Humanity is gone. Your ship, sent to search for a way to save humankind, has returned without success. As the last human, explore the remnants of human society in your submarine and face down challenging bosses.
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human
Developer: YCJY
Price: $9.99
Platform: PC (reviewed), Mac, Linux
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for review.
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is a 2D, side-scrolling action-adventure game, but you might describe it more accurately as a “Metroidvania.” Like the old Metroid and Castlevania games, you’ll explore the world—in this case, the submerged remains of abandoned civilization—while collecting upgrades to unlock new areas. Upgrades range from defense bonuses to weapons, such as a harpoon gun.
Exploration is made more enjoyable by the beauty of your surroundings and the haunting soundtrack. Calming music accompanies your exploration, while intense music accompanies battles. And despite its pixel graphics, the game builds an excellent atmosphere and makes you truly feel like you’re traveling through a lonely world in which humanity has disappeared. Each area has its own style, some quite unexpected.
Overall, the Metroidvania-style gameplay is solid and entertaining. However, it’s hindered by the lack of a map. You have a mini-map, but the game would have greatly benefited from a larger map of the whole area. A few scattered fast travel stations give you a vague impression of how areas connect, but you’ll likely spend a lot of time backtracking and wandering as you try to remember where to go next. It is easy to get lost.
The other downside of the game is its difficulty. Now, depending on what you’re doing, The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human will either be extremely easy or extremely difficult. As you explore, you won’t often be in danger. You’ll encounter minor obstacles, but nothing big.
Boss battles are a whole different world.
These are the sorts of bosses where you need to study their movements and attack patterns, dodge their attacks, and have plenty of patience. You will die and fight the bosses over and over. Some players will love this level of challenge and take great satisfaction in each victory. However, others will find it frustrating, particularly since the battles tend to be long and one wrong move can lead to death.
As you progress, you’ll find text logs from the final days. This is the primary way the story is told, as you’ll use the information to piece together what happened.
The subtly-revealed story is bleak and somewhat disturbing, but it never becomes particularly compelling. If you play The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human, it will be for the exploration, challenging boss battles, atmosphere, and presentation—not its story.
The Final Word
The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is a haunting Metroidvania set in the aftermath of humanity’s disappearance. With plenty of upgrades and beautiful environments, its core gameplay is solid, but poor navigation and frustrating difficulty prevent it from being a flawless experience.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
