The Making of The Last Express (1997)

[@danielschmid8530]

I fell in love with The Last Express back in 1997 when my big brother played it. I played it myself years later, and re-played it just this week with my girlfriend. She's a huge history nerd so of course she loved it. We had tons of fun. I wish there were more games like this. Thank you Jordan! And if you're still in contact with the people on this project, thank them as well. Take care!

[@smileymcmichaels4534]

I got a hold of this demo from a PC Gamer mag. I was immediately hooked. Everything about this game is phenomenal. We NEED adventure games like this again!!

[@Vpopov81]

This game will always have a special place in my heart. It came to me at a very special time in my life and I am eternally grateful

[@WillDraco]

I really hope The Last Express gains new life as a remake or a movie sometime in the future. I have nothing but praise for the effort the production team went through to create this flawless piece of video game art.

[@zurlocker1]

Thank you so much for continuing to post and write about your history in games, especially The Last Express. I remember at the time it was released it was really pushing the boundaries of the PC and of game story telling. It still is!

[@BezoRazo]

What an absolute masterpiece this game was. Sadly, like the historical era it portrayed, it is largely unknown to the youth of today.

[@stumpersgaming8672]

interesting to see that the toon-characters were actually real people. This kind of afford is real love to a game we'll never see anymore.

[@JaziB]

This game was so ambitious and ahead of its time.

[@ibrahimsaba1496]

Jordan Mechner, I wish that you will make a *remake* of this game at anytime later!

[@lolasaysyes]

I came across this game through the Grim Fandango remaster developer’s commentary track... like many others, I never heard about it when it came out. The premise and design of the game really fascinates me, and I didn’t expect the game to be fully rotoscoped using real actors. A lot of really interesting techniques used here that make me think. Thanks for sharing a bit of the behind the scenes work!

[@hariseldon1977]

Wonderful game

[@hisredrighthand5212]

To this day I have soundbites of this game in my head: _"C'est la police monsieur, ouvrez!", "Deuxième service, deuxième service, le wagon restaurant est ouvert....!", "Names are a powerful thing, Mr. Cath!"_

[@dominicdibagio7166]

Just finished the game. Thanks for making it - a very unique experience. I enjoyed it greatly.

[@muzboz]

It's such a shame that this flavour of game has not played a stronger role over the past few decades. This game was truly inspiring. I loved all the languages, and different characters with their different motivations and secrets.

[@1992DirtyDevil]

I played this game as a child and it inspired my life

[@runarvollan]

Top 3 most alive games: * The Last Express (1997) * Rollercoaster Tycoon (1999) * Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)

[@nickfalzone7955]

I was heavily into PC games in the 90s, read gaming magazines, etc and never heard of Last Express until today. Looks like an interesting CD/multimedia adventure game but this game had ZERO fanfare when it came out. I was into everything from Shareware, to $60 CD-Rom releases and I don't think I ever saw this game on a shelf. Not sure what happened with Verhoeven's movie, but Jordan turned out to be right on with his expectation of audience appeal, as the 2017 Kenneth Brahagh film was a gigantic success. I think they're even doing a big budget sequel now.

[@JadranDan]

I've just finished replaying this game after 25 years. This game will always have a special place in my heart. As a migrant kid from former Yugoslavia I was so surprised to find characters speaking my language in the game. I wish there had been and were more games like this. I'm still waiting for a new adventure by Mr Robert Cath, possibly in Jerusalem.

[@abbafanatico]

That moment when you recognize key players from the Making Of Prince of Persia book on an unrelated video. Videogame history y'all.

[@agnidas5816]

People used to give actual thought-out care about the games design ... like finding a real sleeping train car etc.

[@Tumbledweeb]

And doing in-depth research on the historical period in which the game is set in, focusing said research on the whole of Europe, and the escalating tension between the various nations, culminating in the breakout of World War I. My favorite faction, for example, the Serbian passengers in the second class sleeping car: They are Serbian nationalist and members of the secret military group Crna Ruka(Black Hand). Crna Ruka was affiliated with a subgroup, Young Bosnia, who was behind the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo a few month prior to when this game takes place. Said assassination is commonly blamed for being what started World War I. So here's yet another thing that the Slavic people was being blamed for. Why was Tyler Whitney actively helping what was considered by most others to be a Serbian terrorist group? Well, my guess is that he was sympathetic to their Nationalist cause, which in my opinion, really wasn't anything near being unreasonable at all: They wanted to unite the territories that had a southern Slavic majority population, looking to the Unification of Italy(1859 - 1870) and the Unification of Germany(1971) as main inspiration. But apparently it's okay when Italy and Germany does it, but when the Slavs tries the same? NO THAT'S TERRORISM! Now, I'm nowhere near an expert on the subject but, I think that Tyler sympathized with a group of people, who had been harassed and terrorized for hundreds of years at that point, trying to stand up for themselves. However, that whole assassination ordeal? That was major amateur hour on every single conceivable level! If you're not familiar with the Franz Ferdinand assassination already? I highly recommend checking it out. It was a situation; The planned assassination attempt itself went up epic fail creek, and yet Ferdinand still ended up getting assassinated due to a series of bizarre coincidences. It's fucking weird, man! Look it up! Sorry about the lengthy comment, I just find the Crna Ruka characters so interesting and sympathetic, and it's just so awesome that the devs went so heavy on the research. I absolutely LOVE devs that tries to teach players real-life stuff in addition to entertaining them, and "The Last Express" is probably my number one on that list.

[@CaminoAir]

If anyone is wondering whether this game is worth playing, then (having played it twice 20 years apart) I can assure you it most definitely is worth playing. It's very engaging, very memorable and apart from a few places, it is not as difficult as many adventure games. But do have a walkthrough by your side for those places. And when you finish, you may very well want to start all over again to view all the situations you didn't have time for on your first play through.

[@ladyxxmacbeth]

I bought the Last Express from a computer shop in the UK for a few pounds in 1998. I used to love going through the discounted section for oddities and quit frankly some awful games. This was one of my best purchases. back in 1998 as a teenager I wasn't very good at looking after my stuff and unfortunately the second disc got scratched and I couldn't finish it. I got to Vienna and then game over, I have just completed it on steam all these years later. It's a shame it didn't do better, but I was one of the people who bought it originally and played the first part over and over just hoping one day it might work for me. It was a game of its time and I'm not sure many games have been made that come close to its's brilliance.

[@adamzanzie]

Thanks for uploading this, Jordan. Used to watch it so many times on my own copy of the game. Will you and Paul Verhoeven still be turning it into a movie?

[@ronaldmcdonald8303]

Dear Jordan, I used to have your POP game made in 1989 on floppy disk. Don't you have to play the game 2ice to finish it? On level 6 if you play it 2ice the hole in the floor in front of the big soldiers is smaller. Isn't there a bunch of extra little bits in the floppy game that aren't on later versions? I would also like to know what the purpose if the labyrinth on level 4 is for. There a bit that leads all the way to the exit door that seems to have no purpose, what is it for?

[@simondaniel4028]

this game is fkin awesome.

[@PlayerInsideOfficial]

I really appreciate your work, especially on The Last Express, one of my favourite games ever, and I put it on my top 10 ever in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3rIg3mqi8h2hs0 I love this game! - Raiden