“Last Stop” is a playable love letter to London

London in 1982.Big Ben is not actually Big Ben except that it is just a tourist poster. When the camera pulled back, we saw teenagers Sam and Pete running across the subway station, smiling and being chased by policemen in classic old-fashioned uniforms. The action was quick, but the two people’s wits were faster, until they met a mysterious man who led them to an ominous door deep in the underground labyrinth.He turned it on, a bright green light, the type of science fiction you might see in one episode Doctor WhoTo fill the entire screen. When Pete was accosted by the two police officers, Sam boldly walked through the door and into the light. The door closes and the scene ends-the screen turns black.

This open TerminalIt is a new narrative adventure game by British studio Variable State, which is a bit hypocritical. First of all, this is the most exciting moment in the game. Although there is no slack in the remaining 7 hours of game time, I am more interested in lively dialogue than strong action sequences.More importantly, the prologue of the game gives the impression that this is another familiar portrayal of London—you know, London Bridge, the red phone booth, the parliament itself, that kind of Ubisoft’s open world blockbuster Watchdogs: Legion Recently inclined. Thank goodness, Terminal It’s never a predictable trawl through famous landmarks.Instead, it will take the player to the tree-lined hinterland of City 2 and beyond (according to its famous Subway map), this is a place where Victorian architecture conflicts with social housing in the 20th century-a place that tourists rarely go unless they make a lot of money on Airbnb.

Surprisingly, I heard that London was not the original setting of the game. The game’s co-directors Jonathan Burroughs, Lyndon Holland and Terry Kenny pitched to the publisher Annapurna Interactive. at first, Terminal is called Moon lake, It takes place in a fictional American town, reminiscent of the bimodal location of the trio’s first title, VirginiaThis change stems from the main difference between this game and their first game-not the scope of enhancement or the shift from first person to third person, but the inclusion of dialogue. Virginia There is no words at all, but it tells its quiet story through evocative animations, weird environments and clever movie clips. TerminalIn contrast, it is a chatterbox; you spend most of your time in lively, natural conversations.

After signing a publishing agreement with Annapurna, Moon lake In 2017, shortly after the work officially started, Burroughs and other members of the team soon began to doubt the combination of their American background and the new talkative role. “Of course I feel anxious,” Burroughs said in a Zoom video call. “If dialogue will be the core of this game, it will be a benefit if it is set in a location that we are all fully familiar with. We want to speak in spoken and natural voices instead of relying on second-hand TV and movie references.” Annpurna agreed With this transition, Variable State, who was relieved, changed its strategy and invested itself to eventually merge into Terminal.