App Army Assemble: The Last Game - "Should this rogue-lite be first on your list of games to play?"

• This week we handed The Last Game over to our App Army community
• They praised the inclusion of controller support
• The surprise addition of multiplayer also impressed our readers

The Last Game is a top-down rogue-lite that incorporates elements of bullet shooters into its gameplay. If you're a fan of all things rogue-something, you'll know that's not particularly uncommon, with the likes of The Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon also taking this approach. So, does The Last Game stand proudly among those titles? Or does it come across as a mere clone? We handed the game over to our App Army to find out.

Here's what they said:

Jojó Reis

The Last Game is a very fun rogue-lite, its transition to mobile was great! The gameplay works perfectly, the graphics are very well done, and it has a great soundtrack! The game is a shooter where you go through several dungeons. In each room, you acquire items and money that you can upgrade. With each dungeon, you have to choose which path to go and always face different challenges and big bosses. No doubt it's a great game and I thought it was wonderful, it's really worth your purchase.

Jason Rosner

The Last Game is a top-down action-style roguelike that’s really a lot of simple fun. Reminiscent of the past great The Binding of Isaac, you’ll find yourself clearing out enemies in smaller dungeons with doors that give you choices to your next destination, along with varied rewards. I’m a big fan of the clean-cut pixelated graphics, along with the upbeat catchy music that plays throughout. There’s tons of replayability with lots of items to unlock, such as new heroes to play as and bosses to fight.

I like that there’s a “secrets” option on the main menu for those of us completionists who like to keep track of all these specific challenges. The controls are also spot on which is a must for this style of game. Last but not least, The Last Game has co-op multiplayer for up to 4 controllers which is a really cool addition and something you don’t usually find here. You will die a lot, but the game’s so much fun to play you’ll find yourself jumping right back in for another round.

Mark Abukoff

I’ve only recently become a fan of The Binding of Isaac and I was glad to find that this fit into the same sort of category. It is a rogue-lite top-down shooter with lots of choices to make and things to collect along the way. I like the small arena that you have to fight in with a minimal of obstacles and things to hide behind. The simple graphics are well suited to the game and the music was good.

Playing on medium difficulty made it enough of a challenge for me to feel good about beating bosses. It’s not terribly deep, but it is quick and brutal and easy to pick up and play. And in my case, so far, runs have ended up being short and frantic so good for a quick play. Multiplayer is a great option, even if it’s one I’m pretty unlikely to use. I tried this with on-screen controls and with my Backbone controller and maybe it’s just me, but I do better with the on-screen controls. Happily recommended.

Tom Chan

The Last Game is a minimalist rogue-lite that combines the thrill of bullet-hell elements with the strategic depth of an action adventure. The game’s simplicity is its greatest strength, offering easy-to-learn mechanics that are hard to master. Players embark on a perilous journey, battling fierce enemies and collecting powerful artifacts to build a unique character. With over 100 different items to discover, the game promises plenty of variety in combat styles and strategies.

One of the standout features of “The Last Game” is its multiplayer capability. Up to four players can join in co-op mode, adding a layer of collaborative strategy that enriches the gaming experience. However, it’s worth noting that additional controllers are required for multiplayer sessions. Each death in the game is not the end but an opportunity to grow stronger. The game offers permanent upgrades that unlock after each demise, encouraging players to optimize their runs and seek out rare items. This design choice enhances the game’s replayability and keeps players engaged in the long run.

The glorious visuals and well-balanced battles help to offset the repetition that often comes with roguelike games. The game’s aesthetics and sound design contribute significantly to the overall enjoyment.
The Last Game is a commendable entry into the rogue-lite genre. Its blend of simplicity, strategic depth, and cooperative play, coupled with its artistic charm, makes it a game worth trying for fans of the genre.

Jc Ga

The last game is a very enjoyable rogue-lite. Its excellent mechanics are a clear homage to Binding of Isaac, with items to combine and unlock as you play, as well as characters, levels and bosses. If we continue the comparison, we may regret the absence of a level map, where the rooms follow each other with more linearity. But the game is apparently updated regularly, so how and to what extent will it be enriched? Graphically, musically and in terms of gameplay, it's all very enjoyable, and the derision and second-degree humour add to the appeal.

The runs are quite short, between ten and twenty minutes if they go well (and death is not too hard when you have unlocked new things), which is very motivating to start 'just the last one' after the previous one which was already the last. The last part is a game in which you can see all the love and effort put in by its creator to succeed in giving it a personality, it's already very good but I'm interested in its future evolution, so for me, it's an excellent surprise!

Chad Jones

The Last Game is a witty, action rogue-lite game similar to Vampire Survivors and those F2P dungeon elimination games where you eliminate everyone in the dungeon and go to the next dungeon. The positives: no ads or day-by-day check-ins, great retro-style graphics, can easily play with a controller or with virtual buttons and either way works phenomenally. I also played it on a Chromebook as well and it worked flawlessly. What I think needs polish is that I would die and have no clue what happened.

There's really no way to know if you got hit and that could be fixed by some sort of visual affect. Plus I ended up at a bank (with full health) and somehow died in that room where there are no enemies but a couple of options to pick from and for some reason, my character just died. But other than that I think for the price of the game you cannot go wrong there's a lot to explore, and if you just want to play for a few minutes or over a long period of time it works well. Plus, I love that it supports the Chromebook.

Eduard Pandele

Did you like The Binding of Isaac? Then go play this, it's simpler but maybe even harder than McMillen's game (at least on the Extreme difficulty). Did you hate The Binding of Isaac? Then go play this, it has difficulty levels, and you'll still die even on Simple, but you'll have fun and it won't feel unfair (like Isaac often does).

No idea what The Binding of Isaac is? Well, it's the grandaddy of all roguelike shooters, and this game (which I hope won't be The Last Game its creator ever does) follows the same recipe and simplifies it. Kill all enemies onscreen, get your reward, then choose one of the two available doors and reach another screen with more enemies, more rewards, and more doors to choose from.

Improve yourself with extra lives, extra shields, and better gear. Rinse and repeat until you meet a boss. Beat it to reach a peaceful screen full of more hearts, shields and gear you can buy with the souls of your victims; die, and you can try again. Which you will, 'cause this game is really addictive, like all well-made roguelike shooters.

But (and it's a huge BUT) - the above praise is valid only if you own a controller. The controller implementation is awesome and smooth, and it's by far the best way to play this game. The touchscreen controls are decent, but can't compare, and there are four buttons to press (dash, bomb, and two consumables) which are glued to the top and right edges, making my poor thumbs hurt after 15 minutes of frantically circling enemies. (No, you can't adjust button placement. Yet. It might come in a future update.).

The real problem is that the touchscreen controls make even the Simple difficulty feel quite hard, and this slows down an already sluggish progression (it took me about two hours to finally stomp all the enemies, beat all the mini-bosses, reach the Villain and kill it).

And there are a bunch of challenges that unlock new heroes (you start as a generic mage and unlock zombies, cyborgs and so forth.) new items (potions! give me more potions!) and new rewards, like an awesome Endless mode that plays with the rules in interesting ways and makes the game feel fresh again. But to get all these you need to beat the Villain a LOT of times. All in all, if you have a controller, go play this game. It might be a cheap, simple game, but it's also a great game. If not, you should still go play this. It's cheap enough and fun enough so you can ignore the occasional frustrations.

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