“Who’s the last one? I’m the last one!” – Kurt
Dystopian futures don’t always have to be about desolate landscapes, zombie infested buildings, or weather catastrophes. Sometimes all it takes is a single corporation filled with thousands of cardboard boxes and one man who fulfills orders. Developed by Wolf & Woof and Oiffy Interactive, The Last Worker transports you into the world of big tech, which is almost fully run by autonomous robots. Sort, race, hack, and fight your way through the ever-moving warehouse while trying not to be fired.
It’s a Jungle
The Last Worker puts you in the shoes of Kurt, who is a gruff, overweight, bearded man. He is the last human worker left at Jüngle (pronounced Young-el), everyone else having been replaced by autonomous robots. Jüngle is a satirical take on companies like Amazon, Walmart, and other big corporations that move massive amounts of product. Jüngle, much like Amazon, is a fulfillment center that delivers various items in branded cardboard boxes. From regular household items to life saving medicine, Jüngle has it all. Kurt has become complacent in the inner workings of Jüngle, doing his job as usual with not much thought of the outside world. His lone friend, Skew, is a hovering robot who has broken out of his basic programming. He is able to converse on a higher level with Kurt, and also has a Scottish accent. The jungle of Jüngle is very interesting to travel through and really shows the creativity of the development team.
Sorting it Out
A majority of the gameplay in The Last Worker consists of sorting packages between what can be sent out and what goes in the incinerator. If packages are in good condition, weighted properly, and the correct size, they will be sent out to the customer. It’s your job to look for damages on the boxes while also checking that their weight and size are correct. Any package that has a defect must be labeled properly and sent to the incinerator.
A comedic part of The Last Worker is finding all the different kinds of products being sent out. The futuristic consumer could be buying anything, from Nun-chucks that look like nuns to actual explosives. With each package sent out, Kurt will make a quip, but he doesn’t have enough voice lines recorded so it becomes repetitive. The most fun in The Last Worker comes from these sections where you sort packages while also balancing secondary objectives such as hacking doors, destroying robots, or following a companion.
All of this is done on your hovercraft while wielding a gravity gun of sorts. This gravity gun (grav-gun for short) can grab and manipulate objects for inspection. It can also launch items like boxes, tracking devices, and…rats?! You’ll also use the grav-gun to label packages that are incorrect or damaged accordingly. As you go through the game you’ll acquire modules for it that are fun to play around with but not used to their full potential. At the end of the day you’ll receive a grade based on how well the packages were sorted. If you sort well enough in a day, Jüngle will award a J rank. The worse you do, the lower your grade will be. If an F is achieved, then the boss of Jüngle will fire Kurt.
Quick, Hide Behind that Cow!
When Kurt is not sorting and labeling items, he will be working with a revolutionary group who is trying to take down Jüngle. As the last worker (ha ha) inside the company, an outside group contacts Kurt. They have Kurt travel to the inner workings of the warehouse where workers are not allowed. He stumbles upon cows being ground into steaks, cancer-curing medicine being disposed of, and a giant garbage-eating robot. These sections require a stealthy approach to avoid various cameras and security robots roaming around. These parts of the game are interesting but never reach their full potential. While hiding behind a cow to avoid being seen by a scanner is a fun change of pace, the rest of the game doesn’t build on this enough.
With each passing chapter, The Last Worker gives players more tools to work around the various security measures. Unfortunately, upgrades like the tracking device and electric shock gun have limited use outside of their respective sections. The hacking tool is the only upgrade that can be used effectively once you’ve acquired it. Hacking a door is relatively simple but usually has a tight time window. The player must match patterns on squares to the example shown on the gun. This can be used during package sorting sections to unlock short cuts. This is great except it is too easy to get the J rank, so unlocking the shortcuts just wastes time.
One Big Family
The Last Worker succeeds in creating a fun sorting game that continues to add new objectives to be mindful of and is filled to the brim with personality. The story evolves quickly over the few chapters in the game and has multiple endings to see. The game struggles with keeping the stealth and puzzle sections interesting. It quickly began to lose me with every section where you hide around corners, under shelves, and in shadows. Certain gameplay mechanics are introduced and forgotten, or just not very useful during sorting sections. A large portion of the game is the sorting, which I found very enjoyable. I replayed those sections multiple times and wished there was an endless mode included.
The Last Worker has VR support but I did not try this out on the PSVR2 (this review is solely for the PS5). With it being made for VR, gameplay can be stiff and cutscenes are stagnant. Certain sections show Kurt in a mirror, which is a bit off-putting, and occasionally his mouth was not animated. I did not experience any glitches or bugs during my playthrough. The voice acting was really well done, Kurt (voiced by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) and Skew (voiced by Jason Isaacs) had great chemistry. I wished that there were more scenes with both Kurt and Skew in them, a majority of the time they are separated.
The mundane stealth gameplay can make The Last Worker a hard game to love. The package sorting sections are good and kept me engaged. I wanted to play more of the sorting parts because each one added new things to keep track of. Unfortunately, I personally cannot recommend The Last Worker. The game as a whole is not satisfying to play, however, this possibly could be rectified in the VR version.
Thank you to Wired Productions, Wolf & Wood, and Oiffy Interactive for providing us with a copy of The Last Worker for this review.
Broken Pixel
Not Recommended
YemmytheFerret (Yemmy) is a podcast host for the shows Ferret64 and Film Freakz. He also is a variety streamer on Twitch who enjoys platformers, shooters, and action RPG’s. His favorite game is Banjo-Kazooie and currently resides in Ohio.
