We often come across games that are linear and offer little replayability, or on the contrary games with so many endings that we no longer know where to turn. Today we bring you The Last Oricru, published by Prime Matters, one of Plaion's labels, and developed by Goldknight. Is the game worth the candle? Answer a little further down.
History
After waking up from a pod and being killed by a mutated creature, you wake up in a monastery to some pretty weird monks who don't seem to care about you. You are called Silver, and you are taught without any other way that your belt makes you immortal, and that you can die in a chain... you will come back to life!
Thereafter, you will begin your training with fights and, quickly, choices which will begin to condition your adventure. Because yes, the choices you make will totally change the way things will happen. Your dialogues with the three other humans of this world may make you doubt and change your mind along the way, because each really has an opinion, which in itself will reflect a different faction.
You can be alongside the proud Naborus to exterminate the vile Rasters who threaten them and eat their children (yes, it's a Naboru who told me so), or you can live the adventure to help the misplaced Rasters. enslaved by the cruel Naborus who do not hesitate to sacrifice them for a yes or a no. And that's just for the faction choice which is going to be quite crucial for a start of the game, and will prepare you for the other choices which will also impact the story and make you follow another path.
On the scenario side, this game is quite rich, and offers something that I hadn't felt since Deus Ex (first of the name, in 2000), with a good plot and a lot of twists. This is the strong point of the game, without any possible ambiguity... Your goal to find "the source", will be partly revealed to you by your visions, but also by your logbook which you will find on each of the machines which you serve as a waypoint and help you spend your level points.
Graphics & atmosphere
Graphically, the game isn't horrible... but it doesn't offer anything sublime and has some really not very clean textures. Whether at the level of characters, animations or even skills which are sometimes very, even too simplistic... it's a shame, especially when you see the sound brought to the different designs, and that on certain spells, this which makes the game really uneven on far too many points.
Often, during my gaming sessions, I had moments of trouble on fire spells for example. Some ignite their sword, which looks pretty good, but the volcanic fire trail effect on the ground...it's not very nice and could have been rendered with just continuity...a matter of taste afterwards, surely ! In terms of sound... it's the same, I had to restart the game to concentrate on whether there was music or not... that is to say if it marked me! In terms of effects, it's a bit the same, fire spells sound good, while lightning... it's not very harmonious...
Gameplay
The world
The game can be played either solo or in duo, which will make your gaming experience very different. In solo, you will fight and die alone, with no chance to get back up. As a duo, you can strengthen your teammate's weapon and spells, heal him, raise him if he falls, etc... and all this is justified by the fact that certain machines designed by your character allow you to materialize a double who cannot speak, but can help you. This double, controlled by another player, will be in local split screen, and has the particularity of being able to choose its own equipment, its statistics and manage its levels as it sees fit.
The basic tutorial explains the basics of the game which will not change too much during your journey. But one thing is certain however, and it is not explained: exploration is essential. The many objects that you will find here and there will be useful for quests, improvements, barter or simply to equip yourself. For example, in the first monastery, you will be able to complete a quest simply by searching before, which will give you reputation sometimes by completing certain quests. This reputation is affected by your actions and will favor you with one faction to the detriment of the other... and may lead you to situations where you will be confronted with rather specific moral choices. For example, you can give the body of a Naboru who fell in an ambush by Rasters to a priestess, which will grant you experience, unlock a tomb which, by solving the puzzle, will give you a vial of extra healing and items... or you can give it to a Raster to be considered a hero among his own, which will provide you with other rewards and have long-term repercussions.
Any item can have a purpose, such as upgrading a weapon, selling, or even just bartering. Because some NPCs offer a shop that will give you the opportunity to obtain valuable and unique items depending on what they ask for... such as legendary weapon fragments, or even somewhat special items.
Combat, stats and equipment
The combat system is quite particular, because you will start as a warrior with balanced statistics (5 everywhere) and you will then select the basic weapons that you are given, with some variations. Soon, you will have the right to more choices, weapons such as torches, halberds, healing orbs and magic weapons. Because yes, spells and abilities are not learned by the character, but are based directly on objects that will have their own skills. You can equip them by increasing your stats which will consume the essence you get from killing enemies or completing quests. But you can lose them by dying, you then have to go find them and avoid dying as in any self-respecting Soul-Like.
For example, my magic weapon, because I decided to specialize in it... throws in its basic hit a electric orb on the ground that goes straight ahead, and its charged attack channels a beam that lasts as long as I I have mana, but it also has some problems because my electric orb does not follow the stairs going down, which makes some fights complicated when the path is made up of steps! It's cool, you will tell me, except that to recover mana... you will have to hit melee with a weapon that will drain this mana in order to be able to use spells. Personally, since it takes up the shield slot... I block archers' arrows until melee, and then I always drain melee since archers take a while to load their shot, and they don't do anything else. And that's one of the first big problems with the game: it's too simple at times!
The enemies are really dumb in themselves, and some border on the absurd like those archers who barely move, and sometimes just block enemies as effectively as a barrier. You will tell me that it is practical to block them all in a small passage and to use area magic to exterminate a group in the simplest way and without risk. Close combat is more dangerous, but fighters die too quickly. The palm still goes to the bosses who are not dangerous in the least and offer absolutely no challenge. I chained two bosses in a row without taking the slightest point of damage and without sweating the least in the world... disappointing on this point, because the epic bosses are really an added value.
Summary
In fact, the strong point of this game is the storyline which is really impacted by all the choices of the player, the way it will play out and how you are perceived. But it is tainted by soft gameplay and a bit outdated technique. The game is not bad in itself, but fails to show its full potential, and may frustrate more than one player. If it's the story above all that matters to you, go for this game, it will make you live a good story from two different points of view, with multiple REAL branches, so a lot of replayability. But for those looking for another Soul-Like, or simply a nervous and powerful Action-RPG, this is surely not the game for you as it stands. For my part, even if I am aware of its faults, I appreciate it, and I think of doing both points of view, because for once, it's really nice!
