Last Stop Reviews
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.
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 weak story where your choices doesn't really matter, with minimal and guided interactions.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Last Stop is a very fun indie that allows us to enjoy three completely different stories, showing us the harsh reality of everyday life with three characters who have a lot of personality and who will end up meeting in the last chapter.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Last Stop is an engaging piece of entertainment, but not really an entertaining game to play. The fun of the narrative can't overcome the lackluster gameplay and nonexistent player choice.
Last Stop should best be reckonned as a strictly narrative game, as its interactive scope is way too clumsy : full linearity, no impacting choices and bland QTE sequences. The variety of atmospheres (comedy, drama, mysteries) makes it intersting to play though, and the game is carried by a nice and fitting soundtrack.
Review in French | Read full review
Last Stop goes to great lengths to build a story that mixes fantasy and absurdity with everyday family dramas. Even though it succeeds in its central objective, the title fails as a game, it offers very little to those who are following the fate of the characters on screen. With uninteresting minigames and few ramifications in the narrative from the choices we make for the characters, the game frustrates more than enchants.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Variable State's sophomore effort reaches a boring destination due to uneven writing and game design austerity.
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.
Even among fans of dialogue-driven adventure titles, I couldn’t possibly recommend Last Stop.
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.