The Last Worker Reviews
The Last Worker's free-flying hovercraft gameplay is inventive, but its most exciting implications are left boxed up
What could've been a comical, perhaps novel, approach to tackling themes of corporatism, consumerism, activism and comfort in the familiar alike, The Last Worker instead can only muster up a mediocre clutter of half-baked ideas that rarely feel properly fleshed out.
The Last Worker's comically exaggerated vision of the future of work is highly relevant. Yet its story focuses on showcasing the talents of its stellar voice cast at the expense of offering meaningful things to do, and its satirical punches rarely leave lasting bruises.
The Last Worker is an ambitious project and it sticks the landing when it comes to graphics, performance, and voice acting. However, its central box-shipping game is fiddly and the game's pacing doesn't let you get into the flow. Tricky sections requiring repeated checkpoint loads break the immersion and clash with the long, dawdling sections of exploring the Jüngle facility. It's likeable and well-packaged with plenty of character, but it doesn't always deliver.
The Last Worker features a well-written story and some smart ideas in regards to its gameplay, offering a solid narrative experience.
Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.
An entertaining and fiercely satirical evocation of a future corporate dystopia, that manages to be both genuinely funny and surprisingly varied in its gameplay.
The Last Worker is an underdog story that feels incredibly timely, even more so now than it did a year ago when I first played the game at PAX East. Its themes of corporate corruption and commentary on capitalism are quite sharp, and the game manages to convey all of this without coming off as overly depressing or heavy-handed. Despite some iffy movements on controller, The Last Worker is sure to be one of the year’s best narratives.
While it paints its dystopian future in broad strokes and has some rough edges, there's a worthwhile and enjoyable tale to experience within The Last Worker.
Set in an Amazon-like fulfilment centre, this satirical adventure has interesting ideas but fails to adequately explore them
The Last Worker is as much a satire of the work environment in this phase of capitalism as it is of those video games that seem to be more about work than fun. Overall, this is an interesting and artistically sound production that lacks something to leaves its mark.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Last Worker’s principal problem is that it’s a game made for VR that’s better without it. Fulfilling online orders in a capitalism-induced apocalypse is an excellent idea marred by inconsistent execution and confounding restrictions placed on VR movement. It’s short enough not to overstay its simplicity, but it’s not smart enough to make any astute thematic statements.
Even the game’s most effectively bleak ending, in which Jüngle’s founder, Josef Jüngle, is revealed to have been dead and automated for quite some time, is undercut by him still being very much alive in the other two endings. The Last Worker’s conclusions should feel earned—that is, a consequence of the protagonist’s decisions. Instead, they’re as easy and largely frivolous as just adding something to an online shopping cart.
With a story that's as empty and meandering as its gameplay, The Last Worker is an ugly, tedious slog that I'm glad to be done with.
Although The Last Worker's novel work-gameplay template & tangible proximity to its critiques earns some credit, it often fumbles with the delivery.
Set in an original yet eerily familiar universe, The Last Worker stands out with its presentation but could have benefited from a more diversified gameplay.
The Last Worker is a great trip into a dystopian world that has a great art style, well written story, and strong voice performances.
The Last Worker delivers in almost all aspects: beautiful aesthetics, great dialogue, and a satisfying gameplay loop all combine to create a genuinely fun title that is much more than what I initially expected.
An engaging adventure which sometimes plays a bit like Papers, Please!, but focuses much more on the story.
Review in Russian | Read full review