But they're determined to reverse its suckiness via Last Oasis Season 5.
“Last Oasis Sucks” Says Last Oasis Dev
Written by Ollie Bradley at 08/04/2022, 04:24 AM
When it comes to Steam reviews, "Mixed" is rarely a good sign. Which is the unfortunate truth for nomadic survival MMO Last Oasis. What's less expected, however, is when one of those negative reviews comes from the dev themselves.
In a refreshing show of deferential honesty, an article posted to the Last Oasis Steam page simply entitled 'Last Oasis Sucks' goes into detail about how the game isn't exactly where the developer, "chadz", wants it to be. "When I say it sucks, I mean I'm not having fun for long when playing it. Not as long as other survival games I enjoy. And I'm not alone with that opinion," reads the article's intro.
Last Oasis is an indie nomadic survival MMO that is essentially centered around Theo Jansen's uncanny "Strandbeests" that you have no doubt already seen videos of. From the offset, the premise alone is compelling enough to warrant praise: the earth's rotation has slowed, rendering one half a scorched desert and the other a frozen wasteland. A thin band in the middle of the earth is the only habitable land, forcing humanity to fight for survival and the limited resources available in this area. So far so good.
But the execution fell flat with a lot of fans - as well as the developer themselves. With an initial focus on PvP putting solo play on the back burner, it didn't take long for people to get bored owning (or getting owned by) other players. And those PvP bouts were typically short and sweet encounters, to boot.
So a solution came in the form of an overhaul (or "LOverhaul") in Last Oasis Season 5, which has seen the focus shift to a more hardcore PvE experience. Players are now more likely to succumb to the unforgiving environment around them than their fellow players, with PvP now being an optional route. Last Oasis Season 5 was released on August 2nd.
But the jury's out on whether Last Oasis Season 5 will have the desired effect after all. Because the game's focus (and initial USP) has also been pushed aside, it would seem. Despite the dev's honesty and subsequent overhaul, current negative reviews highlight the fact that 'Walkers' are now simple modes of transport rather than the base from which survivors must operate.
But if there's one thing that the devs have proved, it's that they are willing to hold their hands up and rectify the issues raised by the community. So perhaps this isn't the last overhaul we'll see of Last Oasis.