Release
The Last Express received highly positive reviews both in print and online. Newsweek called it "exquisite" and "thrilling" and MSNBC said "the mystery and characters are very fascinating" and "this game is definitely for everyone". Games Magazine declared it the Best New Adventure and Role Playing Game, and it received Editor's Choice awards from PC Gamer, Computer Gaming World, Next Generation, and dozens of game websites, including a gold medal from GamesDomain.
However, the game only remained in stores for a few months. Brøderbund's marketing department quit just weeks before the game was released, resulting in virtually no advertising for it. Softbank pulled out of the game market, dissolving its subsidiary GameBank and canceling several dozen titles in development, including the nearly finished PlayStation port of The Last Express. As a final blow, Brøderbund was acquired by The Learning Company, which was only interested in their educational and home productivity software. The Last Express was out of print within a year.
In 2000, the game publisher Interplay bought the lapsed rights and began quietly selling the game as a budget title. A short time later, Interplay went bankrupt, so the game was once again out of print. In 2006, the American subscription-based game service GameTap began offering the game on its network. In 2011, Good Old Games and DotEmu began selling a downloadable version as well that included the original soundtrack and a Making Of video.
In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.
On March 16, 2012, Mechner announced an upcoming release of the game for iOS devices, to be developed by DotEmu, with "additional enhancements to make it more iOS-friendly." The game was released for iOS (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) on September 27th by DotEmu.com and is available in the App Store.
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