"The Last Flame" is a single-player Role Playing game with ingenious gameplay and good graphics. It's a roguelike auto-battler focused on build creation, strategy, and decision-making, offering over 55 heroes, 250 items, 120 relics, and 55 origins for unique and challenging runs. In-between automated combats, players must make smart decisions on resource management, path selection, build creation, and strategic positioning for combat, ensuring good replayability.
The game offers a unique blend of auto-battler mechanics and roguelike progression, providing a satisfying gameplay loop.
There is a vast amount of content, including a diverse roster of heroes, items, and relics, allowing for numerous build combinations.
The developer is highly responsive to community feedback and actively works on updates, enhancing the game's quality and balance.
The game suffers from item and hero bloat, making it difficult to create cohesive team compositions as the pool of options expands.
Some heroes and items feel underwhelming or situational, leading to frustration when they don't synergize well in runs.
The reliance on RNG can lead to runs being heavily influenced by luck, which may detract from the overall strategic experience.
gameplay
216 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35%
62%
3%
The gameplay of the game is characterized by a satisfying and addictive loop that combines elements of auto-battling and roguelike mechanics, allowing for a high degree of strategic depth and variety in builds. Players appreciate the gradual introduction to mechanics, the challenge modes, and the ability to experiment with different hero combinations, although some have noted issues with balance and user interface clarity. Overall, the game is praised for its engaging mechanics and replayability, making it a standout in the auto-battler genre.
“I really enjoyed the gameplay loop and made a point to 100% the achievements of the game.”
“The gameplay is endlessly satisfying, with a huge variety of builds and units to experiment with, making every run feel unique.”
“The core gameplay is still incredibly fun.”
“Steamdeck's gameplay experience is not user-friendly when using Chinese; the font size is too small, making the gameplay very difficult.”
“Right now, most mechanics can be ignored, and the only challenge is the post-act-3 boss.”
“The UI needs work on showing critical gameplay info, and the over-explanation of abilities/items/relics makes it a chore to read through and try to figure out if the build you're playing is working out or not.”
replayability
88 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
34%
9%
Overall, the game boasts high replayability, with numerous strategies, challenges, and game modes that keep players engaged. Many reviewers highlight the variety of play styles and character synergies, contributing to an addictive experience. However, some critiques mention a lack of depth in content and metaprogression, suggesting that improvements could enhance its replay value further.
“Tons of strategies that can work and lots of replayability.”
“Replayability to the moon, and lots of challenges that stand for completely new game modes.”
“Infinite replayability, every run is different...endless possibilities.”
“For a roguelite, it lacks replayability, possibly due to insufficient metaprogression or content.”
“After completing all the achievements and doing basically everything the game has to offer, my biggest critique is the previously mentioned lack of replayability coupled with a stale run variability that hurts the longevity of the game.”
“I've fully completed every mode and challenge the game has to offer in 20 hours, so I got my money's worth, but for a roguelite, I'm expecting at least 40 hours of content and replayability that isn't just flipping a coin ten times and hoping you get heads each time for it to be enjoyable.”
graphics
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
53%
6%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their appeal and quality, with many reviewers noting beautiful visuals and satisfying animations. However, some criticism arises regarding the smoothness of graphics on larger screens and a lack of variety in character designs and spell effects. Overall, while the art style may not resonate with everyone, the game's aesthetic and graphical performance are considered strong for the genre, especially in early access.
“Wonderful game that satisfies all the needs of players addicted to genres prone to generating dependency (roguelite, deck-building, strategic and tactical autobattling): search for synergies that completely break the game, incredibly diverse customization of possible builds, incredible quantity of characters, items, relics and decisions, excellent graphics and care for the animations and other aesthetic details.”
“Exceptionally fun auto battler with great graphics and an appealing soundtrack.”
“I'd say graphically this game is ahead of most autochess games, and there are enough combinations of various hero mechanics for you to try out quite a lot of teams.”
“Graphics and character designs are kind of meh, but the gameplay is fun; it sort of reminds me of League of Legends at launch in that aspect, not pretty but fun.”
“Graphically, 'The Last Flame' is nice to look at, but it lacks variety.”
“Only downsides for me are the spell effects and models for some characters leave a lot to be desired (a notch lower than retail WoW graphics), but the game just came out so I'll give it a pass while they focus on the actual gameplay.”
grinding
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
78%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and overwhelming, with excessive micromanagement due to a large number of items and recipes. Many feel that the grind for unlocks and levels lacks meaningful rewards, leading to frustration, especially when the process of restarting runs becomes monotonous. However, some reviewers appreciate that the developer avoids excessive grinding and paywalls, aiming to maintain the game's fun factor.
“The heroes end up feeling very samey and you're overwhelmed with 300 items and item recipes over the course of the run, demanding a lot of micromanagement that just gets tedious.”
“After about 12 hours of grinding, I reached level 22 on the Flame Master endless mode and did not get an achievement.”
“Many games nowadays try to increase playtime/replayability by adding lengthy unlock systems or cramming the game with complex, grindy systems.”
story
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
77%
17%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and background, with players noting that there is no significant narrative or lore to engage with. The main mode, which is loosely referred to as "story mode," consists of only three zones and can be completed in about an hour, leaving players desiring more RPG elements and a richer storyline. Overall, the absence of a compelling story detracts from the experience for many users.
“The graphs do help, but it can be hard to parse the story of the battle from them.”
“My only gripe is I wish for a bit of background story and maybe a slight RPG element.”
“There's no backstory at all.”
“The 'main' mode (story mode? if you can call it that) consists of 3 zones at the moment; you can complete a run through it in about an hour.”
music
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the appealing soundtrack and its ability to enhance the gaming experience, others find it repetitive and lacking in originality, describing it as "auto-generated orchestral blandness." Overall, it contributes positively to the game's atmosphere but may not stand out significantly.
“Edit: The soundtrack is gas and big vibes.”
“Exceptionally fun auto battler with great graphics and an appealing soundtrack.”
“Good build diversity, cool design, challenges, and good sound/music.”
“The music is no better - it sounds like some sort of auto-generated orchestral blandness.”
“The sound/music is mediocre, and I wish there was a bit more enemy variety.”
“Music is decent, but a tad repetitive.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
Overall, the game's optimization is generally praised, with good performance reported by most users. While some minor performance issues exist, they do not significantly detract from the experience, which is enhanced by engaging gameplay, replayability, and a variety of customization options. Most players have not encountered major bugs, indicating a solid optimization effort.
“Performance is good and challenge + replayability is supreme.”
“There's endless team building/customization and you're met with tough decisions as far as optimization goes early and constantly.”
“Has some minor performance issues but the challenge and custom modes offer some nice replayability.”
“I never had any performance issues and the character models only bugged once in the 20 hours.”
humor
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is widely praised, with players finding the combination of recipes and relics to be hilariously entertaining. The comedic elements, such as the quirky relics and the fun of experimenting with character origins, contribute to an overall enjoyable experience that many rate around 8/10.
“When you get the recipes that work for your units, then it's hilariously fun and you can argue an 8/10 kind of game.”
“Chase the highs in the game, because they are so worth it, and so hilarious.”
“We found some of the relics to be pretty funny and neat, particularly the many faces piece that allowed a hero to get everyone else's passives.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
Character development in the game is noted for its fun and engaging designs, alongside satisfying visuals that enhance gameplay. While some users find the graphics and character designs lacking, the emphasis on build crafting and strategic elements contributes to an enjoyable experience reminiscent of early League of Legends. Overall, the character development is seen as a strong point despite its visual shortcomings.
“Fun character designs, satisfying visuals, plenty of build crafting and strategy make this game a gem.”
“The character development feels shallow and uninspired, lacking the depth that would make me care about their journeys.”
“I found the character arcs to be predictable and lacking in emotional impact, making it hard to connect with them.”
“The progression system for characters is poorly designed, leaving me feeling unmotivated to invest time in their development.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization aspect of the game has been criticized for promoting a "verified" QQ group that is filled with virus ads and lacks effective management, leading to a negative user experience.
“After entering the game, it prompted me to join the 'officially verified QQ group' for bug feedback, but there are only virus ads and a useless manager inside.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express a lack of emotional engagement with the game's world, indicating that it fails to create a meaningful connection or attachment.
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere is consistently praised for its cozy and immersive quality, evoking a strong Dungeons & Dragons fantasy vibe that enhances the overall experience.
“The atmosphere is comfy; it's got that D&D fantasy vibe, and it's awesome!”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report that the game is largely bug-free, which is particularly impressive given that it was developed by a single individual. Overall, the stability of the game has been positively received.
“It seems bug-free, which is a very nice achievement for a team of one.”