Last Train Home Review – The true face of war

Last Train Home tells the story of the Czechoslovak Legion, deserters from the Austria-Hungarian army who fought for the Russians during the Great War in hopes of founding their own nation. Revered for their valor and bravery, the legion now finds themselves caught up in the Russian civil war, owing allegiance to no sides but forced to take up arms to defend themselves as they fight their way home. The game’s fictional story is based on the journals of one of the soldiers involved in this real historical event, following the Legion as they’re forced to make a harrowing journey across Siberia via train while struggling to remain impartial in a conflict they have no stake in, but which constantly engulfs them.

For those looking for total historical immersion, the game can be played with an “Immersive Language” feature where all of the dialogue will be spoken in the language of the people speaking it. While this was cool and I intended to play it through like this on my first try, I quickly found it hard to keep up with everything (as I don’t speak Czech or Russian) and had to start a new game with English language voices.

Switching to the English voice pack made me realize that the dialogue in No Train Home’s first chapter was not amazing, nor were the characters speaking it. This entire chapter was full of corny and stiff lines and unbelievable characters, culminating in the introduction of a cartoonishly evil villain (who very well may be a real historical figure.) This short part of the game was awkward, stunted, and felt rushed, possibly added in at the last minute.

I’m especially convinced of that because, for the rest of the game, the writing was more or less stellar. Some less-than-fantastic voice lines return in mission dialogue, but outside of that, it’s actually phenomenally well-written. Nowhere is this more apparent than the journal-like narration of your second-in-command as he tells the harrowing story of survival that is Last Train Home. The absolute shift in the quality of the game’s storytelling between chapters one and two took me by surprise and I almost wish the prologue didn’t exist at all.

The story of Last Train Home is the game’s strongest point. It’s a harrowing tale of survival and heroism as brave men and women try to escape a hostile foreign land, rescuing their comrades and combating the horrors of the Russian Civil War the best they can along the way. You’ll juggle hard choices, balancing aiding innocent civilians and protecting your legion in a land that’ll turn against you if you stay in one place too long. You’ll grow attached to characters and feel the weight every time a mission goes bad and you lose a life.

The emphasis on story and character even bleeds into the RTS gameplay, where certain soldiers will have personality traits or skills acquired from XP that uniquely help a mission. One soldier I grew attached to was a woman with the ability to walk without making any noise, an extremely valuable asset on stealth missions.

Outside of the unique characterization of your troops, the RTS combat is just alright. It lacks the depth of other titles, and while battles can certainly be intense, I found they were my least favorite aspect of the game. They mostly amount to sneaking around for a bit, and then trading shots behind cover with the occasional use of abilities like bayonet charges or grenades to flush enemies out.

The enemy AI is pretty dumb and won’t respond to gunfire that should be in the range of their hearing. I often left missions with big numbers of enemy units just standing outside of spots where big battles had just occurred, seemingly unaware that anything happened.

Some bugs made the RTS missions difficult or even impossible to finish. These bugs could be pretty unimpactful, like the button required to leave the mission not popping up, which I could solve just by quickly saving and reloading the mission. Others, like my whole unit getting stuck on terrain and being unable to move, forced me to restart the mission entirely. This was especially frustrating in longer missions since there are no checkpoints and getting stuck means the whole thing has to be done over again.

That being said, it was always fun to take a machine gun nest and then mow down hordes of charging ‘Reds, desperately trying to take back their own stolen positions. You’re made to feel like the underdog throughout most of the game and it makes those moments of power feel satisfying.

The really interesting aspect of Last Train Home’s gameplay is the survival/resource management game played on the overworld. As you travel down the railroad, you have to balance food, fuel, and other supplies. You’ll need to stop to gather resources and take on missions without staying in one place for too long, lest your train be attacked.

Every bullet fired in the RTS combat is a resource that gets subtracted, which is undoubtedly the most fun and strategic aspect of the missions you engage in. Like human life, munitions are valuable resources that must be managed, which changes how you play.

Outside of missions, your legionaries are also used to gather supplies, trade with locals, repair and upgrade, and run your train, and otherwise tend to the needs of the legion by cooking, doctoring, and fighting. Every soldier is a valuable asset for keeping your train running, and it’s up to you to balance who fights and who keeps things running without exhausting the health, energy, and morale of the legion.

Your train can be upgraded to improve travel speed, durability, and the quality of life of your soldiers; this was one of the mechanics I enjoyed the most. Balancing an economy of resources you need to keep the train and legion running alongside those needed for upgrades along the way was fun. Your soldiers will NOT survive the cold Siberian winter without stoves and heating and a faster engine helps you outrun the ‘Reds.

Pro tip: Unlocking an artillery car makes missions a lot more bearable to get through.

An interesting aspect of the train/travel section of the game is that the events seem to be more or less randomized (based on the fact that I faced the same event twice). You’re forced to take a few forks in the road on your journey, so no playthrough of Last Train Home’s campaign should be exactly the same. This feature gives the game almost a rogue-lite level of replayability. Playing the game again is more than just taking on the same missions at a higher difficulty, as different resources and dilemmas await you each time you pass the train through Moscow.

I enjoyed the overworld/management aspects of the game so much that I honestly wish the RTS segments didn’t exist. They represented everything I disliked about the game: they took too long, had bugs and unintuitive mechanics that got my soldiers killed, and for some reason had significantly less impressive writing than the overworld. The combat missions felt like a distraction from the aspects of the game I enjoyed the most, and unfortunately are unskippable, feeling like major roadblocks in a game I otherwise really enjoyed.

While I’m not sure what could have replaced these segments, I’ll say that the RTS aspect of Last Train Home is the weaker side of an otherwise great game. I am likely alone in this mindset, but an option to auto-resolve battles might open this game up to a wider audience not interested in the Men of War-style combat sections.

Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Last Train Home is available on Steam.