The Final Station

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 82 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 50 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 82
  3. Negative: 7 out of 82

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  1. autobus22
    Aug 20, 2017
    8
    The game lacks in certain areas; for instance translation but certainly has a story in mood that grabs you and hauls you right into the game. You truly feel sad and worried while playing the game and combat is nice; quick and advantageous. The world you play in can only be described as lonely, damaged, broke and improvised and the end invokes a lot of thought. It doesn't give much closureThe game lacks in certain areas; for instance translation but certainly has a story in mood that grabs you and hauls you right into the game. You truly feel sad and worried while playing the game and combat is nice; quick and advantageous. The world you play in can only be described as lonely, damaged, broke and improvised and the end invokes a lot of thought. It doesn't give much closure though. Keep that in mind before you play it. You will be stuck theorising for hours at the end; instead of feeling closure. I like games like that but I am aware some people don't.… Expand
  2. Noole
    Sep 14, 2016
    8
    Not the train management game you might expect it to be. Train management is pretty much reduced to a mini-game here, you'll spend most of the game exploring and talking to NPCs, fighting zombies and collecting stuff. Sounds pretty basic, but there's a cool twist on pretty much everything here. First of all, the story is great. There's a lot of depth to this world and it feels more likeNot the train management game you might expect it to be. Train management is pretty much reduced to a mini-game here, you'll spend most of the game exploring and talking to NPCs, fighting zombies and collecting stuff. Sounds pretty basic, but there's a cool twist on pretty much everything here. First of all, the story is great. There's a lot of depth to this world and it feels more like end of evangelion than a zombie apocalypse. The story is simple enough for everyone to get an emotional kick out of it, but you have to really look for clues in the environments if you want to piece the entire narrative together, it always feels like there's more to this world than the game is showing you. Beyond that, the art direction is amazing and all the environments look really cool and gameplay has some pretty neat tweaks to the basic Deadlight formula. You'll have to conserve ammo and use melee and you'll have to think a bit when you face groups of different enemies. The downside is it's pretty short and doesn't offer a lot of replayability unless you're really into the story. Oh and you can't jump.… Expand
  3. iseeall
    Dec 3, 2016
    7
    It's a 2D shooter/platformer game with some story elements and some simple crafting. You are a train driver and move from location to location where you run around gathering stuff and killing a few types of monsters. While on the train you need to do some simple tasks like fetching food or medkits to passengers and adjusting some levers.

    The good: - great atmosphere, achieved by    It's a 2D shooter/platformer game with some story elements and some simple crafting. You are a train driver and move from location to location where you run around gathering stuff and killing a few types of monsters. While on the train you need to do some simple tasks like fetching food or medkits to passengers and adjusting some levers.

    The good:
    - great atmosphere, achieved by interesting pixelated graphics style (in very dull tones) and sounds
    - a nice story which you learn by reading scattered messages found while scavenging or talking to NPCs

    The so-so:
    - the combat system is pretty basic: you can shoot a pistol/shotgun or attack in melee, that's it. And there is just a handful of types of enemies. I would want more weapons (like, a dozen to choose from) and at least a dozen of enemy types
    - the controls can't be re-configured but they are pretty easy. There is even no tutorial and no tips, press Esc when you start the game to see the picture describing the controls
    - the character can't jump, duh
    - no auto-reload when you pick the gun or get new ammo - super-annoying when the character starts reloading instead of shooting

    The bad:
    - the game is completely, utterly linear. To a point where the objects highlight when you can interact with them, but after you press F to interact, they become non-interactive. Basically this means you run around and use every object once, and that's it. The level is completely uninteractive when you've cleared everything on it. Also combat is completely linear, as all mobs are always in exactly the same places, or appear from exactly the same spots. Obviously, replaying the game is pointless.
    - no proper save system, instead there are checkpoints. Prepare to re-run the same 1-2 minute stretch over and over if you keep dying on some mobs after it. Given the complete linearity of everything, deaths and subsequent re-runs of the same stretches are definitely not fun.

    In short, this game has a good story and nice aesthetics but falls short on the mechanics. I can imagine people who will really like it. But I dropped it after about 2 hours.    … Expand
  4. Burundi
    Nov 11, 2017
    8
    Atmospheric with a compelling sci-fi/zombie plot, you will play as an engineer on an experimental train that travels around the rapidly decaying country some decades after the "first visitation". The world has become explicitly authoritarian, with strict controls on travel and food rations, but even that level of control is beginning to unravel as the monsters from the first visitation areAtmospheric with a compelling sci-fi/zombie plot, you will play as an engineer on an experimental train that travels around the rapidly decaying country some decades after the "first visitation". The world has become explicitly authoritarian, with strict controls on travel and food rations, but even that level of control is beginning to unravel as the monsters from the first visitation are reappearing.

    You will travel from city to city along a linear track, searching abandoned buildings for supplies and killing or avoiding a few types of monsters. You also find survivors who you will keep alive and fed on the train through a time management mini-game, while you uncover more about what's happening in the world around you.

    The game wonderfully captures the lonely experience of wandering through an abandoned and broken world. It could do a little bit more to either keep your attention while you search for supplies, or provide more explicit plot exposition, just so that the world didn't feel so empty. That's about the only negative thing I can come up with gameplay-wise for The Final Station.

    I highly recommend this game -- give it a look!    … Expand
  5. Hororen1
    Jan 4, 2019
    3
    I have played it for 5 hours. The story didn't attracting enough for me to keep track of.
    Game play goes boring very quick. Feels like working as a machine rather then playing a game.
    Management aspect is irrelevant. The member you save have virtually no value. Saving them give you some reward, but those reward ends up wasting on saving other members. You might as well don't save them at    I have played it for 5 hours. The story didn't attracting enough for me to keep track of.
    Game play goes boring very quick. Feels like working as a machine rather then playing a game.
    Management aspect is irrelevant. The member you save have virtually no value. Saving them give you some reward, but those reward ends up wasting on saving other members. You might as well don't save them at the first place.    … Expand
  6. someone132
    Sep 27, 2016
    7
    The Final Station can, in a way, be described as an indie answer to The Last of Us. Both of them are games set during the zombie apocalypse that have a fair bit of gameplay going on, yet are ultimately plot-driven, using the gameplay process to give the rhythm to your journey through the one and only plot arc along the linear, scenic levels, while listening to a subtly atmosphericThe Final Station can, in a way, be described as an indie answer to The Last of Us. Both of them are games set during the zombie apocalypse that have a fair bit of gameplay going on, yet are ultimately plot-driven, using the gameplay process to give the rhythm to your journey through the one and only plot arc along the linear, scenic levels, while listening to a subtly atmospheric soundtrack (one in Final Station mainly leans on piano, as opposed to guitar-heavy tracks in TLOU) You can hardly draw so many parallels with any other notable zombie game, be it the interactive cartoons of Walking Dead or the hub-based CRPG of Dead State, let alone the countless scores of gameplay-centered titles.

    That aside, Final Station is still very much its own beast. For one, the storytelling focus is entirely different: whereas TLOU was all about the famed Joel-Ellie bond with a few notable supporting characters and minimal worldbuilding, Final Station only has characters as far as it needs to advance its plot and world-building. Machinist you play as is silent, save for written replies in rare chat logs with other train drivers (sometimes you can even choose one of two options there, but it does practically nothing.) The other characters are decently written spins on familiar archetypes (the alcoholic, the conspiracy theorist, the amoral backstabber, a mysterious smoker with shady motives, etc.) but that's all they are. Only ones that stuck out for me was an entertainingly incompetent young military spy, who keeps on peppering his speech with military terms, and a jumpy, armed woman who distrusts you and other passengers before her station reveals that she has a husband waiting for her. If she survives for that long, that is.

    Yes, characters can die on board your train if you fail to heal them, bring food or repair ventilation in time. However, this is never scripted, and is entirely up to you, and the way you play. Not just moment-to-moment train management choices, but the ground-based gameplay too, and the systems altogether form a complete loop. If you fight well on the levels without wasting ammo, you'll be able to clear out everything (rather than be reduced to just grabbing the passcode for leaving the station and running), and find both the survivors of that particular station and whatever food/health packs is hidden, + get more money for rare shops. Because the game is entirely linear, the developers were able to playtest the locations of everything very well, and so the game always remains tense even if played well. Whenever you find a good amount of ammo, next few rooms with decent selection of special infected types are sure to grind it all down, but it's also rare to be reduced to melee for long for that very reason. More importantly, there are EXACTLY enough healthpacks in the game, including ones bought in the stores, to keep every character alive - so long as you don't use any on yourself, that is. You do that, and you sign someone's death warrant.

    Anything else? Well, the meat of the narrative is arguably in the train conversations between passengers. Of course, you have to be quick on your feet there, as you stop hearing them while on a different wagon to fetch stuff or repair something. However, they also pause a bit for when you leave, and so quick readers will not really miss anything at all. Moreover, there's always only one mechanism on the train per inter-station journey that needs repair (indicated by sparking): when the truly important conversations are happening, that mechanism will be the suspension you can fix while listening to passengers at the same time.

    Notes and logs on the stations are much shorter by comparison and are mainly there for you to get the sense of each place instead. Each station really is quite different - it's clear the developer wanted to show the most comprehensive cross-section of the apocalypse possible, and so you'll get (zombified) subway stations with a nearby shopping mall, gang hideouts, army bases, seaside towns, a snowy hillside mansion with a chapel, a pitch-black tunnel, and more, as well as a few town stations where life is still active and you can see plenty small scenes of everyday life besides the necessary shopping at hand. It's also important that while actual pixel-art is kinda run-of-the-mill, every level, on foot and (especially) on train, still manages to produce oftentimes stunning vistas due to the talented use of many diverse backgrounds, or even foregrounds (one level has newspapers blow across the foreground every so often).

    The main problem is that the game kinda coasts to a halt in its final third onwards. You'll figure out the gameplay by then, and ought to predict the "twist" story builds up to as well. In the absence of further character development or choices, there are only the backgrounds to hold your interest... and plotline interpretations (at least 3 of them, and they all make sense within the story.) So, still worth it.    … Expand
  7. agurczuk
    Jul 25, 2017
    5
    A rather disappointing 2D platform zombie/survival game that showed a lot of promise.

    I saw this game a while ago and was looking forward to play it as the it looked really good, it seemed to have a pretty nice idea and looked very promising. Sadly the game falls short. The visuals are nice, the pixel art is of hight quality. The theming does look also good. But the game is not that    A rather disappointing 2D platform zombie/survival game that showed a lot of promise.

    I saw this game a while ago and was looking forward to play it as the it looked really good, it seemed to have a pretty nice idea and looked very promising.

    Sadly the game falls short. The visuals are nice, the pixel art is of hight quality. The theming does look also good. But the game is not that fun to play. The story behind it is a standard zombie outbreak of some sort - nobody knows what's going on really apart from the fact that people are turning to zombie like creatures. And it turns out you're the last train driver around tasked with transporting something somewhere for the military.

    The game is divided basically into two parts - in one you're riding the train from station to station taking care of the machine and managing your supplies to keep your passenger alive in the other you explore each station in search for survivors, supplies and a code to let you go through.

    The train riding part serves as sort of exposition - your passengers talk about what they heard and what they feel is going on - but it's mostly gossip you don't pay much attention to. Some of them are wounded, some hungry - you need to distribute food and med kits among them to let them survive. If they survive to a specific station you'll get a reward. Apart from that you need to keep an eye for a specific element and tweak it so the train doesn't stop. It's an interesting idea I guess but it feels just so boring. Totally unnecessary.

    The second part of the game is exploration. Once you meet a station you need to find a lock code to progress further. You have a gun, fists, later on shotgun and machine gun. The ammunition is very little so you need to make every shot count. That is until you learn you can punch the zombies to death and with the use of ladders which zombies can't climb - well to say I was definitely not lacking the ammo. There is no jumping and while the levels look cool they feel very much the same. You walk left, kill some zombies, collect supplies, climb down, progress through some kind of underground area and you're back at the train. Every time it's the same thing.

    The number of zombies is also quite limited so it feels a bit same all the way. I've finished it - but I can't say I enjoyed every moment of it. Maybe first half an hour - later on I was just curious to see how it ends - and the ending was especially disappointing.

    Overall a decent game that just didn't catch my attention and felt it had much more potential than it turned out. Would probably not recommend.    … Expand
  8. Letiste-Gaming
    Sep 17, 2016
    7
    En conclusión, un título con una ambientación muy buena, un planteamiento entretenido, aunque repetitivo a la larga y con unas historia interesante.

    Sin ser una maravilla es un título que recomendaría al menos probar, porque engancha. A la gente que le gusten los zombies y la exploración con una dificultad elevada puede gustarle.
  9. SebboBastian
    Dec 24, 2018
    8
    Doomsday feeling at its best! A depressing journey with end of the world atmosphere.
  10. Roke_
    Mar 23, 2017
    7
    fantastic art design as the background is very well done the story even though not explained fully is still intriguing as you want to find out what is going on. The ending is a bit lackluster as it doesn't explain a lot. The game play is fun as its sort of level based and requires some skill and i could see this being done in things like speed running but the game is quite short and couldfantastic art design as the background is very well done the story even though not explained fully is still intriguing as you want to find out what is going on. The ending is a bit lackluster as it doesn't explain a lot. The game play is fun as its sort of level based and requires some skill and i could see this being done in things like speed running but the game is quite short and could have expanded on its story and game play to its full potential but the sound is also really good for atmosphere as in the rain and weather in general but not so good for the guns it also makes you feel nervous at some points as they show some what creepy levels but again not to its full potential.… Expand
  11. mrhoanglinh23
    Apr 21, 2019
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really want to said "The journey of the train" is really fun, even i'm going to Metropole , that's a huge place and i can't stop turn out the monitor
    I already beat it this game, not just graphics, it's a zombie shooter future game
    Hope they have remastered 3D    … Expand
  12. PanMrkvicka
    Feb 11, 2020
    7
    I had no expectations but this game suprised me alot with its depth and great narrative. Gameplay is simple and a little repeptitive.
  13. Relenea
    Jul 11, 2022
    7
    Hoş grafikleri, kısa oynanış süresi ve kolay kontrolleri sayesinde indirim zamanlarında alınıp aynı gün içerisinde bitirilecek, oyuncular tarafından çerez olarak tanımlanan oyunlardan bir tanesi.
  14. kndr
    May 21, 2021
    0
    Pretty generic and forgettable game. Story is not that exciting. Gameplay is basic and gets repetitive.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. CD-Action
    Dec 12, 2016
    70
    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]
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Nov 9, 2016
    89
    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]
  3. PLAY! Zine
    Nov 8, 2016
    70
    Even though it's short for the asking price, Final Station tells a compelling story in an intriguing world. 
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