The Last Oricru

The Last Oricru drops you into a world that mashes together medieval castles and science fiction lore in ways that are genuinely interesting on paper. You play as Silver, a man who wakes up on a planet called Wardenia with a device implanted in him that prevents permanent death - so yes, there is a respawn mechanic baked into the fiction itself, which is a neat narrative justification for what is essentially a Souls-adjacent checkpoint loop. The setting blends feudal societies, genetic engineering, and alien history into something that wants to feel like Dune crossed with a fantasy CRPG. Whether it sticks the landing is a much messier conversation. The headline feature is faction allegiance. Multiple groups compete for control of Wardenia, and your choices about who to support shift the story in meaningful ways - different quests unlock, NPCs die or survive, and endings branch depending on your alignment. For a mid-budget title this is genuinely ambitious, and players who replay the game will find whole questlines they missed the first time. The writing is not Disco Elysium, not even close, but the political maneuvering between factions has some real teeth. Choosing to betray an ally mid-arc feels consequential rather than cosmetic, which is more than a lot of bigger RPGs manage. Combat is where The Last Oricru earns its mixed reviews. The Souls-lite structure is there - stamina management, dodge timing, estus-style healing - but the weight and feedback of hits feel inconsistent. Enemies can stagger-lock you in ways that read as unfair rather than challenging, and the build variety, while present through stat allocation and weapon types, does not expand dramatically enough to reward experimentation past the midgame. You have melee weapons, ranged options, and some ability usage tied to your implant, but the ceiling on interesting build combinations arrives earlier than it should. Co-op play, available locally and online, does help significantly - the game's encounter design breathes better when a second player is absorbing aggro and the chaos becomes intentional rather than accidental. Production values sit firmly in the mid-tier bracket. Animations are serviceable, some environments carry genuine atmosphere, and the sound design gets the job done without standing out. The story pacing has filler stretches that will test patience, and some side quests exist purely to pad hours between the faction-driven main beats. Quest markers occasionally mislead, and the PC version at launch had performance hiccups that patches have addressed to varying degrees depending on hardware. None of this is catastrophic, but it accumulates into friction for players who came expecting a tighter experience. The audience for this one is specific: RPG players who prioritize branching narrative and faction politics over polished combat, and who either have a co-op partner or serious patience for rough edges. If your metric for success is "did my choices actually change things," The Last Oricru delivers more than its budget and review score might suggest. If you need the combat to feel great on its own, you will hit a wall well before the credits roll. It is a game that respects your political decisions more than your build crafting, which puts it in an awkward space but an honest one. Monika, Scout Team