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Love them or loathe them, Soulsborne games are here to stay. Consequently, it highlights gamers’ desires for a tough and often sadomasochistic approach to life. As such, Elden Ring has taken the world by storm, but can The Last Oricru do the same?
Developed by Goldknights and published by Prime Matter, this is an RPG with Soulsborne mechanics. Moreover, it is story-rich, has an excellent roster of characters, and will impress you with its meaningful dialogue choices. Moreover, it also has some familiar Souls-like tropes for veteran gamers. Unfortunately, though, it isn’t perfect as its combat is somewhat lacking, its acting is hilariously bad, and the graphics are a little wayward at times.
The Last Oricru is a story of conflict, death, and rebirth.
You control Silver, a human that has been held in suspended animation. When awakened, he is confronted by two strange races. The Naboru are reminiscent of the aliens in Prometheus, and Ratkins are giant rats. Each of these beings despises the other, and an almighty war is unfolding. Subsequently, you are forced to pick a side as the story unfolds.
Set in an odd medieval/sci-fi world, you’ll explore a range of small but exciting locations. Along the way, you’ll make many decisions that influence your reputation with each species. This interesting mechanic creates many missions as well as oodles of replay value. On top of this, there is a fantastic and deep skill tree, a large inventory of weapons and a mixture of trinkets and gadgets to improve your attributes.
Though this may seem familiar, the well-balanced approach ensures that the protagonist is suited to each zone. Therefore, no situation is too easy, and the amount of “grind” is comfortably reduced.
A magic belt with a Souls-lite touch.
Soulsborne games are all about challenge and reward. Thankfully, The Last Oricru has this in abundance. Thanks to the never-ending combat encounters, death is almost guaranteed. However, this is irrelevant, as your magic belt ensures you are immortal. Therefore, if you die, and you will, you simply respawn at the last terminal and try again (think Dark Souls Bonfires and you know what to expect). However, this also respawns every foe, and there is only one terminal per zone. Consequently, it means there is a lot of back and forth if you die too many times.
The Soulsborne mechanics don’t end there. No, both the combat and character levelling are familiar. Dive, roll, block, heavy/light attack, and so on and so forth. To increase your level, you must kill every monster and creature in sight. Accordingly, this will award you with “essence” from any fallen foe. It is then used to improve your stats and allows you to select different weapons. This was great, as there is a sense of progression and reward as you move up the ranks. Furthermore, you can tailor your character to your approach.
Word of warning!
Shockingly, there is no way to reset your skills. Therefore, what you pick is what you are stuck with. This was ridiculous, as it is annoyingly restrictive and prevents you from experimenting. Subsequently, this was a big mistake from Goldknights as the only way to test out different builds was to restart the game.
The Last Oricru performs well.
One area where The Last Oricru excels is its presentation. Thanks to its blend of sci-fi and medieval settings, and strange aliens, it was nice to explore. Furthermore, the 60 FPS made the action smooth, and the game performed extremely well. Yet, there were issues with lip-syncing, poor lighting, awful haircuts, and the camera angle during combat was woeful. It was a shame, as it undermines many of the good points while leaving you with a sour taste in your mouth.
Another underwhelming element was the audio. Silver tries to be a burly, carefree hero. However, in reality, he’s a bit of an OTT dick with an odd camp voice. Alongside this, the repetitive one-liners, overused sound effects, and flat music create a dull and insipid atmosphere. As such, it doesn’t take long to become sick and tired of the repetitive soundbites and annoying dialogue.
Serviceable controls.
The prologue is a lengthy beast that is a bit of a jack of all trades. Therefore, you get to know the lie of the land while experiencing a full-on tutorial. Consequently, you’ll be comfortable with every minor point before you are allowed to roam freely. When this happens, you’ll enjoy the responsive and serviceable controls as you complete each fight and search every location. Moreover, if you are comfortable with the genre, then you’ll experience no curveballs or unique mechanics.
Though there are some lacklustre moments, the inclusion of local and online competitive action spices things up. This is one of the outstanding elements of The Last Oricru. Other than this, it has some longevity and replay value thanks to the dialogue choices and the Souls-like mechanics.
The Last Oricru is a mixed bag.
There is an awful lot to like about The Last Oricru. Sadly, though, there is a lot to dislike as well. Accordingly, it is a bit of a mixed bag and will definitely not dethrone Elden Ring. Even though I enjoyed the cooperative action, many elements prevent it from excelling. As such, I won’t recommend that you buy it. However, more information can be found here! Immortality comes at a price, and it’s a heavy burden to bear. Can you use this power for good? Pick a side, stop the war, and try to understand what has happened.
