A recent anti-cheat update caused Linux support for this game to cease completely for seemingly no reason. Unless you want to switch back to Windows, you can kiss your purchase goodbye. Truly a shame for what I consider one of the greatest games I ever played.

Last train home is a game that derives a lot of its charm and appeal from exploring a very specific setting that few other games have explored. Through the lens of the Czechoslovak legion, uniquely tuned to a time a hundred years past, a story far from the western fronts is told, of frozen soldiers, fighting to return back home. Though the cut is rough and it struggles at times to shine, this game nevertheless has become a gem to me. This review will indeed be critical, and an unpolished diamond does not shine from every angle, but I will do my best to explain my views on this frozen jewel from the east.

SETTING
The game's setting is undeniably niche, but to those interested in the time period, it scratches an itch that nothing else quite does. The time period lends itself perfectly to show off interesting weaponry, machinery and technology, and the choice of conflict make for an excellent vehicle for all this - an opportunity, which the amazing artwork of the game leverages greatly to really make the world feel unique, interesting and fun to explore.

GAMEPLAY
Since gameplay is split between combat, management and exploration, each with positives and negatives, this section too will be split, listing my thoughts on each point.

Management
The management portions of the game are good, though somewhat held back by the UI reminiscent of a spreadsheet through which one needs to upgrade their soldiers. Some soldiers have gamechanging out-of-combat traits, which leads to distinct personalities forming around the squads they fit in, with a few very tired, very elite jack-of-all-trades, a horde of useless people just good enough to hold a gun, the foraging experts, the trade-smoothtalker with his two useless pals, the schizoid keeping the train safe from booby traps and many more.

Combat
Save-scumming is the biggest complaint - both in and out of combat. As checkpoints and manual saves are incredibly prevalent, the game is robbed of all tension as any encounter can be repeated infinitely until you succeed. Likewise, the AI of this game would struggle in an IQ test against a box of rocks. As long as there is one bush to stealth in, no encounter is threatening. However, disregarding these issues, the combat is solid. Bullets hurt - your soldiers feel genuinely at risk of injury or death, with consequences of both being felt for a while after the mission, making for pretty high intensity combat if one manages to gaslight themselves into thinking they couldn't just quickload.

Exploration
There is much to be excited about. Most playable maps feel unique in some way, underpinned by good storytelling and fitting - likewise, much of the random story events are great, though I will of course not spoiler these in this review. As for complaints, there are certainly a few - In some towns there are bars, for example, where the player has the option of getting intoxicated with their crew to raise morale, however that feature is unfortunately not very useful on account of the amount of alcoholics this tactic produces. Local doctors also exist, but their relevancy is lost completely as soon as one has the hospital car. I believe such map-interactions would have had amazing potential to be useful at all points of the playthrough if only they had been developed further.

STORYTELLING
Despite the amazing setting, the storytelling miraculously manages to fall short. There is not much consequence to the player's actions, with most interactions with Langer (discounting the choice of route) resulting in the same outcomes. Likewise, the other supporting characters feel somewhat disconnected from the setting, often cracking somewhat cringeworthy jokes and not really feeling like actual soldiers from that time period. However, the authentic language option and excellent character writing do a good job compensating for this shortfall, still making for an enjoyable experience.

MARKETING
Never say the title of the game in the marketing material. Please, I beg of you. Please, please, please, stop.

I've loved Last Train Home and the remarkable story it told. A huge part of the experience therein was the artwork, which was well in tune with the similarly great soundtrack of the game, communicating a strong atmosphere of how czech legionaries might have felt during their actual journey. It is very nice to now have a piece of that magic I felt playing in my steam library, at no extra charge.

It's now been 4 years since I got this game, and I found it apt that I should write a proper review at some point. This is that, we'll go point by point.

OVERALL
I recommend Ravenfield for the moddability, gunplay, wealth of content and custom gamemodes that are available.

UPDATES
Though once in a blue moon and with relatively little changes, the game does receive updates. To my knowledge it's only SteelRaven7 working on this, so I am not particularly mad about that schedule.

MODS
The majority of this game's replay value comes from its high moddability, with custom maps, guns, skins and vehicles you can essentially make anything happen. SteelRaven has put in great effort to expand this part of the game, with even old versions of the game being accessible in the beta branch options if one would like to try out mods broken by new updates.

GUNS
Though the arsenal you choose is often defined by the mods you chose, the base game weapons are quite incredible and fun to get good at. The game features no crosshairs by default, meaning that "blind" hip-fire will have to do in a pinch. However, that hip-fire is predictable and the bullets can be seen, meaning one can develop a gut feeling for that sort of aiming, something which feels very rewarding. A perfect blind spray with the AK, Patriot or DMR is incredibly satisfying, as are the one-shot headshot kills with the garand or shotgun. Plainly said, every gun feels incredible to shoot from the hip, making the core gameplay very engaging.

MOVEMENT
Movement is nothing out of the ordinary, but since you are fighting bots, you can take advantage of nice flank routes and other such things to shoot at grouped up enemies and go on crazy rampages.

MAPS
There are not too many good ones in my opinion. Most feel too large for infantry gameplay, though maps like temple, glacier, archipelago with restricted flags and Freehold (Workshop map) are just incredible.

MODES
There are many game modes, though I am primarily a fan of skirmish. The halloween wave defense gamemode is very fun, especially in close-quarters maps.

This game REALLY gets the atmosphere going. Couple this with some mods and you get an amazing, emotionally intense experience.

I like this game. It's fun, if not a little lonely at times. But i dislike that Keen releases new stuff in the form of DLCs instead of just updates. I would like to build ATMs without having to pay. I would like to be able to paste ships without problems if i don't own the decorative blocks DLCs (annoys me that they split that content into 2 DLCs to get more cash, too). So please Keen, stop it and I will happily change this review to positive. But let's be honest. You won't. Just dont turn into those ♥♥♥♥♥ over at EA.

Addicting. Very.

A great and powerful tool, but very confusing. If you do not give up easily, this will be your thing.

The Destructibility is the only interesting part about this game. But oh boy, It is so much fun to destroy your vehicle in the best ways possible.

Great moddable openworld game. Be aware that it is buggy.