We were intrigued by The Last Worker when it was announced earlier this year. And now we’ve been hands-on with a short demo, we’re even more intrigued.
Set in the worst possible imagining of an Amazon fulfilment centre that the darkest reaches of your mind can dream up, The Last Worker puts you in the shoes of Kurt, a worker at Jüngle’s warehouse. A warehouse so big it’s almost the size of Manhattan, you’re told. But, well, in this dystopian future you find yourself in, Manhattan’s underwater. So your warehouse is the biggest. Yay?
Kurt’s been at Jüngle for 25 years, seemingly going through the motions of picking up packages and shipping them off to customers. Baby VR goggles, anyone? In the demo we’ve had our hands on, Kurt’s sidekick robot has malfunctioned and forces him to go through day one training again. A neat way of introducing you to the game’s mechanics, admittedly. With every package you pick up, you’ll be reminded you’re making people’s dreams come true.
Of course, that’s not the case, and it doesn’t take a genius to realise that not all is as it seems in the world of The Last Worker. Split into two parts, the second section of the demo jumps forward to a later section in the game. Kurt’s being pursued by angry robots, and if they spot him, they’ll kill him on sight. The gameplay here isn’t the best; we found ourselves struggling with the awkward controls, and having to hide around corners while robots passed us by wasn’t exactly the most exciting.
However, it’s The Last Worker‘s excellent narration and storytelling that got its hooks into us. There’s some seriously talented voice actors on board here (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jason Isaacs, Clare-Hope Ashitey and David Hewlett), all doing a stand-up job of bringing the game’s characters to life. And with a cel-shaded effect art style, everything looks absolutely sublime too.
It’s packed with personality, from Kurt himself to the weird and wonderful droid-like robots he meets along the way. This is a game that’s clearly had a lot of heart and soul poured into it, and we can’t wait to unpack more of it.
The demo hasn’t given us enough to know exactly what’s going on inside Jüngle’s walls, but it’s given us just enough to know we want more. We’re desperate to find out more about Kurt and why he’s put up with these working conditions for 25 years. And we absolutely must know why he’s the titular Last Worker. If, indeed, he is at all.
The Last Worker is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC and Meta Quest later this year. You can try out a demo for yourself as part of Steam Next Fest from 13th June.
