REVIEW: ‘Last Train Home’ Is An Immersive Historical Strategy Experience (PC)

It can be challenging to find new stories about World War I to tell, but Last Train Home does just that by focusing on a forgotten part of the Great War. Developed by Ashborne Games and published by THQ Nordic, Last Train Home takes place in Russia as it descends into civil war.

What first stands out about Last Train Home is that it does not put players in the role of Russian soldiers. Instead, it focuses on the Czechoslovak Legion as they make the 9,000-kilometer journey home across a war-torn Russia to make it to Vladivostok. The approach of being outsiders caught in the middle of a war they have nothing to do with is an interesting premise that Ashborne explores quite well.

Every member of your legion has a unique personality with traits specific to their character. These traits help unlock new gameplay options, but they also serve to make the experience more immersive. These are not just nameless and faceless NPCs. They begin to feel like real people quickly, and the responsibility to keep them alive weighs heavy. Setting the game to “immersive” dialogue helps with this feeling, with characters speaking in their native tongues and making them feel even more alive.

One of the most important gameplay aspects is keeping your soldiers alive and healthy, but that is easier said than done. Managing food supplies and rationing out what remains might make them unhappy, but so would sending them out on yet another mission to earn said supplies. It is a constant back and forth of deciding what is best for the individuals and the group at large, and every character reacts to your decisions. What seems like a small decision of who to send on a mission early on could have greater ramifications later, so it is important to think very carefully.

The fact that the characters feel like real people helps with this. It makes making decisions easier when you treat them like actual human beings. Their deaths are permanent, and any choices they make have a tangible effect on everyone, so I found myself caring much more about what orders I gave than I usually would in a real-time strategy game.

Last Train Home’s titular train serves as the main method of transportation between missions, but it also has gameplay mechanics of its own. Instead of just wistfully watching the scenery go by, there are decisions to be made about how fast the train should go or what repairs should be prioritized. This level of control for players allows for even more immersion and a greater challenge. Letting anything slip could jeopardize the entire mission since if you cannot travel, you certainly cannot make it home.

Along the train route are various points of interest to explore. These allow you to deploy troops on missions with varying objectives depending on how your story unfolds. This is where the real RTS meat and potatoes lie, and is one of the best parts of the game. Once you choose a squad to deploy, you enter a beautifully designed area where you can command each individual member and assign them various tasks and roles.

Combat takes place primarily in these missions and can be quite fun. Choosing where to send troops to set up an ambush or rushing to flee when you run into one yourself can be exhilarating. However, there were times when the combat felt a bit janky, and I needed to do a bit of save scumming in order to restart and keep my comrades alive. The biggest issue was my characters not hiding behind the cover I was sending them to when I tried to give orders party-wide, but when I paused the game into the tactical view, it was easier to control. It can just get a bit wonky as the battles get more hectic, but overall, it is never impossible to manage.

There are some survival elements to Last Train Home as well, primarily gathering resources as well as upgrading the train. The mechanics themselves are not incredibly deep, but it was not too surprising, given how much focus there is on the actual RTS gameplay. Gathering food to feed your comrades is essential, and there is a decent enough amount to find, but it does fit well with the story of the game that some areas just do not have any extra food because of the war.

Difficulty settings in Last Train Home can help with that, too, with the easiest difficulties removing the need to care about supplies or making it less of a challenge. This is helpful for players who want to just focus on the RTS experience since managing several gameplay approaches at once can be a tad overwhelming. On the flip side, though, the harder difficulties increase how important those supplies are and how challenging the battles are, making Last Train Home one of the more difficult RTS games in recent memory.

What makes playing Last Train Home so special is how beautifully crafted the world is. It is easy to feel the desperation of the innocent Russian civilians caught up in the civil war, and encounters with Russian soldiers are incredibly harrowing. The mission locations are just incredible to look at, and there is so much attention to detail throughout. A burnt-down home, for example, feels so authentic that it made me emotional at the fate of its occupants and enraged at the people who did it. It brings the story to life so much more by having such attention to detail.

Last Train Home does a great job of meshing a challenging strategic experience with an immersive setting and story. The difficulty curve can get overwhelming for less experienced RTS players. Still, the attention to detail and the wonderful character interactions make it worth taking the time to learn the ropes.

Last Train Home is available now on PC.