Last Rites

I went into Last Rites knowing it had a rough reputation, and the game wasted no time confirming it. Originally developed by Ocean Software in 1997 and quietly re-released on Steam, this is a Doom-era FPS set during a zombie apocalypse in a near-future city, spread across roughly eleven objective-based missions that take you through outdoor streets, sewers, shopping centers, tech labs, and a cathedral before a final confrontation with the game's villain, a wealthy cultist named Father Mordae who traded his soul for eternal life and turned the city into a buffet. The one thing Last Rites legitimately has going for it is an interesting concept executed just well enough to be intriguing. AI squadmates, three or four per mission, follow you through most levels, and the game was notably early in attempting this kind of rudimentary squad dynamic. In practice the teammates get stuck on doorframes, stand motionless while zombies chew through them, and have a reliable habit of dying inside the first few minutes of any given level. You cannot issue them commands, and their deaths carry zero consequences. The good news is they stay out of your way when they do nothing, which is more than you can say for some escort mechanics in far newer games. The arsenal is a genuine high point: uzi, shotgun, flamethrower, plasma rifle, multi-barrel cannon, a rocket launcher with a lock-on feature, and a nuclear grenade launcher. Weapons can be upgraded by finding techno packs scattered through levels that boost range or firepower, and health kits can push your health past 100% up to 200%, which gives the moment-to-moment shooting a satisfying, chunky feel that holds up better than most of the surrounding game. The problems are severe and specific. No automap exists anywhere in the game. There is a battery-powered scanner that tags enemies and objectives, but it will not help you work out where a door is or which corridor doubles back. Several levels are dense, sprawling mazes where the correct path is genuinely obscure, and the absence of a map transforms what should be brisk zombie-mowing into extended wandering sessions that test patience more than skill. The level geometry in the outdoor city sections is particularly repetitive, identical building fronts line entire streets with nothing interactive behind them, giving the city a flat, prop-like quality. Controls carry some dated baggage from the DOS era, including an inverted Y-axis by default and a strafe system that takes adjustment from modern habits. None of these issues are insurmountable, but none are charming quirks either. Who is this actually for? Retro FPS enthusiasts who have already worked through the recognized classics of the era and want something genuinely obscure will find a curio worth a session or two. There is a gloomy, cynical British atmosphere here, the game was originally a Europe-only release, that gives it a personality distinct from American contemporaries. If George Romero-era zombie fiction is your comfort zone and you can tolerate aimless level wandering as a feature rather than a flaw, some of this will land. For anyone else, the mixed Steam verdict at 57% positive is a fair warning. There are much smoother ways to spend an evening with old-school FPS games, and this one requires active patience to enjoy what it does well. Alex, Scout Team