We take the engine and we control the world. It's time we take the engine.
The Last Station is a single player 2D action/exploration game created by Oleg Sergeev and Andrey Rumak. And while it's retro 8-bit graphics and foreboding colour palette won't draw anyone to it because of its looks the story and gameplay certainly should. And when was the last time you got to be a train driver during an unknown catastrophe?
When you begin playing The Final Station your character is standing in the hallway of a building holding a gun in the dark. With no clues to what you should do next you climb down a ladder and die as a hoard of creatures/aliens engulf you. This is the bleak nature of the game and it pulls no punches. As the game continues text appears to inform you that it's the 106th year since the first visitation. What the hell is/was the visitation? But that's all the information you have. To find out exactly what's going on you'll have to dig deep.
The Final Station is broken into two very distinct playing styles. Travelling to each new station and it's town in an experimental train which throws up its own challenges. As well as looking after any survivors you have picked up along the way and this train has major maintenance problems. It's your job to control and fix whatever problems occur during the journey. You will have to micromanage each of the trains systems to ensure you get to you destination. One minute you might be adjusting the ventilation systems and then the condition of cargo night start to falter so now you're adjusting two systems and the depreciation system might decide to break down as well. These tasks are not difficult to accomplish but you must always keep an eye on them and checking them every few seconds and adjusting each one to ensure its running smoothly is where the challenge lies.
The real challenge in these sections is making sure you keep alive any survivors you pick up. Each survivor has two bars which you must keep an eye on. One bar is a hunger meter and the other is for health. If either of these it's zero it's game over for that survivor. Luckily for you the train has a medikit station where you can craft spare kits. Keeping each passenger alive is of paramount importance because each survivor will reward you with something if they arrive safely. You will soon figure out that the survivors who need the most attention are the ones who will reward you the most. But don't forget about the other passengers and yourself.
When you arrive at your destination The Final Station begins to revel in its mysterious story. When you disembark your train and enter the station house you will engage in a conversation that leads you to a piece of paper that has a code written on it. You will need this code to uncouple your train from the station. Along the way you will encounter other survivors or the bodies of those people who didn't survive whatever has happened. Speaking to the survivors helps to reveal snippets of information but it can also deepen the mystery. There are notes pinned to walls or on computer screens that also serve to deepen the mystery. As you move from house to house you can rummage through fridges, lockers and cupboards where you can find ammo, food, rags, clothes, medikits and ammo among other things. Searching everything is really a matter of life and death and most objects can be used to craft medikits and ammo when you are onboard the train or you can just purchase some with any money you find and make sure you do because resources in this game are really scarce.
The seemingly simple task of finding the four digit code to unlock your train is anything but. Every town you explore has multiple pathways above and below ground. Locked rooms must be unlocked to progress and ladders must be used to climb into hard to reach areas or to descend into the hands many underground tunnel systems. It's in these sections that the creatures/aliens make their presence known and you'll never see them coming. Each room is bathed in darkness until you open it and you had better make sure you're ready for combat when you do. Most of the time you will open a door and nothing will happen but when something does happen it can quickly turn into a nightmare. The creatures/aliens pour through the doorway with each one clamouring to get a piece of you. It's this unknown factor that gives these sections a great feeling of nervous tension especially if you're low on health.
The Final Station is a beautifully realised survival horror game. At its heart is a complex story which I have avoided spoiling in this review so apologies for being so vague. The ever darkening story and increasing amount of enemies really do a great job of pulling you into the death stricken world. It's old school game mechanics could lead you into thinking this is nothing more than a simple 2D shooter but you'd be wrong.
Developed by:Oleg Sergeev, tinyBuild
Published by:tinyBuild
Genre(s):Adventure, Action
The Final Station is available now for £11.99
Review copy supplied by tinyBuild