Developer: Oleg Sergeev, Andrey Rumak, Do My Best
Publisher: tinyBuild
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tested on: Xbox One
The Final Station – Review
After a busy day of work or school, the final station, a.k.a. home, is a welcome sight, especially when you just want to kick back and relax right before that good night’s sleep. In the following scenario ‘The Final Station’ is pretty much the equivalent of humanity’s demise, in a dystopian future, where trains seem to be all that keeps humanity together. All aboard! Enter at your own risk.
Story
Before long you’ll notice that the story in The Final Station is rather unclear, especially at the beginning. You’ll be tossed in a nearly destroyed world, without a proper background and without a clear objective. All you know is that you’ll be controlling a train, probably the last one still running on the planet, apparently for the future of this planet. You’ll uncover small snippets of what has happened to the world as you progress, but even then, there’s not that much information to work with. You’ll constantly wonder what has happened, and why there are zombie-like humans running around deserted areas. Nonetheless, for this game this sketchy vague formula works quite perfectly. When uncovering new story parts, you’ll be driven to the edge of your seat because you might finally get that missing piece of the puzzle (and also because the font is tiny). The opening sentence of ‘106th year since first visitation’ will pretty much run through your head the entire time.
Graphics
The Final Station is all about a deserted futuristic world, where mankind has seemingly endured more than one war, causing the population to be spread out over the entire surface. While the pixilated style might not be a typical choice for games with a certain horror vibe to them, it worked great for The Count Lucanor, which we reviewed a while back. The Final Station uses a retro-inspired style and turns it into something brand new, not by the reasonable amount of details, but by the atmosphere and the designs the creators cast upon the player.
While some sceneries will look alike, or are perhaps nearly identical to one another, the game has enough variation and clutter scattered around the world in order to keep things interesting. The train you’ll be spending a lot of time on, might look simple at first, but the small details you uncover throughout your gaming sessions are rather surprising.
Sound
Arguably, a game that is void of any background music, safe for a short sequence or two and the menu music, probably doesn’t sound like the most charming experience, as we’re used to being accompanied by the proper music for each and every scenario. Nonetheless, The Final Station knows how to get to you without the use of music, on the contrary, the lack of soothing or upbeat music gives the game a very eerie atmosphere, as if you’ve truly arrived at the ‘final station’ of humanity.
You’ll have to make do with your footsteps, in utter silence, with the occasional crackling sound, or the opening of a door. When encountering the zombified humans, you’ll sometimes hear an eerie two second tune, right before you hear their footsteps, the clear indication that they are coming for you. Other than the sounds of your fists hitting flesh, bricks, glass or metal and the occasional gunfire, the game relies on its silence more than it does on providing you with many whistles and bells.
Well, all of the above is only partially true, as when you start progressing through the game, some ambient tracks start surfacing in the inhabited towns, but still in a very subtle way, making sure the environment and eerie atmosphere remain the most important items of the game.
Gameplay
The Final Station is a 2D survival horror game, in which you go from station to station, to finally deliver your precious cargo, which may or may not determine the fate of the rest of the world. While doing so, you’ll have to explore the areas surrounding the ‘blockers’ which have to be unlocked in order for your train to pass them. Overall you’ll be exploring said environments, while ensuring the upkeep of your train and those who wish to hitch a ride.
While all of the above doesn’t sound awfully complicated, it actually is quite hard to get into properly as you’re just thrown inside the game without any proper explanation on how things work, or what certain items do. Those who like uncovering things on their own, or simply don’t need any guidance, will probably love this format, those who want a bit of a tutorial at the beginning of the game, or when new things are introduced, will be left out in the cold. That being said, things will become clear in due time, and for the most part it’s just run, explore, gun down the baddies, scavenge and find the unlock sequence in the ‘unpopulated’ areas, and wander around the town in more densely populated areas. The train sequences all revolve around keeping your train intact and your passengers alive, where the latter proves to be quite tricky, as you’re often low on resources to heal them when they are slowly dying. Nonetheless, survivors, who hitch a ride for several stations, will reward you with money and/or items.
Even while you’ll be wading through a decent amount of varied environments, the mechanics will remain the same. You’ll be able to open doors, climb ladders and use you trusty fists to punch your enemies or shoot them. Ammo will be a scarce commodity, just like medikits, and those kits will also be needed for the survivors you allow in your train. This means that you’ll have to think things through on who you’ll let live, or who dies during the next train ride. Sadly, the game does not offer any explanation on what many of the collectible items do, or what some of the upgrades in shops do when you want to purchase them.
Other than the above, most things in this game are straightforward. You’ll stop your train at every ‘blocker’ and you’ll have to disembark from your comfortable chariot of hope in order to find the proper four digit unlock key. Areas still under humanity’s control will be easier to tackle, as you’ll get the key, no questions asked, while the other areas are riddled with infected humans out to get you.
Conclusion
The Final Station is a great indie survival title that has reached our next generation of consoles. While the story isn’t always clear as day, the atmosphere and the rather attractive graphics make up for a lot. If you’re a fan of apocalyptic scenarios combined with proper scavenging and survival mechanics, all while having to decide who lives and who dies, this one will be right up your dark godforsaken alley.
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