The gamification of tasks is something that has been really popularized in gaming lately. Whether it’s games like Power Wash Simulator or Heist Simulator or Stardew Valley, games have been finding increasingly amusing and entertaining ways to incorporate actual life tasks into the games consumers buy and play. This isn’t new, of course. Stuff like this has been in games for many years. The original Shenmue is a perfect example of this. You literally had a damn warehouse job in that game moving crates and that’s literally what you had to do for a good portion of that game. So when I say Wired Production’s new title The Last Worker nails the gamification of warehouse work, I absolutely mean it.
Made by Oiffy, Wolf, and Wood, The Last Worker is a virtual reality title in which you are an employee of Jüngle, an Amazon type store that ships anything and everything to its customer base. Except in the case of Jüngle, you are literally the last human worker and everyone else has been replaced by robots and droids. The game features a studly cast including including Zelda Williams (The Legend of Korra), Tommie Earl Jenkins (Death Stranding), Jason Isaacs (The Death of Stalin), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Deep), Clare-Hope Ashitey (Children of Men), and David Hewlett (The Shape of Water).
As Kurt (Ólafsson), you and Skew (Isaacs) must navigate work days while pushing hard to meet quotas and demands or else you will lose your job, which would spell your doom. Skew is on his last leg and is barely holding together. You use your Jüngle pod to travel around the warehouse, grabbing items off the shelf and making sure they’re properly weighed and tagged before sending them out to the customer. Any mistakes will be reflected in your final evaluation, which will then determine whether or not you’re still employed. There’s much more to the story than this, but the crux of this story is told through the warehouse play and labor efforts of the player.
Having seen a lot of the reviews for this game call some of the actions taxing, I wonder how many of those reviewers have actually held down these jobs. Having worked in warehouses like this before, the pacing and demands are pretty much spot on. Things need to be tagged, wrapped, and ready to go a lot quicker than most human beings ever expect they would, but that’s how warehouses work. You’re either on the ball or you’re fired and there’s generally no in-between.
For me, it’s the accuracy in this game that wins me over. The voice casting is tremendous and definitely sells the moments, but I find that voice acting in games tends to be pretty stable and great these days. More often than not, you have to go out of your way to find a game with a crappy effort on voices and interactions. The Last Worker characters deliver memorable and interesting performances.
The game isn’t too taxing on your time either. All told, the game clocks in at about 6-10 hours, depending on your mode of play and level of completion. The game also offers several different endings, each with their own options and outcomes. Whether or not Joseph Jüngle has the last word is entirely up to you and your efforts. The game neatly and efficiently captures the effects of capitalism on the workers and their mental health. All of the “demands” on the worker in this game, you know, the grindy stuff, are actually things that real life workers have to deal with every day of their lives.
Don’t like the time demands in the game? Imagine how Amazon workers feel when they have to pee in bottles or risk getting fired for not meeting enough quotas. Don’t like the repetitive nature of the tasks? Imagine how the workers feel when they have to do this and only this for the rest of their lives. It’s through games like this that people can come to appreciate just how taxing warehouse work and capitalism can be for the people it affects the most. That’s what The Last Worker was trying to impart upon gamers and that’s the message I received.
I really enjoyed this game and find that I truly do enjoy a lot of Wired Production efforts. As for Oiffey, Wolf, and Wood, their next effort is already available for demo download on PSVR 2 and it’s called C-Smash VRS, which I highly recommend you grab if you’re into racket sports like pickleball or the like. The Last Worker is a solid effort and a truly memorable game that stick with you long after you’ve put it down.
Editor’s Note: A review copy of The Last Worker was provided by Wired Productions for this review
BSO Rating: 8.25/10
