The Final Station

Lead a train and stop at every train stop to get the blockers released, The pixel art is kind of bad, but the game has some really good atmosphere that evoques isolation. The story follows a train conductor after the world has gone to ruin (ie zombies). You will meet several people that you can save by taking them up on the train and healing them. The on foot sections are mostly linear in a sort of loop around faction, but the levels have enough variety and new challenges to keep them from going stale. Again, very simplistic mechanically but it works really well in this title. Supposedly the game picks an alternate route in every new game, but i didnt find the game good enough to go back for more.

Like a bland indie movie with good cinematography. Things like the player's introduction to the mechanics and controls are given much consideration and handled very well giving a great first impression. That along with the great pixel art and dreary but not consistently depressing mood set-up for a stunning experience; only to slowly disappoint as you trudge along. Level after level you do the exact same routine with no end in sight. Open doors, collect ammo, use ammo, find a key and an optional passenger and then back to the train.

There is no finesse to these areas on the player's part. There is one speed (slow), no jumping or platforming, perfect accuracy, two guns, and 5 enemies that all die through the same tactic; shoot it in the head. Every level is completely linear as well. Maybe one diverging path will happen but they all lead to the same end. Every level plays out in you walking right spamming "e" until you hit an enemy. Which is then taken out in a simple headshot. At first the simplicity of this system works in the game's favor, letting your focus stray to the more artistic elements. But once you discover the pattern and realization that none of the levels actually have choices in them all of the world building and characters become meaningless because they do not serve the game at all. If I know for a fact that I will continue walking right whether or not I read the 1000th ominous note taped onto the wall, one hour in, why would I? Similar messages can be gathered talking to strangers around as well. These were welcome at first but become boring as they are overused along with the level design.

The adventure levels are split up by what at first seemed to be a time management mini game. This seemed like a great idea; simple design, makes the train (where these sections always take place) an integral part of how you play the game, and is something that I haven't played in a game in a while. But for some reason this is never expanded on past the tutorial. The entire game you never have to manage more than one thing. Making these sections, which there are as many as there are levels in the game, you sitting in one place waiting for a bar to slowly go up.

All in all the game is a slow burn. Which is somewhat rare for gaming. As a whole this felt more like a movie than a game: the stead drip of information, with action split up by scenic landscapes/world building, constant dialogue (a lot of it being pointless). This game isn't breaking any ground with this by the way. Over all the devs did put thought and talent into this, but couldn't deliver on enough ideas to keep from getting stale.