Last Train Home: Legion Tales Review – A Great DLC

A few months after the release of the Last Train Home strategy game from Brno studio Ashborne Games, which combines real-time combat and train management, an expansion has arrived. It is called Legion Tales and focuses exclusively on combat, as it includes 10 new individual missions in which we learn different stories of legionnaires heading to Vladivostok.

• Platform: PC
• Release date: 02.01.2024
• Developer: Ashbourne Games
• Publisher: THQ Nordic
• Genre: RTS
• Czech localization: Yes (dubbing and subtitles)
• Play time: ~6 hours (plot)
• Price: 14.99 EUR (Steam)

Played in the lineup:

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

I exaggerated a little…

Zoltan accompanies you throughout the 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 tells about his impressions of the trip to Vladivostok. That is, “his” in big quotes, because he borrowed a number of them from colleagues or embellished a little, but this does not change their appeal.

The idea of ​​working on individual stories from the long journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway seems great to me. The expansion 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. stake, which Zoltan, of course, did not forget to mention.

And I will stay with Zoltan, because I think he has a great character. A well-written character, supported by great dialogues with a very good sense of humor, and all this is perfectly conveyed by the understudy Petr Neskusil. Legion Tales is based a lot on the character of Zoltan, and I think it was a good decision. Although there are 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 control is completely absent here, which is a shame because I think it’s the more interesting part of Last Train Home, but it makes sense given the whole concept of this expansion. The real-time combat works well, at least for the smaller 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 crawl into cover, freeze you even more. At the same time, the battles are quite confusing, which is fully evident in missions when you have to watch several sides from which the enemies are attacking. In this case, the probability that you will manage to carbonize everyone is practically zero.

Added to this is the relatively unbalanced difficulty, which in the base game was particularly noticeable in the later train control phase, this time unfortunately it is present in the missions. While you can get through some of them relatively easily, others are absurdly difficult, especially the mission where you have to defend a small village where the Reds have sent tanks…

On the other hand, it must be said that in terms of gameplay, the missions are varied. In addition to large battles, you will also participate 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, anyway, the DLC is also quite replayable. After the first playthrough, you will unlock new challenges, as well as the ability to purchase another squad to complete the mission. The concept of the missions themselves remains the same, and, unfortunately, the change of soldiers is not reflected in Zoltan’s speech, but, nevertheless, the possibility of replaying is very good if you want to customize the gameplay for different tasks.

Overall, I think Legion Tales is a great expansion, and if you liked the base game, you’ll definitely enjoy this. While it’s a bit less original in the overall experience, Zoltan’s interesting stories and narration make up for it. All of this is further enhanced by the excellent graphics, sounds, and music, which includes this casual variation on the main theme. It’s just a shame that the constant bugs and unbalanced difficulty ultimately ruin the experience.