Developer Variable State made a major statement with debut title Virginia. The BAFTA-winning game took players through a story-centric journey that showcased a narrative adventure in an original and interesting way, and there has understandably been a lot of interest in what Variable State was going to do next. Now, that question has been answered with the studio's sophomore effort Last Stop.
Although Last Stop is another narrative adventure game, it's an extremely different beast from Virginia, instead taking the form of a supernatural sci-fi mystery in modern day London split between three different plot lines. There's a Freaky Friday-style body swap called Paper Dolls, while Domestic Affairs covers the story of an ambitious operative for a private military firm. Finally, Stranger Danger is the tale of a group of teens that become a little too curious about a neighbor, and all three strands intermingle to form a wider plot.
Although the stories are different, at the very least they feel tonally similar. In spite of Last Stop's supernatural elements, for the most part it manages to weave this together with a more personal, slice of life focus, such as the relationship between a man and his daughter, the social tribulations of a teenage girl, and what happens when a workaholic's love affair is discovered. While Virginia felt like an extension of Twin Peaks at times, Last Stop feels like an episode of Doctor Who thanks to this blend of normality and science fiction.
That said, this doesn't always work in Last Stop's favor, as each of the stories is able to handle this shift in a different way. Paper Dolls is the most successful of the bunch, never becoming so serious and high concept as to take away from the genuine emotional connection to its loveable cast of characters. Stranger Danger works fairly well too, thanks to its twists and turns that help add to the mystery, but Domestic Affairs is a little too meandering to truly grab the player's attention.
At the very least, Last Stop's characters stand out from one another, with very clear distinctions between the goals of each of its core protagonists. The ambition and paranoia of Meena from Domestic Affairs at least partially propels her story beyond its less interesting narrative arc, while the differences between John and Jack in Paper Dolls ensures that their body swap story remains interesting. However, some of the secondary characters are less impressive, such as a caricature of a pig-headed office manager within the Paper Dolls story.
Last Stop then takes a major right turn for its finale, amping up its science fiction elements to replace its more grounded approach. It's here that its three stories all merge into one, and although it's implemented well from a gameplay perspective the tonal shift is certainly jarring. The player isn't given the time to explore this new environment, making it feel rushed and a little underbaked.
Part of this is because of some binary choices the player needs to make right at the end of the game, which slightly cheapen the cinematic nature of the experience. Overall, Last Stop feels like a Telltale game, from its art style through to its dialogue and QTE-based gameplay (albeit with the addition of lots of walking and running around its sparse London streets). However, the game is much more linear in spite of its split stories, and doesn’t manage the same façade of choice that Telltale so successfully wove into highlights like The Walking Dead, in part exacerbated by these strict binary choices in its finale.
There are also a few minor issues here and there. Included are odd visual glitches, such as character clipping or strange hair movements, although rarely enough to take the player out of the experience. There's more of a noticeable problem with some of the dialogue, which feels a little simplistic at times and at others can feel rather stilted, particularly when it comes to the teenagers of Stranger Danger.
Overall, Last Stop is something of a mixed bag. At its best it's an enjoyable and immersive narrative adventure game, and Paper Dolls is definitely a good enough story strand to have carried the game on its own had it been expanded. However, the different quality of its three stories, and the awkward narrative shift in its final chapter, does mean that Last Stop feels a little like a missed opportunity when all is said and done, and a good game that could've been excellent with just a bit more content and some tighter scripts.
Last Stop releases 22 July 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a PC download code for the purposes of this review.