➤ The last worker, the review of a satirical and dystopian adventure 🕹

The Last Worker is a dystopian narrative adventure but not so far from our reality. We tested it for PlayStation VR2.

If we took a break from our lives and stopped to reflect on their absurdities, we would surely come out sick. Capitalism, consumerism, globalization, all aspects of daily life so ingrained in our experience that they do not provoke the slightest thought. The development team wolf and wood However, he stopped to reflect, and what he gives back to the public is The Last Worker, a narrative adventure with puzzle elements characterized by a captivating script and excellent acting performances. The version we reviewed is the most engaging one, i.e. the one in virtual reality.

So we tell you our experience. The Last Worker review for PlayStation VR2.

Incipit and narrative cut

The last worker, the review of a satirical and dystopian adventure — The narrative setting of The Last Worker is dystopian but not so far from reality

The Last Worker begins with a brief incipits in which the setting and the background of the protagonist, Kurt, are explained. The man works in Jüngle, a dystopian version of our Amazon. The Jüngle, in fact, sends anything to everyone, and this is our Kurt's job. Sitting in his hovercraft, his job is to check and ship packages, or possibly handle returns. Once upon a time there were many workers in the company, and at that time Kurt even had a partner; Little by little, however, Jüngle replaced the fallible human workforce with robotic systems... but not Kurt. Ours, in fact, is a model employee, never replaced by an automated system and, therefore, the only worker human of your shipping facilities. Kurt lives and works in that building, spending his days shipping packages in the hopes of not getting fired. He's kept company by an annoying little robot, Skew, voiced by the always masterful Jason Isaacs. Kurt's monotony is broken when a group of activists contact him and ask him to find information about the Jungle and help them destroy it from within. The story itself is more linear than expected but there is no shortage of pleasant moments and funny jokes.

Knowing that the writer behind The Last Worker is Jörg Tittel, a writer and developer known for his caustic tones, the expectation was to find ourselves facing a character more politically engaged. Like the best science fiction stories, The Last Worker is both a reflection of the present and a projection towards the future, but where the strong anti-capitalist criticism never finds a particularly complicated expression, but rather remains at the level of humor. satirical. When we saw the announcement we imagined a kind of union between a title like Disco Elysium and Papers, Please, where the social criticism of the first was mixed with the essential but very painful gameplay of the second.

Gameplay phases

The adventure is essentially divided into two distinct phases, in which Kurt will perform different tasks: on the one hand, expedition tasks for the Jüngle and, at the same time, espionage "jobs" for the activists. These moments are distinguished by two different game mechanics, which rarely intersect during the 5/6 hours required to complete the game. In both cases we will always have control of Kurt's forklift, which will be the main method of transportation. Always at the disposal of the protagonist will also be the weapon with which to grab and manipulate the packages, which will evolve during the adventure. During Kurt's turn, we will have to orient ourselves in the gigantic structure to recover the correct package, using a holographic compass, verify that the box is of the indicated size and weight, evaluate possible dents and take it to its destination. After this analysis and delivery phase, we will be able to know the contents of the box, receiving an evaluation of our work at the end of the day.

At the end of the shift, we will follow Kurt to his espionage actions- Here the gameplay changes completely, offering stealth phases and small puzzles to solve. Given the entire robotic automation process, these moments of play will be very mechanical and will come down to a lot of observation and timing. The patrolling robotic guards have standard cones of vision and movement speed, so it will be enough to analyze the situation well and take your time, the same goes for electric walls or other traps that will hinder Kurt.

Unfortunately, neither phase really manages to find a maximum peak, which makes The Last Worker an interesting but somewhat slow experience. There are rare moments where the player is asked to do something a little more complex than the standard endeavor, but they are fairly rare throughout the adventure. We do not know if the repetitiveness The mechanics are intentional or casual: on the one hand, it could be read as a device to convey the melancholy of Kurt's life, but, if this were the case, then the covert phases should be markedly more adrenaline-filled and put us in front of Truly shocking moments.

Technical sector

The Last Worker was released on multiple platforms and, as mentioned at the beginning, we tested it on PS-VR2. The title performs well from a technical point of view and the stylistic choice, characterized by cel shading graphics, gives personality to an environment that would otherwise be quite monotonous. Unfortunately, the mobility of the protagonist compromises the possibility of including multiple navigation systems in virtual reality, opting only for fluid movement mitigated by vignetting that is not always effective. If you suffer from motion sickness, The Last Worker is not exactly the title we would recommend, even though the story and game mechanics are perfectly adapted to the platform and, in fact, perhaps this is precisely what makes the experience such a little more stimulating than the flat one. version. The problem lies precisely in the transportation system, Kurt's hovercraft, which can move both horizontally and vertically.

The strong verticality The quality of the levels certainly gives dynamism to the game world, but at the same time in virtual reality this aspect can be highly destabilizing. Kurt's hover forklift also frequently gets stuck in corners, as it only turns six degrees.

The controls are responsive and vibration from both the viewer and controllers is well implemented. On the technical side, the part that perhaps we liked the most is the audio compartment, with a multitude of sounds that repeat rhythmically in the background. The noise of robots, machines, gears, scanners and the entire symphony that the Jungle fortress produces really reaches your ears, along with the splendid music that accompanies it.

Conclusions

Tested version PlayStation 5 Price 19,99 € Holygamerz.com 7.5 audience ND your vote

On paper, The Last Worker seems like an excellent game: a caustic writer who wants to denounce the evils of capitalism, an excellent cast of actors, a refined audio and video sector, in short, nothing seems to be missing. However, in practice we are faced with a beautiful but not memorable game, which presents interesting mechanics but never reaches its peak. Not even the narrative manages to be completely incisive and it is a shame because the level of dubbing is truly very high. The Last Worker should certainly be played on PS VR2, a platform that makes for the most compelling experience, but at the same time, if you suffer from fluid motion mitigated by vignettes alone, you may not feel as comfortable.