The camera in Express No. 6 does not take ordinary photos, because its lens reveals what is hidden inside the gifts scattered through the train. You play Maxim, an ordinary passenger who wakes in a compartment with tea, string lights, and a New Year’s radio, only to find that something has happened and you are suddenly alone. With thirty minutes left before midnight, your goal is to reach the driver’s cab and stop the train.
| Genre | First-person horror, walking simulator |
| Platform | PC (Windows) |
| Players | Single-player, controller supported |
| Length | Roughly 40 to 60 minutes |
| Goal | Reach the driver’s cab and stop the train |
Early in the game the compartment feels almost warm. The tea is still there, the string lights glow softly, and the New Year’s radio fills the room with holiday cheer. That contrast is what the game builds on: a cozy, familiar space turns into a place you want to leave, and the radio keeps playing as if nothing is wrong. Walking-simulator fans will appreciate how much of the dread comes from the setting itself rather than from constant action.
The calm does not last, and Maxim is left alone in a train that suddenly feels much longer than it did before.
Many players lose time in the first few minutes by examining every object in the compartment before moving on. The timer is the reason that habit hurts, because the New Year is coming whether you are ready or not. A better approach is to learn the controls quickly, take in the atmosphere as you walk, and save your slow looking for moments when the camera is in your hands.
The lens is the most distinctive tool in the game. Look through the camera and the picture changes, showing what is really inside the gifts instead of the festive wrapping. Puzzle and hidden-object fans will enjoy the shift from ordinary exploration to careful observation, because the camera turns a simple walk through the train into a series of small discoveries.
The gifts are not identical from one playthrough to the next. Discoveries and events are randomized, so a gift that held one thing last time may reveal something different the next time you look. That variation keeps repeat players from relying only on memory.
The timing is where the tension sits. Every moment spent lifting the camera is a moment the timer keeps running, so you are constantly deciding whether a gift is worth the delay. Players who rush may miss clues, while players who linger risk running out of time.
The goal is simple to state and hard to feel calm about: reach the driver’s cab and stop the train before the countdown ends. Once the timer starts pressing, every corridor and doorway carries weight, and quick decisions matter more than perfect ones. Make it in time and you survive, receiving your own New Year’s gift as a reward for the effort.
The developers include a content warning for sudden sounds, flashing lights, and stressful situations, and that deserves to be taken seriously. Players who dislike jump scares will feel the pressure more than those who enjoy them, and that split is one of the more common talking points about short horror like this.
Controller support is a welcome option for players who prefer sitting back during a tense hour. Whichever input you use, resist the urge to freeze when something unexpected happens, because standing still is almost always the worst choice with the clock running.
A full run lasts roughly 40 to 60 minutes, which makes the game easy to replay in a single evening. Because events and discoveries are randomized, a second attempt rarely plays out exactly like the first. The gift you receive at the end also depends on your playthrough, and the game supports multiple endings, so how you handle the camera and the timer shapes the result.
The short runtime splits opinion. Some players love a tight horror that respects their time, while others wish there were more to explore after the cab is reached. Both reactions are fair, and the positive reception from most players suggests the compact length works more often than it fails.
If you enjoy chasing different outcomes, treat each run as an experiment. Try looking through the camera more often one time, then rush the next, and compare what Maxim ends up with when midnight arrives.
Express No. 6 turns thirty minutes of New Year’s Eve into a tense race from the compartment to the driver’s cab. Keep the camera ready, watch the gifts, and remember that Maxim’s survival depends on how well you spend each second before midnight.
