The Last Federation Review (PC)

very good
key review info
  • Game: The Last Federation
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Federation future

In the first two or three campaigns I played in The Last Federation, I never cared about the ultimate goal of the title and I only explored the world, trying to understand the way the various aliens approached the game and how I could work with each of them in order to increase their power, while also making myself more powerful.

I thought I had a decent handle on the title before I launch a true game, during which I wanted to actually try to form the federation mentioned in the title, but I then succumbed to a pack of pirates that seemed to have weapons that were too powerful to deal with.

I then played countless other campaigns and each of them showed me new details that I previously missed and deepened my appreciation of the new title from Arcen Games, which manages to skillfully blend a variety of ideas and genres, while creating an experience that has no equivalent in the world of gaming.

Story

The Last Federation is a game that begins in failure and a lot of times ends in the same way, but manages to deliver a unique story for the gamer every time, while challenging his tactical thinking and his ability to hammer out a diplomatic deal between alien races.

The player is the last survivor of a fallen civilization and his first major act is to betray the people that have welcomed him and basically guaranteed his survival. But after that, the gamer has free reign to decide his own fate and choose exactly how he wants to interact with the rest of the solar system he can explore.

The goal is to create a Federation, which includes some of the alien races and can guarantee the peaceful co-existence of all those involved, but the core gameplay is so filled with smaller goals and ideas that it’s very easy to lose sight of it.

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Solar exploration
Battle time
The player and his special spaceship can travel freely between the planets in the system and he represents a powerful tactical force, but his real strengths is his ability to deal with all the governments, negotiating deals, gathering influence and gently guiding the leaders towards his desired outcome.

Most of the time, a campaign will end before the federation is formed, with the player the victim of an enemy armada, but I have always felt satisfied with the story I created and eagerly awaited my next playthrough because The Last Federation uses a unique setup for each new campaign.

Gameplay

There are two layers to The Last Federation: a solar system one, where the gamer tinkers with strategy and interacts with planets and their leaders, and a tactical one, which sees the player take control of his spaceship in order to kill enemies or simply fulfill a mission.

The first one is arguably more important, but at the same time seems less exciting at first, when most players will be focused on how they can maneuver their ship and concentrate fire in order to take out enemies and help their allies.

The Last Federation’s overall goal is to create a strong alliance between some of the races in order to bring in an age of cooperation and that means it’s imperative for the player to gather both money and influence with the eight alien planets.

This can be done by running special missions for them, by aiding their development, offering them tech or by helping them with advice and military support.

Helping one faction has effects over all the others that it has contact with and it often becomes really hard to gain influence with, for example, Andors because getting close with them can annoy the Burlust and the other way around.

Each of the aliens has a unique kind of government and needs to be approached using different tactics and it’s difficult to get even two of them to actually care about each other and join forces.

While missions are being performed and alliances are suggested, time flows around the player as each faction pursues its own interests and the complexity of the situation increases.

The gamer can also use the black market to enhance his own capabilities, as long as he has the money, but the resources I had access to were always limited, and diplomacy and careful influence use always seems more efficient than threats and liberal use of military force.

From time to time, confrontation cannot be entirely avoided and that’s when The Last Federation zooms on the player’s ship, which can be enhanced with new weapons, special abilities and squadrons of fighters.

Gamers can control its weapons and its flight path and need to either destroy enemies or achieve a specific objective.

Initially, the combat seems very simple, but after some time passes, the complexity level increases very quickly and players need to carefully manage their resources and stay close to allied ships, if they have them, in order to emerge victories.

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Space look
Faction actions
The Last Federation does have a roguelike aspect, as death in combat means instant failure and the developers are encouraging players to use the Ironman setting in order to create a more unique and interesting experience.

I died quite a few times before I finally understood how much risk I should take during battles and how to best use my allies in order to soak up damage and finish my missions.

The Last Federation is an exciting game to play because there are so many game mechanics that interact in very interest ways and tend to create very different types of scenarios, which in turn leads to new strategies for the player.

Arcen Games has also created a very cool set of hints to introduce the player to the world of the game, which explains all the core ideas when the first campaign is launched and offers the same information as part of the journal.

Graphics and audio

The Last Federation has an art style that manages to capture its science fiction theme and is clearly inspired by the likes of Star Trek and Babylon Five and the development team at Arcen Games has also done a great job of keeping the entire user interface perfectly informative.

The solar layer reveals the status of each alien race, how their planets are faring and how they are exploding and using their fleets and it becomes easy to look at the entire status of the world after a few hours spent with the game.

In combat, the user interface is simpler as the game devotes more resources to the spectacle of space-based engagements, with tens of flagships involved, many more small fighters flying around and hundreds of projectiles directed at all combatants.

The sound design for The Last Federation is both subtle and smart, underlining the themes of the title without ever getting ahead of the gameplay or the player-driven story.


The Good

  • Interesting universe
  • Unique diplomacy mechanics
  • Tactical combat

The Bad

  • Some repetitive elements
  • Learning curve

Conclusion

The Last Federation is like a miniature jewel, a game that seems easy to understand and play at first and, as the player engages with it more, reveals deeper nuances and more interesting mechanics to explore and exploit.

Arcen Games has managed to find a series of concepts that work very well together and has created a title that can easily capture the attention of a gamer for hours at a time, as a new story of interplanetary betrayal and domination plays out based on his actions.

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story 9
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 8
audio 8
multiplayer 0
final rating 8.5
Editor's review
very good
 
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