Last Stop Reviews
Last Stop is endearing with its story and characters with a Hollywood caliber narrative design. It just wants to be a movie more than it wants to be a game, but it is entertaining, nonetheless.
Variable State rejects one-hit-wonder status with its long-awaited follow-up, Last Stop, a game that feels equal parts arthouse and blockbuster.
Last Stop takes a lot of risks, and for the most part, it succeeds. It's a game about interconnectivity in a modern world, but a few flaws keep it from rising to the heights it wants to.
Last Stop blends classic British humor, the contrast of human mundanity, and the chaotic nature of the supernatural flawlessly
But the lack of significant choices coupled with the game's awkward structure makes it challenging to get immersed into it. There are three solid experiences contained in Last Stop, and if separated into their own games they could probably all carry the impact they were intended to. Together, though, they come across as competing for the player's attention without adding up to a singular whole.
Last Stop tells a story so compelling, so wonderfully told, that you’ll be glued to the screen for the entirety of its six-or-so hour running time. With an incredibly high standard of voice talent on board, sublime art direction and an outstanding soundtrack, it sets a new standard for interactive narration. This is more than a video game, it’s a work of art. And once you’ve played it, it’s one you won’t be forgetting about in a hurry.
Last Stop feels like a glorified interactive cutscene, though a cutscene I was eager to continue watching. It's just unfortunate that the gameplay comes across as an interruption rather than anything that lifts the experience.
A smart, funny, heartfelt narrative game that tells a killer story, but doesn't do much beyond that.
Last Stop does a decent job of hooking you into its story, but the ending lets it down. The journey of characters is more enjoyable than where it ends up.
Neither lengthy nor particularly interactive, Last Stop succeeds on the strengths of its writing, narrative, and characters.
Last Stop tells three interesting stories, but lacks enough meaningful choices or consequences to create investment in its drama.
It’s a structure that ensures different perspectives and voices carousel in and out with pleasing regularity, but also in accordance with your mood. It works to intertwine three stories that are differently enjoyable — Meena’s is the most interesting character study, Donna has the most captivating mystery, John is primarily the comic relief — playing them off each other to make them that much more gripping than they would be alone. Variable State may still not have found the perfect interactive formula for its cinematic talents, but until it does “Last Stop” remains a moderate success.
Ultimately, Last Stop presents itself as a pleasant experience, able to offer interesting things to consider on the reasons that can push a human being to give a turn to his existence. Despite an extremely pleasant rhythm and many twists and turns, the narrative of Variable State, however, fails to really leave its mark on the heart of the player who, thanks to the manifestation of real alternative tracks only at the end of the game, ends up not feeling too much empathy with John's actions, Meena and Donna.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Overall, Last Stop is something of a mixed bag. At its best it's an enjoyable and immersive narrative adventure game, and Paper Dolls is definitely a good enough story strand to have carried the game on its own had it been expanded. However, the different quality of its three stories, and the awkward narrative shift in its final chapter, does mean that Last Stop feels a little like a missed opportunity when all is said and done, and a good game that could've been excellent with just a bit more content and some tighter scripts.
When it comes down to it, Last Stop is an entertaining journey that just goes completely off the rails in its final half, failing to execute on the interesting ideas it comes up with at the start. I know that endings shouldn’t take away from the ride, but when you’re playing a title that is almost completely narrative and character-driven, I just couldn’t help but feel a letdown when credits rolled.
Eventually, each story hurriedly resolves itself, foregoing tidy lessons or ironic endings but still lacking that crucial, elusive sense of lived-in authenticity. For as much effort has clearly gone into voicing and animating these characters within their 3D environments, we never spend enough time to seem like we really know them; quirks of the game’s strict linearity ensure we remain at a distance, observing relationships that are otherwise too thinly sketched to sustain the game’s emotional ambitions. Last Stop eventually arrives at an all-too-familiar game-design destination, hamstrung by its attempts at verisimilitude.
Last Stop may succeed when it comes to delivering a (mostly) engrossing set of stories, but it suffers from a notable lack of substance when it comes to gameplay, with several moments of interactivity feeling like they were included solely only to draw things out.
Last Stop is a really fun, engaging, and well-written adventure game that struggles a bit at the end but is elevated by its various characters, great voice acting, good music, and beautiful yet striking minimalist art style.
While decisions may not have always been as weighty as I would've liked and the marionette movements were often distracting, Last Stop, for the most part, succeeded where it needed to. It provided three distinct stories that were surprisingly deep considering it only took about six hours to tell them all and allowed players to feel like they were in control even if that might not have always been the case. I never felt like my time was wasted in Last Stop, but if the game ever gets a follow-up, it'll have to be more polished with some meaningful changes to warrant a return to its stories.