LAst WEEK

Hey players! How did the weekend go?
LAst WEEK is a game by Mayko and Royalcafe, translated by Whateverzone from thai and released in 2017 (I mean the english version, of course!). This is an RPG Maker XP adventure horror game se in an abandoned school. Well, yes remembering school is often a nightmare for many of us, but for Napa, the protagonist of this game, it's different! In this mysterious school every year that ends with "7" a student disappears! Last time the student suddenly reappeared and shortly after a massacre happened in the school. Whoa!
Napa is a girl that feels that the place is calling her, even if the school is now abandoned, and she decided to explore the place, but unsurprisingly this will turn out to be a really bad idea! Will you survive seven days or will this be her... last week???


A shovel INSIDE a gift pack? What place is this???

Ok, the gameplay? Ah glad you asked, even if most players of rpgmaker horror games know exactly what they can find here: explorations of dark creepy locations, looking for hints and useful items, jumpscares, and some real time section including battles. Oh yes, not the usual turn based or atb rpg battles, of course.
Unfortunately there are also some deaths that seems almost random: a ghost, a door, a ladder, a hole on the floor... well these can mean instant death! So remember to save often, even if the game is about 2 hours and 30 minutes long. I mean, repeating some passage isn't really fun, isn't it? (psst! Remember that you can save even during some dangerous section, so take advantage of that!).

What else? Oh yes, there are survival elements, but not of survival horror, forget looking for guns and bullets! I mean survival in the sense of hunger and batteries for the flashlight. Luckily wandering around Napa can find food and batteries, so it should be ok, even if it's important to check these needs (hunger is a bit more annoying because it's not shown on the screen as we play, like the battery level).


Ok, this place is not normal! But of course so it would be boring, isn't it?

Ok, now the graphics: the game is pretty good and uses many custom made assets, there are cutscenes and pictures here and there, and the art is good. The various locations are also well organized and the place looks really dark and creepy, so the atmosphere is well set, even if some rooms looks a bit empty (well, it's an abandoned place... and also not one totally normal!) and there are also some passability errors and invisible barriers in some places. Pity!
The game uses also some sprites of different styles (like stylized characters/faces) that are a bit out of place compared to the rest of the game due to the cute look (anyway all that is custom is always good).

In the end the game looks very nice, I also liked the animations of some jumpscares, the pictures and sprites are all nice, and there are some suggestive backgrounds and locations, anyway as mentioned before it's not all perfect like the appearance may the players believe. But let's see this in the...


Ok, so this the real use of the shovel: SMASH some faces!

Final Verdict
LAst WEEK (all caps except the "st"! Not just the first letter) is a classic horror rpgmaker game probably aimed to all the players that are fond of this kind of games. The best aspect are probably the graphics, the gameplay is ok, it's not really a game that tells you what to do so exploring and figuring out the course of action isn't exactly intuitive, but I guess it's part of the challenge. There are some choices, like the sudden deaths that I didn't particularly like, the hunger and battery needs are ok instead, still I feel that this is something that can only be enjoyed by those who played a ton of similar mystery/horror games and are looking for more: 2 hours and 30 minutes, two endings (at least the ones I was able to obtain) and a classic exploration gameplay. Nothing really new of course, but if you like the genre you may have some fun, provided you overlook the little flaws and some lack of polish of some maps.
That's all, this was the RpgmakerAddict, over and out!