The action RPG The Last Oricru (PS5, Xbox Series, PC) will be released on October 13, 2022. This was revealed by the developers at the gamescom. There, our author Mark Sellner was able to spend almost an hour in the title and sees it as a real co-op insider tip.
The Last Oricru is a sci-fi medieval game, which sounds contradictory at first glance. As the hero “Silver,” you can steer the fate of an interplanetary war in the about 15 to 20-hour campaign. This is fought between two warring factions.
However, instead of fighting with spaceships and big laser guns, you battle in The Last Oricru with swords, fireballs, and axes. The story also takes place on a planet that is isolated from the rest of space and is only partially explored, often giving it a medieval feel.
This mixture of sci-fi and medieval creates a unique atmosphere in The Last Oricru, comparable only to the Elex series from the German studio Piranha Bytes. And this is not by coincidence.
Because the developers told us at gamescom during a hands-on session that The Last Oricru takes the combat system of a soulslike and wants to throw it into the world of a Gothic or Risen. The game places great importance on rough dialogues and far-reaching decisions.
Additionally, the developers showed a new trailer at gamescom:
The Last Oricru can be played in split-screen co-op
Apart from the unusual setting, The Last Oricru also offers gameplay elements that you can look forward to and appeals to both single-player and co-op fans. You can easily play through the entire campaign of the action RPG alone, but it’s even better to do so together.
This works both online and in split-screen, even on PC. The second player joins the existing save file of the host and can play along, but cannot make progress or make decisions themselves.
However, they will be adjusted to the host’s level, so no player should be too strong or too weak. The most fun comes from playing together, especially when you fight side by side. Because that’s when The Last Oricru shows why it’s so cool for co-op fans.
The co-op battles are the highlight of The Last Oricru
During a hands-on session at gamescom, we were able to try out a level roughly in the middle of the game together with the developers. We spent about an hour in The Last Oricru on PC in split-screen co-op.
Here, the co-op battles stand out as the highlight. Although the game was originally designed as a single-player experience, there are many cool moves that you can only perform in co-op with a teammate.
For example, if you throw a large fireball at your enemies, that’s cool and deals damage. But if you throw this fireball at your ally, who reflects it with their shield in time and hits the enemy, it’s not only much cooler but also causes more damage.
In another fight, the teammate casts a healing beam on me. They could also shoot it directly at the enemy, but that would deal little damage. Instead, the beam connects both players and heals the affected player continuously. Even better, enemies hit by this beam will take damage as well.
All of these mechanics can make The Last Oricru a feast for co-op fans. Since there are no AI companions, these cool maneuvers are completely absent in single-player mode.
But not just the battles are more fun in co-op. The entire game, with all its decisions, simply works better together. Because The Last Oricru has many different paths built into its gameplay.
To see all possible endings of the story, you need to play through the game at least 4 times, but likely more, since some things are very hidden. However, if you are like me and rarely play games a second time, the co-op comes in just right.
Because you can simply jump into any game and take a brief excursion to see how the game world has changed based on the host’s decisions.
This allows you to experience various gameplay paths at least briefly without having to play through the entire game again. And you can even help your friends, which adds a practical gimmick.
Replay value through many choices and a hidden path
While the developers tell us about their game, it’s clear that they are proud of the many different decisions in The Last Oricru. And these aren’t just there for show, but are meant to carry weight in the game.
Basically, you collect sympathy points for one of the two warring factions with almost every decision in the game. So you can switch sides more often and don’t have to decide for one immediately. However, many missions change significantly depending on which side you complete them for.
In the mission we could play at gamescom, we first had to attack a castle. As soon as we found a way inside, our leader died in a battle against the enemy captain. Skill and cunning are needed to emerge alive and victorious from the situation.
Once that was accomplished, we replayed the same mission. Only this time we made a different decision in the previous quest. Suddenly, we stood on the side of the defenders in an open battle, even fighting against the leader, whom we could only watch dying before.
Here we could even choose whether to kill or let the leader go. The developers promise us that this decision will also have an impact on the next missions. A large web of diverse paths emerges, all of which carry weight. This is fun and creates a huge incentive to see everything.
Currently, we know very little about the hidden path in the story. However, the developers have revealed that there is a way to complete The Last Oricru without leading either side to victory. To do this, one probably has to make very specific decisions and stick to them.
No one wanted to tell us exactly what this looks like, but this also contributes to the likelihood that you might want to play through The Last Oricru more than once.
How good will The Last Oricru be?
It is currently hard to assess how successful The Last Oricru will be. The double-A production especially showed its value in the playable demo during technical aspects. The version we played still stuttered in some places, and the controls reacted slowly at times, otherwise, the game ran smoothly.
However, the developers still have time until October 13 to address such minor issues. If they succeed, The Last Oricru could well be an action RPG with the potential to become a hidden gem highlight that definitely doesn’t need to hide.
What do you think of The Last Oricru? Are you excited about the title or didn’t you even have it on your radar? What do you think of the unusual setting? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments here at MeinMMO and let us know your opinion.
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