Impressions from the game Last Train Home

Brno studio Ashborne Games has finally unveiled its upcoming game, Last Train Home. It is a real-time strategy game with management elements, set during the First World War. However, it does not examine the entire conflict as such, but the fate of the Czechoslovak legionnaires who, after the October Revolution and the subsequent armistice between the Central Powers and Russia, found themselves stuck in the territory of the future. The Soviet Union, where a civil war began between the so-called Red and White Armies. The only way back to their homeland led east around the world, and this is the pilgrimage we will experience in the game Last Train Home.

Although the already mentioned controls are an integral part, but when you are riding a train, taking care of its repair and the health of your soldiers, I have not yet been able to try this segment of the game. However, at the Game Access event, a demo version was available where the player could complete one of the combat missions.

First of all, it should be said that the game looks very beautiful in terms of graphics. The sound design was no less good, which, of course, is another integral part of such games. However, the most important thing is, of course, the gameplay itself. The mission I had to complete first led me past several enemies to a neighboring village.

I had a small group of only 6 legionnaires at my disposal. As in other games of the same genre, soldiers have different classes, distinguished by weapons and special abilities. A regular infantryman with a rifle can make a quick dash into the enemy ranks, a medic can treat the wounded, and a grenadier can, well, throw grenades, of course. But it must be said that grenades are perhaps too powerful and easy to use, this is a very easy way to destroy an entire enemy group.

Throwing grenades is of course not the only possible method of attack, it is mostly classic shooting. The key element in the game is cover, if you and your troops go beyond it, you risk suffering significant losses. On the other hand, if you want to advance as quickly as possible, of course, it is best to surround the enemy units. The main mission that I had to complete was also based on this. The goal was to protect the already mentioned village, but there were two roads leading to it. While I sent a soldier with a machine gun to defend it alone, I went with other troops to repair the bridge in order to cross the river by another route and surround the enemies.

The controls are very intuitive in this regard, and although I had the keymap at my disposal at the beginning of the demo, I didn’t really need it. You can tag soldiers, create groups, select the desired action, in short, as you know from other RTS. The ability to click on an enemy and see their field of view is also a very nice feature.

But back to the action. This task was not easy at all, the enemies had a significant advantage, but thanks to smart tactics and luck I managed to defeat them. This was also due to the fact that you only need to kill the commander of this group, the rest of the soldiers subsequently lose the desire to fight and prefer to run. Well, that’s the end of the mission and the whole demo.

Although I only got to test a relatively short section, I was pleasantly pleased and am looking forward to the final product. The theme of the Czechoslovakian legionaries, at least for me and I think for many of you, is very attractive and criminally underused in both games and films.

Last Train Home is coming to PC later this year. You can currently wishlist the game on Steam.