Last Train Home PC Review

Last Train Home is a title that comes to us from Ashborne Games and THQ Nordic straight out of the history pages—a dramatic retelling of the events of World War I through the faces and names of members of the Czechoslovak soldiers on their way home. Being Asheborne's third title, they promise to deliver something not only entertaining but impactful to the heart and mind. Embarking on a grueling journey through warring territory, you will learn the pain that neutrality brings and the burdens a man may bear through unique combat and management systems down to environmental struggles and the conditions of a war outside.

You will be faced with loss, Ill fortune, and tragedy, but through it, hope still prevails. As a blessing and a curse, you will be able to upgrade your situation with the contact of those around you. From villages and towns to the woods and lakes, you can take. Just know that every time you stop your train, the tides of war continue around you. Battle the forces of a civil war, the cold, and the thoughts that linger in silence. Most comparable to titles like Company of Heroes and Frost Punk, Last Train Home is on the fast track to an instant classic!
 

When the plot and dynamic of the story are kept in mind, you'll have the journey of men and women caught in a war that is not their own. You will see the struggles of remaining neutral in an ever-moving train. However, you can survive through perseverance and reverence for those caught in the conflict. It's important to note that Last Train Home is a title that comes from historical events. They may have added fictional aspects for entertainment, but widely, there is realism where it needs to be. In this regard, it accomplishes its goals by delivering an emotional experience with a touching story.

In Last Train Home, you'll have to deal with the management system of an entire train, including managing staff, supplies, upgrades, and repairs. Because of this, combat can be especially cumbersome when you figure that every man will have a task at hand to accomplish. When dealing with your train, you must maintain supplies like food, coal, metal, and medical herbs, which can prove daunting. By managing the train's speed, the tasks of your workers, what they eat, and how often they go out on patrol, you can really make your military force flourish.

Given the harsh cold and the landscape of your environment, you will be forced to endure some of the worst elements and human evils. All the while, you are being forced to exert a level of neutrality that will test your personal morale. You will be expected to take the supplies you can while bartering with those who barely have enough. All in all, Last Train Home is a title that questions you not only as a tactician but also as a human being. Because of this, you are left with nothing more than the implications for how your actions have affected the greater surrounding area. Will you be a hero to the locals and fend off the Red Army, or leave it alone in search of your family?
 

One of the best aspects of Last Train Home is the ability to micromanage your armies. It's easy to just stop the train, scour the parameters, and take everything you need if you play your cards right. Where the issues come in is when you keep the train moving and don't stop for supplies. For this reason, I loved just stopping at random villages, trading what we had for extra for things we didn't, and moving on. The best part of it is that you present yourselves not only as soldiers but as human beings in these scenarios, something a lot of military titles like Call of Duty lose sight of.

Of course, combat will be inevitable, using real-time strategy in squad-based conflicts. If you have access to an artillery car, you can pound your enemies to dust, but otherwise, you'll need the expertise of your men. Cutting combat into multiple roles and classes, you'll start seeing a lot of small-scale Company of Heroes gameplay at hand. You can pause at any time to really line your men into the position you want them to, but in the end, combat will happen. Overall, it is simple and strategy-based, as no one man can act as a singular army. Machine gunners and grenadiers are well and good, but snipers and riflemen have their place as well. Finally, without a good medic or two, you'll be high and dry as far as getting home alive.

Overall, the combat feels genuine and realistic; however, the ability to only promote three individuals is a bit frustrating. Aside from a few characters you can tell are meant to be the main stars of the game, you will gain side characters that have plenty of negative traits. It would have been nice to see these traits spread across characters rather than seeing them all in just a few. Additionally, it feels like despite the level of concern that is meant to be placed on crew stamina, it's easily rotated around through making multiple parties. This generally takes away from the survival aspect, making the game easy until Siberia hits.
 

After each conflict, you will have access to promotions to hand out to soldiers you think deserve your reward. Feasibly, you could just upgrade a few men to the maximum level, but these promotions also assist with tasks and repairs. Therefore, by spreading them out to as many men that are deserving as possible, you get ahead. These tasks can also be enhanced via skills your soldiers may know or learn, making tasks like hunting or gathering far easier. In this way, Last Train Home has one of the most intimate character designs I've seen for a real-time strategy game.

Using these promotions, you can not only increase the current level of your soldiers but also give them additional skill sets. Each man and woman can be given any task and duty, from the standard worker all the way to a grenadier, machine gunner, or sniper. Because of this, you'll have access to some of the best squad customization options while being forced to leave some units basic. The best way to go about this upgrade system is to even out who gets what and create redundant workloads. Having four drivers and four repairmen is a great way of making sure your train stays up and running.

The major gripe with Last Train Home that can be found is that there is a lot going on, with very little in the way of a means to complete it all. Making a maxed-out train would be fun and a great way to overcome the odds, but they tease features you'd have a hard time getting. This is realistic, of course; however, the moment they make you upgrade your own train, there should be more to offer than scabies and crafting heaters. Otherwise, this game has a great set of mechanics and combat features. Some may dislike the ammunition spending permission, but so long as you explore, you stand to gain more back than you lost.
 

Graphically, Last Train Home depicts trains, soldiers, and the environment incredibly well. Using realistic animations and well-choreographed movements leads you into a state of suspense. Being able to switch from the train itself to the environment seamlessly allows you to get a real sense of scale while traversing these icy regions. You will feel a real sense of danger from the cold that can only come from the experience of Frostpunk in the design. Therefore, you'll have a daunting depiction of cold frost growing around the trees.

The Company of Heroes' level graphics are highlighted by oil-painted photographs that can be seen all around the game. These take the form of scenarios that require you to make choices and generally take place before you send out squads. Most actions will have these painted scenery pictures attached to them as they allow for a lot of story to be told without a lot of assets. During these interactions, you will have a bit of dialogue and choices based on the soldiers you have available. In this way, every death or less makes you more aware of the situation at hand and what you're now lacking.

From a tutorial filled with fruit-bearing trees and autumn leaves to the harsh frosts entering Moscow. Eventually, everything will become the hell that is Siberia, prepared or otherwise. Following the appeal of World War I, you'll get to see a plethora of period vehicles, trains, weapons, and uniforms. No matter what choices you make, the world in Last Train Home is difficult, so be prepared to face the consequences.
 

It's amazing to see that both native languages and classical music are brought together to create an immersive experience. From the introduction, you'll be greeted with the story from a wonderful narration that, in my case, was native speaking. You get a real sense of history this way as you're forced to pay attention to the words being spoken. Of course, certain aspects of the game are told through text, and they are administered with voice dialogue to assist it. With music that brings suspense and thrill, you'll be drawn into the sense of survival you're enduring.

With the gunplay and thematic sound effects of the game, you're going to see more of the same as games like Frostpunk or Company of Heroes. The originality of gunplay and explosions can only go so far; however, in this case, warfare comes second to survival. This means you'll most likely spend large amounts of time without having to focus on combat and just on gathering supplies. Most impressively, the train noises are well-balanced with the rest of the game and aren't too overpowering. This can be a difficult thing to accomplish, but Last Train Home does it perfectly!
 

While Last Train Home may be one of the best experiences of a neutral party in war story-wise, the gameplay and story also tell a haunting truth. You should play Last Train Home not just because it's entertaining but because it holds the ability to tell the story of those who really lived through the conflict. It's easy for ideals to be worth the civil wars that are waged, but so often do we forget the lives of those who were impacted outside of the conflict. Last Train Home is a wonderful look at that haunting reality.
 

Michael VanDine,
Editor, NoobFeed