When I started to play this game, I fell in love because I am a sucker for pixel art-style games. Maybe it’s me, but I feel that this style can help convey more the developer’s vision of the game because this game is an aquatic metroidvania (and I love the genre). What impacted me the most is the setting of the game, and the story it tells. What’s even more interesting is that you don’t have any interaction with other humans (hence the title of the game). It speaks so loud that it’s impossible not to hear(read) it.
The game’s story revolves around the fact that you are the last human on earth. You are returning from a trip from space only to find the earth completely frozen. In your landing, you manage to go through the ice and end up in the ocean. As you venture through, you see ruins of what appeared to be and underwater city, and so it begins your adventure as the last human.
One of the things that shocked me is the immensity of the ocean in the game. As you start descending, you see whales and weird colored fish. Your sub is but a small vessel in a ocean that is too big and that it might suck you at any moment. I’m not going to lie. I was scared as I was navigating through the scenery of broken pipes, gigantic clams that one hit kill you, and no weapons until I found the harpoon. For a bit, I felt safe. But, I was wrong as I found one of the many gigantic terrors you will encounter through this adventure. The first boss is a gigantic worm, and thus my many many deaths began.
This is the beauty of this game because being a metroidvania (aside from some key upgrades like the chainsaw) doesn’t mean that you have to tackle the bosses in a certain way. After the worm, you can beat the bosses in any way possible. During my play through, I defeated the worm, then the Forgotten one (pro tip: if you come to defeat it after you get the saw, the fight will be easier), and so forth. Each time I got an upgrade, I just went with the flow and explored to my heart’s content, unlocking more upgrades to the hull (so useful), new engines to move faster, and so on, making the a really awesome experience. This is even more so about with fact that there are no enemies attacking you aside from bosses. Fish ignore you (you can kill them with the harpoon, though) and some plants throwing spores, which you can hit from your harpoon close to stop them from attacking.
Each area that you visit shows the devastation that humankind did to the environment, and while there is no dialogue or interaction, you can find some tapes scattered throughout the ocean that tell the story of what was happening. This is a nice touch to keep the player engaged while exploring. Each time I got to a new area, I got excited thinking about the upgrades I could find but more about the tapes and their story.
Each of the areas you visit (ironically) is brimming with life. You can see different types of fish and also the ruins of the human settlements. Obviously, there are parts that you cannot go through if you don’t have the required weapon or upgrade. Among the areas you can visit, there is the Crossroads, where you can travel to different areas like the District 7(the ruins of a technologically advanced metropolis), the Forest Cave (full of vegetation), The Pipe Central, The Garbage Disposal area, The Mine Woods, The Abyss, and ultimately The Research Facility. Each area is amazingly detailed and shows that the developer wanted to include as many things as possible.
As mentioned previously, you can find upgrades in each area. These upgrades increase the ships hull, which can help you take more hits (however, the bosses can still one shot you if you aren’t careful). There are also upgrades to the self repair mechanism (a welcome feature), the speed in which the harpoon charges, and even a shield. However, let me tell you that you will die…A LOT. It’s nice to have all those upgrades, and I understand perfectly that you are vulnerable, since you are in a small submarine fighting against mutated creatures that have been in earth for who knows how long.
Sometimes it feels that the game isn’t fair because even with all upgrades, your weapons deal laughable damage to bosses. The harpoon’s shot speed is fast, but the distance it travels when not charging the shot is poor, and charging the shot to get to attack from a safe distance is not ideal because the damage of the normal and charged shots is the same! Even when you get the hidden upgrade (triple harpoon), the damage it does is not enough. Often times in order to dispatch a boss, you have to be dangerously close in order to take down the HUGE HP bar it has. Put this together with the fact that a boss can kill you in two or three hits makes the boss fights challenging but frustrating. I feel that the travel distance of the harpoon should’ve improved at least. I’m all for hard games, but like I said, charging the shot isn’t going to help you much.
The music is phenomenal. It really puts you in a dreaded mood. It’s got that feeling, like I’m on the bottom of the ocean, not one friendly face or human, just vicious creatures that had enough of humankind foolishness. The music on boss fights are epic, so it’s really good stuff. If you manage to beat the game without throwing away your controller, there is even a Boss Rush mode and a Hardcore Mode (honestly, I didn’t bother with it; I had enough punishment), so for those looking to up the challenge there is something to look forward to.
Bottom Line: The Aquatic Adventures of The Last Human is a fun albeit challenging underwater metroidvania. I had fun with it, even if I was cursing when I was being killed over and over again. It as a really deep story, really good controls, and good soundtrack. I can definitely recommend it to fans of the genre. You won’t be bored with it.
A Review copy was provided for this review.