History VideoGame / ChooChooCharles

* AmbiguousGender: The spider-train is called Charles by the island folk because it is written on his side and they refer to him with male pronouns. But "he" can lay eggs, something usually done by females, leaving his true gender unknown. Though, it is possible that he has NoBiologicalSex.

* {{Bathos}}: The game is very much aware of how ridiculous its premise is and at times runs with it. Some mission names and [=NPCs=] can be downright ridiculous.[[note]]The first mission name is called 'Baby's first Mission' and there's an NPC who is downright obsessed with pickles.[[/note]] That said, whenever dealing with Charles [[spoiler:or the cult]] (as well as [[VideoGame/{{Slender}} a certain side quest involving finding and collecting eight illustrated pages]]), the game ''will'' remind you why it's classified as horror.

* SuperDrowningSkills: On the starting dock, you can find a note written by a man who couldn't take it anymore and decided to swim to the mainland. In the note, he states that his chances of success aren't high, but it's still better than staying on the island. You can find his corpse just a couple feet away, floating on the water...

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Warren Charles [[AmbiguousSituation might]] be this. [[spoiler: Having witnessed Charles nearly transforming into Hell Charles after absorbing the energy of the eggs, he keeps them hidden and violently surpasses any attempt for them to be recovered by those who believe they're the key to beating Charles. However he still just lets the monstrous train roam free on the island and forces the villagers to evacuate, resulting in him becoming a dictator that everyone just thinks is insane.]]

** Also '''Ch'''oo-'''Ch'''oo '''Ch'''arles.

* EvilIsNotAToy: Charles's cult doesn't actually seem to have any control over the monster whatsoever. Not only is Charles just as likely to attack cultists as the player if both are caught in the open, but [[spoiler: he devours Warren Charles III right after becoming Hell Charles]].

* GiantSpider:
** The eponymous Choo-Choo Charles, who is also part-train.
** Also [[spoiler: Barry the swamp monster, who appears to be a smaller specimen of Charles species without the train as a shell.]]

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Charles is not invincible in any way; he's hurt by your weapons and even [[spoiler:Hell Charles]] can be killed. The issue is, he knows this just as well as you and will run away when he's been shot at enough. The only way to get a shot in at killing him is to challenge him to a battle to the death.

* HarderThanHard: Nightmare Mode makes Charles more aggressive (less time between attacks), increases the damage of Charles and the cultists, limits the player to one life, and changes various atmospheric elements to make the game spookier.

* HarderThanHard: Nightmare Mode makes Charles more aggressive, limits the player to one life, and changes various atmospheric elements to make the game spookier.

* WeaponizedCar: The only weapons [[PlayerCharacter the archivist]] has are the guns on their train's rear turret (although it's possible to [[CarFu run over cultists if they stand in front of the train]]). Upgrading the train with better armor, speed, and more powerful weapons is a very important part of the plot.

* {{Overheating}}: The player's train-mounted guns will overheat if fired too much for too long. The only exception is the RPG launcher, which instead takes five seconds to reload between shots.

* RoamingEnemy: Charles is always spawned and wanders around the map. He can be encountered at any time.

** The Cultists are arguably this, they relentlessly pursue you even if you make your way to your heavily armed train or even stand in the tracks either behind ''or in front'' of it.

* UnusableEnemyEquipment: The protagonist never thinks to grab a shotgun from any cultists they kill, which would make dealing with the rest of the cultists much easier.

* {{Overheating}}: Neither the player nor the cultists will ever run out of ammo, but the player's train-mounted guns will overheat if fired too much for too long. The only exception is the RPG launcher, but it takes so much time to reload that it's a moot point anyway.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Rocket Launcher and [[ICallHerVera Bob]] deal a lot of damage against Charles, but the reload and fire rate respectively means that it's much easier for Charles to catch up and damage your train. The former can also damage you and your train if it hits too close to you.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: The only punishment for dying is losing a couple of scraps and being teleported back to your train. Though it also reset your current quest progress if you so happen of doing it.

* FuryFueledFoolishness: One of your goals is to invoke this on the titular monster, who is otherwise pragmatic and cautious enough to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm flee when at low health]] or to avoid going on an unstable bridge. The townsfolk want to destroy the 3 eggs on the island in order to provoke him into a battle to the death.

* GiantSpider: The eponymous Choo-Choo Charles, who is also part-train.

* SchmuckBait: Go ahead, blow the train horn, you know you want to. Surely the sound isn't going to attract the half-locomotive monster stalking the island!
** Can be invoked if one has enough resources and upgrades and wants to lure Charles into a battle so he can be beaten and provide breathing room for exploration.

* ConvenientCranny: The mines, houses, and inside the player’s locomotive all count, as Charles is too large to fit into any of them (unless Charles brings the choo-choo’s health down to zero, at which point it’s too badly damaged to protect the player). If the player hears Charles approaching, racing into one of these is their best hope of survival. The game’s [=NPCs=] will also take shelter upon the monster’s approach, so following them and sharing a hiding spot can save the player.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: How Charles is finally killed, Paul comments that while the explosives set on the wooden bridge might not be able to kill Charles, the fall just might. Turns out he was half-right as Charles falls directly onto one of the broken support pillars and ''gets impaled by the improvised giant stake face first'']].

* SpikesOfVillainy: [[Charles' spider legs get a lot thicker and grow sharp spikes once he transforms into Hell Charles.]]

* AntagonistTitle: The game is named after its main antagonist, the evil half-spider half-train monster known as Choo-Choo Charles.

The locals calls him Charles. Half train, half gigantic spider, all terrifying beast from hell with a hunger for human flesh. He has become the island's apex predator. And your mission is to slay him.