The Last Hero of Nostalgaia
Developer: Over the Moon
Publisher: Coatsink
Platforms: Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC (Reviewed)
Release Date: 19 Oct 2022
Price: $24.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Have you ever imagined yourself being transported into a video game? Would you like to be given some skill points at the start that you could allocate properly? What about a character class? You definitely thought about it, we all had those moments of daydreaming. The Last Hero of Nostalgaia kind of toys with that idea. It wants to provide a fresh approach to the narrative and insert a critique of itself as you play. It does sound like a novel idea but so let’s see how it fares in the end.
Story
Nostalgaia, the world of video games, is collapsing backward into a mysterious pixelation, with every particle of fidelity bleeding away. I guess you could say it is blackholing itself (if that even is a proper word). As you might have guessed, you play as the absolute nobody while trying to connect all the puzzle pieces of the story with a bit of sword murdering sprinkled here and there. You’re also accompanied by the cynical narrator as you play through. He can be sometimes helpful while he is not criticizing your play style and making snide remarks regarding the world of Nostalgaia.
Gameplay
The first time you spawn into the world of Nostalgaia, you look like nothing much. Actually, less than nothing. A pixelated stick figure barely resembling a human. Your sword and shield seem to have more details and polygons than you. After a short tutorial evoking the similar steps you took if you played Dark Souls, we get to our first enemies. And it’s right there that you can see this game actually puts some effort when it comes to gameplay. The first few enemies can be a walk in the part, but everything past that requires a certain level of strategic combat. So no rushing in, backing yourself into a corner by accident, and getting overwhelmed from all sides.
I wanted to avoid a lot of (if any) comparisons to Dark Souls and soulslike games in general but there are some obvious shared things here when it comes to gameplay. Strong attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, evading, leveling up at the bonfire, weird NPCs being hidden in most obscure places, side quests, and so on. In any case, the combat system is anything but an afterthought. As you explore more and more, the world of Nostalgaia will seem more fleshed out, but the same could be said for you. After you grab some decent armor sets, you can say goodbye to looking like a pair of glowing sticks.
Visuals
The first hour of playing The Last Hero of Nostalgaia was a bit underwhelming. The monochromatic brown would follow me everywhere I go and only after I said goodbye to the starting area, I started to notice some slight diversity in level design. Emphasis on slight. Most of the areas you see in this game are derivative of something that is already seen, with minor changes or improvements. A bit more effort went into the enemy design and even weapons but the game doesn’t entice you to play much when you can just expect more of the same in terms of visuals and level design.
Audio
Luckily, there is our (un)reliable narrator to spice things up a little. The sound design in this game is good and above average but he is really the star of the show. I enjoyed his frustrating monologues, random jabs, and pokes at the world of Nostalgaia, the player, his critique of your play style, and much more. He never overstays his welcome, most become he is in that sweet spot of talking from time to time and not being needlessly talkative and annoying (shout out to my man Claptrap!)
Overall
The Last Hero Nostalgaia is a deceptive game. My first impression (before I got to actually play it) was of a game that was stitched in a week or two to exploit the soulslike fever way too late. Also, there is always a danger with these “meta” games using satire and self-awareness as some sort of cheap tactic to be excused from any criticism. Something like “it’s fine because we are totally in on the joke” even though the joke is pretty unfunny at times. But none of that is the case with The Last Hero of Nostalgaia.
While it could have used much more diversity when it comes to level design and color palette in general, the core of the game is surprisingly good. It is the voice acting and above-average combat system that makes this game a hidden gem and it is a good example of how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
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