Review of Last Train Home: Legion Tales – Great Addition

A few months after the release of Last Train Home, a strategy game from Brno-based studio Ashborne Games that combines real-time combat and train control, we have an expansion. It’s called Legion Tales and focuses solely on combat as it features 10 new standalone missions in which we learn the different stories of the legionnaires heading to Vladivostok.

• Platform: PC
• Publication date: 01/02/2024
• Developer: Ashbourne Games
• Publisher: THQ Nordic
• Genre: RTS
• Czech localization: Yes (dubbing and subtitles)
• Game time: ~6 hours (story)
• Price: €14.99 (Steam)

Played with:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K
• FRAME: 32 GB DDR5 6000 MT/s
• Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080
• Storage: Solidigm P44 Pro (1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD)

I exaggerated a little…

Zoltan accompanies you throughout the entire DLC. A surviving legionnaire who is currently traveling by train from the west to the east of America so that he and his comrades can return home. And to shorten the trip, Zoltan talks about his impressions of the trip to Vladivostok. That is, “his” is in big quotation marks, because he borrowed a number of them from colleagues or embellished them a little, but this does not change their attractiveness.

The idea of ​​making separate stories from a long journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway seems great to me. The addition will include rescue or sabotage missions, smaller stories, as well as famous events, such as the very beginning of the conflict with the Red Army or the memorable naval battle on Lake Baikal, which ensured our 100% victory. a bet that Zoltan, of course, did not forget to mention.

And I will stay with Zoltan because I think he has a great character. A beautifully written character is supported by excellent dialogue with very good humor, and all this is wonderfully conveyed by stunt double Peter Neskusil. Legion Tales leans heavily on Zoltan’s character, and I think it was a good decision. Although there are some serious moments, Zoltan’s jokes are able to complement them perfectly and create a very funny mix.

Same gameplay, same bugs

Of course, the most important thing is the gameplay, and it hasn’t changed much from the base game. Train controls are completely absent here, which is a shame since I think that’s the more interesting part of Last Train Home, but it makes sense given the whole concept of this expansion. Real-time combat works well, at least for small fights.

The problem is that there are several large battles with tanks and dozens of soldiers, in which technical errors, such as “disobeying an order” by one of the soldiers who did not climb into cover, are even more chilling. At the same time, the battles are quite confusing, which is fully manifested in missions when you have to watch several sides from where the enemies are advancing. In this case, the likelihood that you will be able to carbonize everyone is practically zero.

Added to this is the relatively unbalanced difficulty, which in the base game was particularly evident in the later stages of train control, is unfortunately present in the missions this time around. While you can complete some of them with relative ease, others are absurdly difficult, especially the mission where you have to defend a small village that the Reds have sent tanks into…

On the other hand, it must be said that from a gameplay point of view, the missions are varied. In addition to major battles, you will also engage in smaller skirmishes and will often be able to resort to stealth. In addition, each mission offers several side quests, which in turn make the gameplay a little more varied.

An extension that has a lot to offer

It took me about 6 hours to complete all 10 missions, one way or another, the DLC is also quite based on replayability. After the first passage, new challenges will open up for you, as well as the opportunity to purchase another squad to complete the mission. The concept of the mission itself remains the same, and the change of soldiers is unfortunately not reflected in Zoltan’s speech, but the replayability is still very good if you want to customize the gameplay for different tasks.

Overall, I think Legion Tales is a great addition and if you liked the base game, you’ll definitely enjoy it. Although the bet is on the less original part of the entire game, Zoltan’s interesting stories and narration make up for it. All this is further complemented by the still excellent graphics, sound and music, where such a casual variation of the main melody is added. It’s just a shame that the constant bugs and unbalanced difficulty ultimately ruin the experience.