What exactly is an Oricru
The Last Oricru is a weird bird to review, it wasn’t a terrible game, but it tries to do a lot and ends up really succeeding at none of it. There have been lots of janky games that I have enjoyed, Steel Rising is a great game but has some jank. The difference though is that I knew what I was getting with Steel Rising, with The Last Oricru it is billed as a 3rd person action RPG but then they add some Souls-like elements that don’t really go anywhere, and it just gets confusing.
The story of The Last Oricru centers around Silver, a warrior with amnesia who crash lands on the planet of Wardenia. Wardenia, is in the midst of a war between the oppressive, blue skinned Naboru people and the Ratkin, a race of humanoid rats with a pinche for fire magic. Over the course of the game players will be able to side with one faction over the other, however the only real consequence seems to come in the form of who you are fighting. If player sides with the Naboru then naturally the Ratkin are the enemy, likewise if one sides with the Ratkin then they will be killing lots of blue Naboru. None of the choices over the course of the game feel like anything close to those presented in say, Mass Effect. There were some things that led to different outcomes, but it was just a different location or spending more time with a character, absolutely nothing that felt like it really mattered in this world.
MSRP: $39.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
I have quite a few issues with The Last Oricru, starting with the combat. For one, there is nothing that tells players that this is a souls-like game. They won’t find that out until they run into the first bonfire oh- excuse me Terminal for this game. Originally, I thought the enemies did not respawn when you access this device, but that was a glitch the first time I played because they absolutely DO. Combat is a basic affair and similar to every souls game that has come out in the past few years. Dodging, rolling, parrying, blocking all of them are here, while The Last Oricru looks grat graphically and even maintains a steady 60fps the combat is just basic and does nothing interesting.
But beyond the combat the main character in this tale is just awful. Silver is written like an obnoxious man-child who has way too much testosterone and just wants to cuss and fight. The issue is this game try to tackle some serious issues such as racism, rebellion and other social ills, but when these things come up in conversation Silver will more often than not respond with a sex joke, a cuss word or some other idiotic thing that has nothing to do with the conversation or fitting in the moment. Even worse is as a player trying to explore those paths and learn more about the world, you are blocked as the response to this man baby’s infantile comment is usually just a ‘nod’ and the conversation moves on. I’ve never played a game where I hated the main character more than this…. Well, that’s not true; me and Bill from Left 4 Dead still ain’t cool. HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID!!
Terminals are where players will be able to save their adventure as well as upgrade Silver’s stats and abilities. As of now though, you will have to be 100% sure when you choose to lock in an upgrade as there is no way to ‘respec’ outside of starting all over. These numbers will be important as certain weapons require various levels of strength or constitution to wield, even though the game does a poor job of explaining that sometimes its just an ability that you can’t use for said weapon but you can still hack and slash with reduced effects. Oh, I should also mention that there is only one terminal per zone, so when you die because you missed a jump or some hiding enemy cheap shots you; you’ll be forced to go back all the way to the terminal and then make your way back to pick up your fallen XP.
I wanted to like The Last Oricru very much, I was intrigued by the fish out of water story, but the abrasiveness of the main character and the basic feeling combat just killed it for me. There is a case here for a strong presentation, the vistas and some of the levels were a joy to explore, also the fact that the game kept what felt like a solid 60 fps was a big plus in this ‘next-gen’ age but there was always something just keeping me from really enjoying myself. Be it the so-so story, the wasted use of souls mechinics or just Silver himself, sadly The Last Oricru just doesn’t add anything new to the genre.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.