The Final Station

A minimalistic tale of the world ending is executed beautifully in The Final Station. It's an atmospheric, yet demanding action-adventure, a little big game in the true meaning of the definition. [Oct 2016]

If you don’t mind aging a couple of years from playing a game, then be sure to check this one out. You’ll fall in love, and then develop that love-hate kind of relationship with a game that has you talking about it for years to come.

A compelling game, being just short enough to not overstay it’s welcome.

It’s a dark experience from beginning to end, but one that’s absolutely worth playing, especially when it offers some insight into what makes people compelled to fight for the future, no matter how futile the battle may be.

The Final Station is a considerably devilish adventure. The balance between keeping everyone you can alive, keeping a train rolling, exploring and scavenging overrun outposts and surviving long enough to get back to your train keeps the situation tight at practically all times.

To the last detail, a polished game about the end of the world that squeezes a lot of intense feelings from players through the gloomy atmosphere. [Issue#267]

Halfway between Half Life 2 and Snow Piercer, The Last Station entices the player thanks to a curious plot, and offers him a challenging gameplay. Do not judge from the visual style, as the latest title published by tinyBuild needs dedication and strategy.

Please, resist the temptation to write this game off as yet another survival horror, and give it a chance. You will discover pixel-perfect art, a neat combination of familiar gameplay mechanics, and a great story with a cool twist.

Do My Best Games have created an incredibly immersive, varied and compelling game, it is tense and always leaves you wondering what is beyond the next door. Its simple gameplay is enhanced by the compelling story and leaves you always wanting to find out more from its inhabitants.

The Final Station does a remarkable job at leaving a mark with its chosen aesthetic and subtle narrative — peaking one’s interest with this particular post-apocalyptic not-zombie infested World, it’ll be easily remembered above the mediocre allotment of survival titles out there at present. Overall, The Final Station is a welcome breath of fresh (if desolately murky) air and stands out through its interesting mix of platformer and survival mechanics — carving out a game that’s entertaining but cunning too.

Overall, The Final Station is a contemplative slice of sci-fi horror. It might not be utterly original - spot the shades of Snowpiercer, Evangelion, and That Insidious Beast if you get the chance - and it can be ever so slight, but it rattles along at steady pace, taking you on a reflective journey, all the way to a gut-punching end...It's well worth buying a ticket.

Do My Best Games’ first foray into game development is a fantastic one. They really have “done their best” and created something wholly unique, tense and with more going on than first meets the eye.

The Final Station’s gameplay is divided into two parts that fit together rather loosely. The first one is travelling from station to station by train and it offers almost no challenge. The game shows its true colors when it makes you leave the train and turns into a wonderfully creative and perfectly balanced 2D shooter. [12/2016, p.73]

Even though it's short for the asking price, Final Station tells a compelling story in an intriguing world. 

For the first hour of gameplay The Final Station seems like a very, very good game. In time some issues come to light - mostly associated with dialogue and repetitiveness. Still it is a pretty solid debut of Do My Best Games. There weren't many better indie games this summer.

Despite the weak connective tissue that ties it all together, The Final Station leaves a positive impression. There are numerous dark and dreamy settings to discover--crumbling, dimly lit caverns, old train tunnels, vividly snowy villages, and flooded towns filled with corpses and garbage floating in water--and almost every encounter forces you to develop and execute a viable strategy, lest you shoot from the hip and end up as zombie food when your ammo runs out.

If you love an interesting story with some creepy sci-fi elements, then I highly recommend The Final Station. Finding bits of lore and slowly uncovering parts of the mystery was intriguing and kept me moving down the line, but that’s not for everyone. It’s a bit short for the price tag, but well worth your money if you enjoy single-player titles that leave you wondering at the end.

It works as a survival game, with a few interesting ideas that makes it rather unique. Still, it can be repetitive and not particularly responsive control-wise, causing some frustrating situations that could've been avoided to make a better game.

The Final Station ends up being a linear game in the end (I dispelled the illusion of choice by playing it again and finding not much changed), but this short train is worth riding at least once. Combining light simulation aspects that only get better over time with a survival mode with diminishing returns is an interesting concept that shouldn't be ignored.

The Final Station has great ideas, but after a promising beginning, the game gets so repetitive.

A fascinating journey that ends a few stops too soon. Its ending ultimately raises more questions than answers, and I was left largely unfulfilled. This disappointment bleeds into the gameplay as well, as each facet of gameplay from the citizen management to the gunplay could've been fleshed out more. Despite these shortcomings, it's still an enjoyable five hour ride — just one that ends before it hits its stride.

Somewhere, deep down in The Final Station, is a game that you can fall in love with – a rough adventure where you uncover a mystery and where every moment is filled with tension or despair. Unfortunately, the game that you actually get is too shallow and repetitive to be satisfying, and the story is so confusing that it is downright broken. The story’s failures are especially disappointing, because you can see the makings of something great around the periphery.