Philosophy is all well and good until somebody asks you to decide who gets flattened by a runaway tram. The Trolley Solution takes this famous moral dilemma, adds a generous helping of minigames and apparently decides that human suffering is considerably funnier with ragdoll physics. It’s an intriguing premise, although the execution occasionally feels like someone’s philosophy dissertation suffered a nervous breakdown in the gaming department.
Gaming Heaven
The central dilemmas offer some entertainingly uncomfortable choices. Would you sacrifice one person to save five, or preserve somebody who might cure cancer? There are no definitive answers, which is rather the point. The game also takes aim at familiar gaming conventions, with parodies of arcade driving and social media mechanics providing some welcome variety.
The exaggerated violence and ridiculous consequences occasionally produce genuine laughs. There’s clearly an appetite for absurdity here, and the developers aren’t afraid to make a complete mockery of serious ethical questions. Unfortunately, having a good sense of humour doesn’t automatically qualify someone to design an entire video game.
Gaming Hell
The minigames are wildly inconsistent. Some offer clever twists, while others feel like rejected ideas assembled during an especially unproductive meeting. Mathematical challenges are confusingly presented, and certain levels seem determined to test your patience rather than your moral judgement.
The controls are particularly troublesome in sections requiring rapid decisions. One late challenge demands precise lever selection at speed, but the analogue stick can be about as reliable as a bloke promising to pay you back on Friday. When failure comes down to awkward controls rather than your own decisions, the whole exercise becomes deeply irritating.
The constant shifts between philosophical thought experiments, slapstick gore and bargain-bin minigames also make the experience feel disjointed. It never quite settles on what sort of game it wants to be.
Final Judgement
The Trolley Solution has flashes of dark humour and a decent concept, but inconsistent minigames, frustrating controls and uneven presentation undermine the experience. What should be a clever satire too often feels like a collection of half-finished ideas tied to railway tracks.
