning down a LITERAL SPIDER TRAIN, is pretty hilarious.

I like how all the NPC’s run away and hide whenever Charles is around. Really adds to the commitment.

I actually really dig Charles’ (implied ) backstory. Most indie horror games would pull the “this abomination from hell used to be human but then was experimented on and is now a demented monster” trope, except here. Charles was never human. Just something discovered by humans. It took over the body of an engine, probably for extra protection and now terrorizes the island. I love it

The idea of the Spider using the train as a shell is actually pretty cool, and sounds extremely logical. Well, logical for this universe. But wouldn’t the searing hot boiler inside the train hurt the spider when it crawled inside?

I have so much respect for the dev. Dude delivered a pretty decent game on a time crunch, AFTER literally forgetting to work on it😂

Something interesting is initially the developer wanted the game to be more simple where you goal was to sacrifice people to Charles by kidnapping them and tying them down to a track for them to get run over by Charles to appease him. Then over the course of development it became what it is now. But who knows maybe that game idea could work as a sequel or spin off story.

Theory: The eggs aren't from Choo Choo Charles. The eggs are from Gus the Bus, as there is a note talking about him, and in the church a note says "Snake VS. Spider (spiders have more legs usually)" as Gus might be a snake bus, and snakes lay eggs. Spiders also lay them, but they look different then the eggs in the game, Charles probably protects the eggs because he fears Gus and he believes Gus will come if the eggs are destroyed.

Fun fact in this game there is a letter about :"gus the bus" in this letter it states that Charles fears gus the bus meaning gus the bus is likely a predator to Charles and considering Charles is a spider gus the bus would most likely be a predator to spiders. There are 2 creatures that make sense for gus the bus, another spider as spiders eat spiders but in opinion its too boring but it's a possibility. The second creature is a centipede as irl centipedes eat spiders so gus the bus could be a centipede which I could see happening Edit A 3rd creature could be a snake as in the game there's a note saying spider vs snakes or something like that so gus the bus could be a snake which makes a lot of sense

My personal theory of why Warren warned that killing Charles would make things worse goes a little bit into the supernatural side. Essentially, Charles' eggs cannot hatch as long as it is alive. Think of it as a supernatural clause that says the offspring cannot spawn until the parent(s) are dead. However, there is no clause about how many eggs can be laid, or of how many will hatch once the parent(s) are no more. Warren figured this out and thus forbode the people from trying to kill Charles, bc as long as it is alive, there is only one monster in the world, and it's one that can be scared away and doesn't seem to be able to get into people's houses. Now that Charles is dead, the eggs will hatch, and now there are gonna be potentially thousands of similar predators on the island. And if they manage to find a way to choo-choo in a boat, well...

All I know is that Thomas the train used to be different back in the good old days.

I also like the fact of the lore of Charles’s is based on how he made the model. If you watched his behind the scenes, he explained how he made Charles was he got a free spider asset and put it inside a train he had already made, fun little nod to that

It's interesting how, if you think about it, Charles isn't really evil in a traditional sense. He has a disturbing face likely meant to scare off potential predators or rivals. He only attacks the miners when they trespass on his nest and start stealing his eggs. He comes to associate humans with the egg thieves and probably develops a hatred for them as a result, kinda like how animals abused by humans can become hostile towards or distrustful of them(especially since they shot at Charles and injured him). He's not a demon; just a very large spider-like creature protecting his young, and probably looking for the stolen eggs(hence why he's wandering the surface). He can gain power from the eggs, yes, but they were sought as a power source; I imagine that's just something that can happen to things affected by that energy. He probably commits to a fight to the death because he's fucking furious that the eggs were lost, and he's killing the people responsible. Tl;dr, he's so blinded by anger that he throws caution to the wind. He's certainly territorial, but at the end of the day... he's no more a monster than the people who tried to exploit him. He would have been no threat at all if he'd just... been left alone.

I really like your one-off videos where you play a random indie game like this. Always really fun to watch.

I personally believe Charles IS Theodore's old train. The one in the junk yard is far too rusty, in my opinion, to only have only at since Charles escaped. The note that mentions Theodore and Eddie delivered supplies, and Eugene says one operator was killed so you will use his train. Theodore is alive so you use Eddie's train, which looks to be in the same condition, as far as rust, as Charles. This makes me believe they had to be used around the same timeframe, which makes me think Charles is the train Theodore used while Eddie used the one you get.

I thought the drawings were official art or concept art. So much props to the artist he did an amazing job!!!

This would mean that it would be possible to kill all those giga spiders with basic modern weaponry, because they don't have the train shell that charles did. There could be a sequel if the creator decides to make one, or instead the ending could just be left for us to wonder.

I think they should make a movie with this theme. A giant spider taking control of a mining train and terrorizing the residents of the island, before being ultimately killed. The scene with the eggs shaking would be a perfect ending

Considering Charles is magical and the train he wears sorta works, in more inclined to believe he simply possessed instead of crawling inside.

Beautifully orchestrated video. I used to watch your park builder/world video all the time for years. Cheers for being such a massive part of my childhood beaver, and I’m glad to see you’re going strong! Interesting to see this take on a modern horror in the making.