The genre of roguelikes has exploded in the past few years. Fantastic games such as Megabonk and Vampire Survivors have captivated so many with hard-to-put-down gameplay loops and charming visuals. I lost hours of my time playing through games like those, and Last Man Sitting is another game that has the potential to fill that niche.
Last Man Sitting is heavily inspired by the early 2000s era, with the look and feel emulating the time. It makes me feel a bit nostalgic, as I was a kid growing up with technology changing at a rapid pace. I remember the TV being filled with movies and video games about cool robots and also extreme sports. Ultimately, the developers DoubleMoose decided to combine aspects of both into Last Man Sitting.
At times, I found Last Man Sitting to be an absolute blast, but, unfortunately, elements like weapon and boss design, combined with a need for more content, left me very mixed.
The Robot Uprising
Last Man Sitting drops you in with a simple premise: the starting character is an accountant when the office building is taken over by an army of robots. It’s up to the small group of resistance fighters led by a girl named Rumi to destroy them all and maybe score a promotion in the process. The plot is paper-thin with hints of a grander story.
Last Man Sitting is more focused on delivering nonstop action and what I assume will be a fantastic PVP mode over a single player experience. It’s a shame because the idea of an early 2000s company overwhelmed by a robot uprising is interesting, but the game goes nowhere with it, ending with little fanfare when the final boss is defeated.
The gameplay loop is incredibly simple: choose an employee, weapon, and chair, then head to one of eight floors to get rid of robots. Last Man Sitting starts slowly with a few robots, but as it goes on, the gameplay can get hectic. On the final floor, I found myself swimming in robots and machine parts flying everywhere, with the game even slowing down at times due to all the carnage.
Metallic Madness
I started with a Minigun and eventually unlocked weapons like the whip, mop, or even shotgun, with the game having a total of 12 weapons to try. Unfortunately, half of the weapons feel as if they are just a better version of an already existing weapon, which ultimately cuts down on the variety. In the end, I stuck to the Minigun and its secondary model as it felt more satisfying ripping through each robot than with weapons that need to be up close or require a charge. The game would’ve benefited from having items popular during the era turn into weapons to make it feel even more authentic to the time period.
One of the more intriguing parts of Last Man Sitting is how it tries to shake up the combat. Every so often, quests pop up via a landline phone, and they are pretty simple, such as popping balloons and cleaning up trash that I assume are leftovers from office parties, or protecting “executives,” which, when complete, give a legendary unlock that can even change how a chair’s ability works. While useful after a few rounds, I only saw five or six unique quests, which was very limited, and when each round can have up to three quests spawn, I tended to see the same ones over and over again. Another mix-up to the gameplay is random effects, with the best being Termination Time, which is when a storm-like effect rolls in, causing you to get cornered into a small circle to fend off robots for a limited time. It made me think of when and how to use my abilities wisely, and when to stop robots from entering the space so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
Last Man Sitting also has the very chairs that players move around on, affecting how the game plays. Each gives a different ability to try out, with my personal favorite being the slam dunk, which, when combined with certain level-up upgrades, turns it into a flying meteor of destruction. A chair starts with only one slot for upgrades, but as the game goes on, you unlock up to four slots with upgrades ranging from common to legendary.
Each provides a simple boost, whether it’s health regeneration or making certain elemental powers that are gained when leveled up stronger. But the absolute best are legendary, which honestly change the game; they range from using a chair’s ability twice to giving massive health in turn for no healing drops. At the end of each round, points are totaled from money picked up to robots destroyed, and up to three upgrades can be unlocked via randomized pick, meaning sometimes you’ll gain a legendary and others it’s all common.
Content 404
Last Man Sitting is fun, but after you defeat the final boss on eight floor, there isn’t much left to do. Sure, it is fun to go back and play previous levels on harder and harder difficulties, but outside of some upgrades, that’s it. I was hoping for an endless mode or maybe a new hidden stage, but I was left disappointed. It doesn’t bring down the enjoyment I had for the game; in fact, it left me sitting there wanting more. Sure, there’s a PVP mode available at launch, but I’m not confident that it will be everyone’s fill.
One aspect of the game I find quite underused is the rail grind system, which allows for fast travel between stages, making the nonstop action even faster. At first, it is really fun and has so much potential, but after a while, due to the cramped space of each floor, I quickly forget about them, only really using them if it’s a do-or-die scenario.
What also felt very lackluster were the boss encounters; each floor is only a few minutes long, and when the timer reaches both the halfway mark and zero, a boss pops up. While they’re supposed to be large and intimidating, most of the time, I was way too overpowered and defeated them without noticing. They stood no real threat, and for a game about a robot uprising, that’s a real shame. In between a few floors, there are extra bosses to encounter that are story-related, but as stated earlier, they pose no real threat.
Even the final boss, who has an incredibly cool and unique design, falls short in this department. Something occurs that gives you the perception that things are about to get much harder, but the boss still melted under my bullets, leaving me very underwhelmed.
After the Mayhem
Last Man Sitting has the bones of a fantastic action roguelike, which cannot be understated. The gameplay is fantastic and led me to lose track of time, mowing down robots left and right. That being said, the amount of content available at the moment left me wanting more; the weapons weren’t all that different, some systems are underutilized, and the shortcomings in boss design leave me very mixed. The slowdown and audio bugs I encountered also don’t exactly help my feelings here.
I’m hopeful that DoubleMoose Games will iron out some of these rough patches soon, but as it stands, I’m not sure some players will likely be able to look past the shortcomings here. Often, I had a great time with Last Man Sitting, but when the clock struck zero and the final stage ended, I was left wanting much more.
Disclaimer: Raw Fury provided a PC (Steam) copy of Last Man Sitting for review purposes.
