The Final Station, and its DLC The Only Traitor is developed by do my best and published by tiny Build games, and is best described as a post-apocalypse, 2-d side scroll, pixelated dungeon-shooter game. The plot varies from base to expansion, but generally follows the idea that you are a survivor looking to find refuge in a monster/zombie plagued world. Gameplay holds 30 different levels in the base game and about half as many levels in the DLC, leaving playtime around 4-7 hours to finish both storylines.
Gameplay- You start off without a tutorial or really any idea of what you are going to be doing, so it is best to look at the controls in the start menu. The controls are the keyboard and mouse, and you can play using a controller if you wish with the only qualm being you can’t aim that well. When it comes to aiming you have to be careful not to shoot wildly because it is easy to miss headshots and consume ammo. Enemies are a bit fast to approach especially in quantity so the best strategy is to be walking backwards from danger or escaping onto ladders. At first ammo seems a bit sparse but eventually you do start to horde it. In the DLC the melee attack is improved and could solely be used rather than a gun. Both games have a mix of enemies that require a little bit of strategy or blind courage (depending on personal choice) but they never seem to reach a hard difficulty level or become too much to handle. Regardless if you do happen to die, you aren’t sent back to far back usually and can make better choices given that you are aware of what lies ahead. Perhaps in total the gameplay is not quite as hoped to be with the repeated motion of looking for a code and looking for food, though the DLC does feel more open world and more choice based. The base game does start to lose its excitement the further you go in and keeping a set path and set enemy count. It could be improved if the enemies were randomly generated along with randomly generated loot.
Storyline– While the storyline onboard the train and car feels a bit distant from what is going on in gameplay, it very much is an original concept that leaves the viewer wanting more. It’s understandable that the story is best unfolded by what you see and read in gameplay; it unfortunately comes across as being vague in order to become compelling to further the hero’s adventure. Storyline is improved in the DLC as it provides the chance to actually sit and listen to your company, along with giving another chance to understand the backstory of its base game.
Design– The design of the game is put together in a seamless fashion and ultimately a visual feast for the eyes. What would normally be considered as small and unimportant to a game (such as knocking cans off of shelves, and breaking window glass) it felt absolutely important to the developers to provide such added detail. While things extremely important to game play such as the health, stamina, ammo amount bar, is unobtrusive yet still functional and quick to read. The background provides context of location and ongoing events with beautiful chosen colors, while the foreground is utilized with the occasional rooftop or two that actually gives the feeling that something may pop out while you are unable to see the character. Not to mention the soundtrack and environment noise, which adds to the uncertainty of what’s out there.
Here isThe Final Station The Only Traitor DLC Trailer:
As a whole the game is a pleasure to experience. The base price of $15 and $5 DLC feels a bit steep as a gamer who may only play the game one time (for the achievement hunters out there you will have to make multiple replays to get a 100% especially for the DLC). The designers did observably put a lot of thought and effort into this game’s content making it worthy of the price you pay. That being said if you like the style of this game and enjoy the hunt for an entire backstory you are golden with what you receive, while those who are unsure of what to expect may benefit to wait for a sell on steam. The final score given is an 8 out of 10.
The Final Station and The Only Traitor DLC are available for PC on Steam.
PC Review
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Overall Score - 8/108/10
I like to experience video games as both entertainment & an art form. As a kid I grew up playing Halo, & ever since I've been trying new platforms and games. I find myself invested in storyline games, open world environments, & online multiplayer.
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