You know, I think The Final Station is the kind of game where it's best to go in completely blind. No reviews, no pros and cons, no preconceived notions. Just dive in. The first few moments of the game are immediately gripping, and the introduction to the world you're going to be playing in is perfectly paced and intriguing.

But hey, if you insist on at least SOME information before you buy a game then here you go: The Final Station is a strange mixture of side-scrolling shooter, survival game, and a dash of management game. You're playing as the conductor of a small train during the zombie alien apocalypse, carrying important cargo that could change the tide of the battle plus whatever survivors you find on the way. The gameplay alternates between the shoot-y exploring-y parts where you scrounge for supplies in the outside world, and the parts where you frantically run back and forth in the train trying to keep you bleeding passengers from dying and the various machinery from breaking down.

The clever part of this, and the thing that ties the two gameplay sides together, is that your inventory is common for both. Meaning that the medkit you spend on yourself on the field is one less medkit you can use on your passengers, and vice versa. This leads to the necessity for strategy during exploration; do you spend bullets and health to get to the precious food and crafting supplies behind the enemy monsters? Do you quickly go to your objective and back, hoping the supplies you already have will be enough? Both of these options can leave you screwed if you're not careful.

And it's exactly this caution that puts you in the mindset of a survivor. Because while this is by no means a horror game, there is a certain tension and dread following in your footsteps. I had gotten into the habit of instinctively backing up when opening doors, paranoid about enemies rushing me. I would decide to conserve my dwindling bullets, only to waste them in a panic when surrounded by too many monsters. I would feel disoriented and suspicious whenever I visited safe zones populated by actual normal human beings. The game is very effective in achieving emotional responses from you, and there were even some parts that were surprisingly and delightfully creepy that definitely left an impression on me.

The story itself is left mysterious, with information mostly gained from the rumors and gossiping of your passengers, and from the remnants of various strange past events you encounter during your travels. The world-building is slow but clever, and the moments when the bigger picture starts becoming clearer are particularly memorable. All in all it's the general atmosphere created from its seperate parts that is the game's greatest strength, and it's enhanced by the beautiful pixel art in the backgrounds and level design.

Sadly no game is without flaws, and I'll start with a more personal nitpick: I thought the game just wasn't... well, hard enough. There's some talk in the beginning about how maybe you can't keep all your passengers alive and should prioritize who to save, but honestly if you're a basically decent player and explore often you won't have that much trouble with it. Maybe I'm a masochist but when I play survival games sometimes I want a more hardcore challenge, especially on a second playthrough, and this isn't really an option here as you can't choose a difficulty level. There aren't even enough achievements to make any self-imposed challenges worth it. What you get is the same each time.