From the trailers I really was not sure what to expect from The Last Worker, but the look of the visuals and the humor present in them made me interested in finding out. I have now been working within a fulfillment center, but did the game deliver?
STORY
You are placed into the shoes or should I say flying JünglePod of Kurt, who works for Jüngle the worlds largest retailer. Kurt is the last human worker, having dedicated his whole life to his work dispatching countless products from the fulfillment center. But, his loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists contact him and ask him to take the company down from the inside. The question is can his loyalty really be tested?
GAMEPLAY
The Last Worker really is a weird mix of gameplay elements, given that it is a narrative adventure game they needed to cover all aspects of the story in it’s gameplay.
This had lead to a combination of work and play, but it really does make for a interesting and engrossing experience – that feels completely different to what you have played before.
This means some days you will be just completing your role in the fulfillment center, with the aim of achieving a set grade in your performance to keep your job. This will see you flying around in your JünglePod, collecting packages and assessing them to decide if they need to be dispatched or recycled. You will to take a look around the box the package is in and decided where it needs to go – If all it looks good take it the dispatch chute, but, is the box damaged, out of season or labeled incorrectly? Then take these to the recycle chute. To be honest with the mix of possibilities and needing to check and decide this yourself, really makes this more fun than it sounds.
Outside of working they have added stealth and strategic gameplay as you move around the fulfillment center and in areas you should not be in – all while trying to unlock the secrets of Jüngle. This will see you hiding from and sneaking past security robots and hacking doors.
Sometimes you might be given tasks to complete during your shift in the package center, which you will need to complete and also making sure your shift grade keeps you in the job – so you can continue to unravel the truths of Jüngle.
While doing all the above you are kept company and sometimes helped by your companions Skew and Hoverbird. One of which has been with you while you’ve been working and one that is part of the activist group. With both bringing a good dose of humor in their sometimes vulgar narrative, but, this really suits their characters and really doesn’t seem out of place with the story and the message the game is giving out.
PRESENTATION
What instantly drew me to The Last Worker trailer when it released was the visual style of the game, as if done correctly this art style can be perfect and look beautiful in Virtual Reality. I am pleased to say that it does exactly that and the hand-painted characters and environments really suits the story and the message. With characters that have been designed by comic legend Mick McMahon (Judge Dredd, 2000 AD) really mixing well with oppressive, but sometimes oddly beautiful environments – really makes this very nice to look at.
With an all-star cast featuring the likes of Jason Isaacs, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Clare-Hope Ashitey and David Hewlet, the narrative and lines in the game are all really well voice acted. Adding to this all the areas of the factory having great atmosphere with the 3D-audio and a fantastic soundtrack Composed by Oliver Kraus (SIA, Adele, Florence and the Machine), with vocals by classical music star Jakub Józef Orliński. Giving the audio a well polished feel to go with the fantastic visuals.
COMFORT/CONTROLS
As you are flying around in the JünglePod you are seated in the game at all points, so for this reason I would recommend playing the game seated for the immersion. The team have also included all possible comfort options with only teleport movement being missing, but this makes sense as you wouldn’t really teleport in a vehicle. With vignettes for movement and turning, turning speed being adjustable and snap turning all being an option to try and negate motion sickness.
When it comes the controls they can feel a little fiddly at first, but you will soon get used to them after a couple of shifts at the start of the game. The acceleration and turning of the JünglePod is done on the left controller and the yaw of is controlled using the two buttons on the right controller. With the gun being grabable from your JünglePod with the add-ons for the gun (as you unlock them) being placed around the your vehicle to connect at any point by pointing it at them and pressing trigger. Once you have got used to them they do become second nature.
LONGEVITY
My playthrough for the review took me around four and half hours, which for me was the perfect length to keep you engrossed in the gameplay elements and the story. The game does come with multiple endings, meaning it gives you a reason to play it again if you want to see them all. I think after a while I will be interested in going back and playing it again to see the other ending.
REVIEWED USING PLAYSTATION VR 2
For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a review code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.
REVIEW OVERVIEW
The Last Worker really does make for an compelling VR game and something that mixes work with play in an interesting way. Mixing the two elements really makes it feel like nothing you have experienced before. The oddly beautiful and oppressive environments really do help with the feeling of being the last human worker in the vast fulfillment center of Jüngle. With a star-studded cast of voice actors, bringing all the characters in the game to life and adding humor when it’s needed – but sometimes this is expletive. If you are looking for a game trying something different to what is currently available, that looks beautiful and has a great narrative, I would recommend The Last Worker.
GAME DETAILS
Release Date: March 30th 2023
Developer: Oiffy and Wolf & Wood
Publisher: Wired Productions
Price: US $19.99/ CA $26.99 / €19.99 / £15.99
