One of the booths at PAX this year was run by a small studio called Legio Vox. They were there to showcase a game called The End of the Line: New Age. Think Snowpiercer meets D&D all wrapped in a Gatcha adventure. I got to spend some time with the game’s creative director, Drew Credico, to discuss what we’ll see from TEotLNA upon release and beyond.
So what exactly is TEotLNA? It’s a game where you travel post-apocalyptic railways, scavenging for supplies along the way to a fabled “End of the Line”. You play as the conductor, recruiting and leading your crew of Railors. This eccentric bunch will need to weather the landscape and the threats prowling it if they want to complete their journey eastward. Along the way you’ll meet new friends, fight new foes, and discover the mysteries that surround your ultimate destination.
The little vertical slice that I played PAX took place mostly off the train in The Queen’s Forest. You choose a party of six (excluding you and the conductor) and set off on a map that’s made up of hexagonal tiles. Whenever you move, so do the monsters and bandits on the board, and the inevitable passage of time crawls ever forward. Choosing to engage or avoid fights is entirely up to the situation and your own personal strategy. You don’t only need to take the time of day into consideration, but also the condition of your Railors. Things get dicey when the sun goes down and they don’t automatically heal between fights, so you might need to rush someone back to the train for proper rest and treatment. The fights themselves are a turn based affair with interactive elements, much like the Paper Mario games. Outgoing attacks can be strengthened, as well as incoming damage mitigated, with properly timed inputs. The demo I played was on a tablet, done completely with touch controls. It just so happens that I always walk around this event with a stylus pen on me, and opted to play with that. No complaints on the responsiveness with any of the time sensitive inputs. Any mistakes I made were mine, and were easily fixed with a little dollop of “git gud.”
I would definitely recommend keeping this on your radar , especially if you’re looking for a fun and in-depth game to play on-the-go. With the promise of it being a live service, there could be upcoming content in the form of future story scenarios with the cast. Beginning a new journey with The End of the Line: New Age is on its way to PC and mobile but “Coming soon” is the only thing we know about a release date, so definitely keep an ear to the ground with this one.
Follow along with it’s development – here!
