After playing this post-apocalyptic train sim, I have new sympathy for British Rail, who can hardly be expected to keep the trains timely with all the monsters trying to climb aboard, all the time. To make matters worse, here you’re running a train all by yourself, by shovelling coal to keep the engine running, aiming a pistol to shoot those hangers-on, and pumping the big freaky heart you’re transporting across the wasteland - keeping it alive, as per the title.
This is a one-screen game where you have to keep those multiple plates spinning, on each leg of a journey between the wasteland’s surviving stations. If the heart slows down, you’ll need to dart back to pump it up, and if the engine slows down, a zombie-style monster will attempt to jump onboard. Your energy might be limitless, but your bullets and coal reserves are unfortunately not, and these will only replenish when you arrive at a train station.
Keep It Alive is a challenging game, but not massively so, and brief enough that you (probably) won’t tire of the limited actions given to you. Ideas are what this game has going for it: the central premise offers a new perspective on an exhausted setting, while some of the smaller details are just lovely to see.