Played on Xbox One (base)

Developed by Do My Best Games

Released 30th August 2016

The Final Station is Do My Best Games' first-ever release, published as part of TinyBuild and its indie-friendly ecosystem. They also served as co-developers for this project as they morphed part of their studio to accommodate console ports for their third-party projects just like this one. The result of this join-effort? An average score of 76 on Metacritic.

Story

The Final Station is set in a faraway future, sometime after a catastrophe known as "The First Visitation" and during the pandemic of The Second Visitation. Protagonist Edward Jones is tasked to deliver important cargo and any survivors to help against the unknown and violent infection spreading across the area. This is an amazing plot to follow, as it defied my expectations of it simply being a generic zombie action experience, and instead became a game with rich lore that managed to keep me intrigued every step of the way. But although I enjoyed the environmental world-building it offered and the notes and emails that had mini-stories contained within the level, the added depth felt disorientating as I tried to grasp at each straw of the story.

Gameplay

The gameplay of The Final Station is enjoyable, to say the least. It follows a 2D shooter playstyle more than a survival horror like I had hoped for. However, the 2D shooter element is still a fun playstyle for killing the infected in such an eerily slow and methodical way. Instead of treating you like Rambo, the game has the enemies behave almost like combat puzzles. The armoured enemies need to be punched and headshot to be properly taken down while the inferno-like creatures have to be dealt with from a distance. The enemy placement also adds another layer to this puzzle combat as armoured enemies can act as walls between you and the others and the inferno-type zombies can be used to wipe a whole group out at once.

That's the on-foot gameplay: the other type of gameplay you'll be partaking in is the train simulator. Since you play as a train conductor delivering important government packages, you're also expected to save any survivors you come across on foot. Due to this, the train requires constant management in fixing any malfunctioning systems and taking care of the survivors’ medical needs and nourishment, as well as crafting your bullets and healing items. I did enjoy this management as it caused some entertaining yet tense situations. The problem I had with it though is that amidst the chaos of maintenance, the passengers on board would exchange dialogue; some banter or some exposition, which frustrated me as it meant I was missing out on some world-building.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere of this game is a great contributor to the story’s depth. Visually, it strikes a high level of impressiveness when it wants to and audibly, it's consistently great. No outstanding soundtrack but amazing sound effects for the shots from the gun, the noises the infected make, etc. The aesthetic goldmines arrive mostly during open areas on foot and moments on the train - from gorgeous, pixelated mountains to inactive bombshells, this game is beautiful. In terms of technical performance, I encountered no outstanding feats or flaws.

Story- 8/10

Gameplay- 7/10

Atmosphere- 7.5/10