Last Kids on Earth: Hit the Deck! is a deck building game by SMART Technologies based on the young-adult novels and Netflix series, Last Kids on Earth. In this game, you collect and use cards to battle zombies and other strange monsters. You choose one of the 4 main characters to play as, but the story makes use of all the characters in different quests. Your job is to survive in this strange post apocalyptic world, as one of the last kids left on earth. Will you be able to beat the hordes of enemies trying to devour you?
When you start the game, there’s a brief cutscene of all the characters fighting a very large enemy. After that you pick a character to play out of the 4 characters available, each of them having their own play style and abilities. Jack Sullivan is fearless and fights with a sword. Teamwork centered fighting, if he’s not at max heath he is stronger. June Del Toro is fearless and smart, fights with a spear like weapon. Agile fighting and good with strategy. Quint Baker is smart and inventive but lacks fighting skills, his weapon is a canon of some sort. Very prepared and scientific. Dirk Savage is strong and hits heavy, his weapon is a hockey stick. Gains strength when taking damage and has a shield ability
The combat is based around deck building, which is also based on the character you pick to play. There are attack and defense cards that you have to pay close attention to, there are also a limited number of cards you can play each round as shown by a number above the end turn button. As you keep playing and doing quests you get different items and cards to help you out in battle. The gear you obtain can be equipped by characters giving them different moves and cards in battle. Some cards have different abilities such as dealing more damage and applying a debuff to the enemy. You have to pay attention to the cards and their abilities as well as their drawbacks. Overall, it’s a cute and fun deck building game that paints the zombie apocalypse in a lighthearted and fun light as opposed to the darker more horror style most other games do,
Last Kids on Earth: Hit the Deck! is a nice simple strategy game but it has a few drawbacks. It is a very combat centered game with its mechanic tied to deck building that being said some of the cards and their effects are unclear. Some of the mechanics take a bit to get used to and that can be frustrating especially in the beginning. While the game is combat heavy, there is a story tying the game together. However, the story is lacking a bit, the cutscenes are very brief and do not show much of anything important. The story itself is based on a novel and Netflix series, the art style of the game being very representative of the show. As a result, in this case, I feel that the game doesn’t stand very well on its own. I think players will have a much better experience if they have knowledge of or are fans of the original works. Overall, though, even with some frustrating drawbacks and lack of substance in the story the game is fun once you get into it.
Last Kids on Earth: Hit the Deck! is a strategy game where you have to fight off zombies and other monsters using cards and their abilities. The game, itself, is very combat heavy with a few story aspects mixed in. The story is based on the young-adult novels and Netflix series, Last Kids on Earth, as such fans of the original works will have a much better understanding of the game. That being said, the game is still fun even without prior knowledge of the series. I am giving Last Kids on Earth: Hit the Deck! a 7 out of 10 because it is overall a fun experience with only a few drawbacks.
Last Kids on Earth: Hit the Deck! is available for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Brianna Keller
I enjoy a wide variety of games from intricate survival/adventure games to simple platformers. I am also a sucker for a good story game.
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