Help fulfil orders for a nearly fully-automated commerce company whilst trying not to be replaced!
The Last Worker is a narrative first-person puzzle game where you need to take care of the day-to-day duties at the “Jungle” company, whilst figuring out the malevolent machinations of the corporation.
You play as Kurt, the lonely last human worker in JFC-1, who’s days consist of checking packages, making sure they’re good to ship out, and if not, disposing of them in recycling. You’ll accomplish these tasks by driving around in a big box carrier Kurt affectionately dubs “Flying mobility scooter”, and using Kurt’s multipurpose “JungleGun” to fulfil orders. You’ll be accompanied by the best character in the game, SKU, a malfunctioning helper robot who is less help and more of a joke, but one I guarantee you’ll love all the same.
Thankfully for a heavily narrative driven game, the presentation and voice acting here is excellent. I really enjoyed the back-and-forth banter between Kurt and SKU, and comic book-style visuals help sell the automated dystopia the game is trying to convey.
The initial gameplay loop has you attempting to do your job as best as you can so that you don’t get fired at the end of the workday. In the early going, this can be fun, but it quickly turns tedious as the game lacks the satisfaction of the average pseudo work simulator.
The puzzle sections can range from a little too simplistic to irritatingly obtuse, though none of them had me stuck for too long. One particular auto-runner like minigame has me pulling my hair out and clenching my teeth as I found it way more frustrating than it needed to be. Granted, some of this could be put down to how skilled I was at beating it, but darn if it didn’t spoil the experience for me.
Much like all companies in the real world, you’ll quickly discover that something is very wrong inside Jungle, and you’ll need to break your daily work cycle to get to the bottom of what’s going on. You’ll be tasked with hacking, and stealthily navigating the backrooms of the facility to uncover the truth.
While I did enjoy the story, I found myself hard pressed to keep pushing forward due to my consternation and lack of interest with the games’ systems and moment-to-moment gameplay. It’s a short experience; my own playthrough clocked in at around 3 hours or so, and there’s no denying that the finale pays off with an admittedly emotional ending.
Verdict
While I have some gripes and niggles with the game, I came away with a sense of joy from the writing and the world itself. You can feel that a lot of passion was put into this project, it’s just a shame that the systems around the story let it down. If you enjoy narrative-driven games, and are seeking something oddly relevant to current concerns around AI and rampant automation, then check out The Last Worker. The characters and story definitely kept my attention through the 3 hour campaign.
Where to Buy
- Amazon UK (Physical)
- Price: £21.34
- Link: https://amzn.to/3pDy4rz
- Hit.com (Physical)
- Price: £23.19
- Link: https://tidd.ly/44xt6eH
- Nintendo eShop (Digital)
#AffiliateLinks – Prices correct as of article publishing.
Credits
Written by Darren Roberts
Edited by Mark McAllister, Paul L. Russell & Jen Griffiths
Graphic by Paul L. Russell