The Final Station is one of those... | The Final Station

The Final Station is one of those few single-player story-driven games that have left me satisfied overall and doesn't follow most of the fads of most indie-titles from recent times. The concept itself was interesting already, and the execution didn't leave much to be desired in the end. This is one of those games that has a simple concept and gameplay as a strength, which is further enhanced by the narrative and satisfyingly fleshed-out world the game takes place in.

What is good:

-The art is very atmospheric and detailed enough without being too distracting or non-specific for its style.

-The controls and gameplay are simple, yet satisfying. You can shoot, you can scavenge, you don't feel like you're limited in a contrived manner.

-The narrative and how it is told. All the events were made in a way that they felt they mattered, especially the supernatural and key story events.

-The concept, surviving on a train to get to the next stop, rescuing people, finding supplies. Survival is important without taking all the priority and overshadowing everything else in the game like some recent titles without any narrative.

-The heavy inspiration from Russian/Soviet science fiction and how the world is fleshed out without revealing everything.


What could have been done better:

-When on the train, it's hard to follow the story because keeping people alive and fixing malfunctions in the train systems requires split-second decision making and takes your full attention. You want to read what the other characters have to say, but you can't because either one will starve to death if you don't exit the train immediately or you're too busy running for a medkit so someone doesn't bleed to death.

-While the way the story is structured and told is interesting, the more abstract parts of the story (unnamed reoccuring characters with their own plan outside of the main narrative, the ending, for example) are far too abstract and confusing. To be honest, they feel a little bit out of place because they make at best 2 appearances total. This is one of the few times traditional story structure would have helped.

-(POTENTIAL SPOILER) The ending. I get it, happy endings are too mainstream and whatnot, but it would be best to get a more traditional ending that gives at least some answers and more closure. The traditional indie-game endings are far too cliche now, while this one isn't the worst. Would be nice to have something better next time. The worst thing a game can do is make you feel like all you did was for nothing.

-The game hooks you in with the levels, story, and setting, but doesn't feel like it lasts long enough (this point is clearly subjective).


Conclusion:

The story, setting, gameplay, and art are this game's strong points. While it has some small flaws that do not detract too much from the main experience, the game is satisfying overall and is very close to what I wanted and expected from it. I hope that the world of this game is expanded further and we get a sequel that expands the story, answers more questions, and fixes the previous game's flaws.

Thanks to the developers for their hard work, I hope to see more.

Ìîëîäöû, ðåáÿòà! Ñïàñèáî çà èãðó.˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ dle 10.6˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜