The backgrounds that your train passes through indicate that something terrible is happening, and the increasingly deserted and eerie locations soon give way to frantic gauntlet runs trying to find the items you need to move on. Gradually, the tension starts to ramp up. The Final Station has two distinct parts that find you either on foot exploring deserted locations for items, or on your train carrying out busywork to keep it moving and your passengers alive. It is really not clear what is happening, but as you progress you pick up visual clues and little pieces of information that help you start to piece together what has happened in this place.
And for the first few levels this appears to be the game: managing elements on your train to keep it moving onto the next checkpoint, picking up items to sell or trade at the various stops you arrive at, helping various passengers to stay alive with food and medicine, as well as trying to locate the code to proceed onto the next stage. You’re a downtrodden worker in a decaying society trying to fulfil your duties to the best of your abilities for whatever meagre reward you can earn. Thematically, it’s faintly reminiscent of Papers Please, the enormously successful indie game from 2013 – at least from first impressions.
It is clear from the very beginning that something has gone wrong in the past in this world, as the visual clues indicate a society currently struggling with rationing and labour in exchange for basic needs like accommodation and food. Presented as a 2D, side-scrolling pixelated world, you are a train driver and sometime engineer in a grey, dystopian, industrial location where resources are scarce.
It’s a simple game, with a high concept wrapped up in mystery and revealed slowly as you progress, but with gameplay mechanics that ultimately stutter a little towards the latter stages. The Final Station is an interesting game, one that has an overwhelming sense of inevitability and futility about it.
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