The Last Oricru graced us with its presence in 2022 to a mixed reception, but now, almost a year later, we have the “Final Cut” update. This update boasts a lot of new features and gameplay changes based on feedback given by the player base, but how does it stack up now?

Developed by GoldKnights, The Last Oricur is their first game, and it’s a sci-fi fantasy RPG that takes some inspiration from Dark Souls. In full transparency, I have not played the original version, but I have seen gameplay footage, so I won’t compare them so much as give my opinion of it as it stands now.

The Last Oricru is set on Planet Wardenia and you play as the immortal warrior, Silver, who crash-landed on a strange planet before being discovered by the Naboru faction. The Naboru are akin to the Monarch of the planet, ruling over the Ratkin, a race of enslaved rat-people living a nomadic life and constantly fighting against their oppressors.

Lastly is the mysterious Broken Faction. Each faction has its benefits, and deciding to align yourself with any of them isn’t necessarily good or bad – it all depends on what you think is right. It’s one of those stories where your choices change the outcome, and while the story is interesting, it can sometimes be a little hard to concentrate on, but for reasons I’ll go into later.

I found the controls pretty easy to use, so for someone who was primarily a console player, this felt great. I didn’t immediately have to change the key binds. Now this might be the same for a lot of PC games, but remember, I was mostly on console, so I am still catching up in a way. Unlike some games I have played on PC, where I switch to a controller almost immediately, I feel I could use a mouse and keyboard without wanting to switch, but it isn’t without its flaws. Sometimes movement and dodging can feel a little slow, but for the most part, it’s a pretty fun experience. I just fought everything I could, no matter what faction I pissed off in the process – it was that enjoyable.

The levelling system is the style I prefer – the kind where you have to up your stats depending on the build you want, and certain weapons need specific stats to use. My go-to weapons were katanas and spears, though all of them have special abilities, some of which you have to unlock, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the armour styles, even though a few looked pretty badass, so I made sure to look out for those types, but for someone else, those pieces of armour could be super cool. Rings, for me, seem to be an important part of your character build, as most will take points from other skills and increase another. For example, I have an Owl Ring +1, which takes two points from both Strength and Dexterity, but it adds four points to my Intelligence.

This can be super helpful if you need to change your build to use a specific weapon that your current ability isn’t high enough to use. You can also purchase, sell, and upgrade equipment, materials, and potions to specific NPCs, as well as pick up side quests, and I’ll give you a free hint – make sure you focus on a side quest when you get it. If you continue the main story instead or grab another, you will automatically fail that mission, and it may be lost for good.

The setting for the game is quite dark. I wouldn’t say Souls-dark, but it’s close, and it’s quite striking. From the monastery to the castle, sewers to the ocean, it’s all amazingly detailed. The people, on the other hand, are a little lacking. While the environments were awe-inspiring, the characters didn’t have me thinking “Damn!” It was more like, “Is this 2011 Skyrim?” They’re not bad, but sometimes it felt a little goofy.

Another thing that had me struggling a bit was the line delivery. Besides the sometimes cringy dialogue, the way the lines are voiced felt sterile and robotic, almost like the words were recorded individually and then edited together. That is probably the best way I can describe it, but the silver lining is that some pretty funny lines get thrown around, and they made me laugh.

While some aspects of this game still aren’t great, pretty much all the things I liked were a part of the update. This was mainly combat improvements, but for those who played the original game, some of the other improvements include a smoother difficulty progression, two all-new locations, an in-game map, including navigation points and objectives, and an update to online co-op play.

Unfortunately, I was not able to check out the multiplayer capability, as I am a true gamer and don’t have friends. Insert the audience “Awwww” track here. In truth, I had no one available at the time to give it a try, but as a single-player game, it was a lot of fun, and I will dive back into it between reviews.

Written by: Adam Brasher