It’s been said time and time again that if you’re going to stand out in a sea of rogue-likes, you’ll need a decent hook, a loop and perhaps a gimmick to win the crowds. Last Man Sitting isn’t just an amusing title, but a different… spin on the genre. First, it’s a third-person Surviors-like with a ‘chase cam’, and secondly, you’re on wheels.
No, this isn’t an off-road rogue-like similar to Earl Vs The Mutants, but an office-based setting where you move around on office swivel chairs. With knees firmly embedded in ergonomics built for your bum, you dash around a corporation’s office space, destroying the robots that have taken over the meatbags’ duties. There’s not much in the way of storyline besides overthrowing an evil entity and accessing various levels via an elevator, but it’s still a bit more than the other games in the pool.
In Last Man Sitting, you’ll pick from a variety of office workers who dash around obliterating the multiple waves of spawning robotics. The humble minigun is the starting weapon, with infinite ammo. However, through progress, a vast array of destructive tools is available, such as a katana, shotgun, and even a fireworks gun that looks pretty, but makes visibility resemble the English countryside on a pea-soup-riddled February. Interesting to note on the starting weapon is that you can stick with it throughout the duration of your playthrough. I played with numerous weapons, and while a rifle was decent, the minigun was OP from the get-go.
This also applies to the characters available. Starting with the accountant, you earn a secretary, a janitor and eventually, the CEO. All their stats are exactly the same, though they come equipped with a defining special ability such as lasers, concentrated fire and hacking abilities. Your chair, too, has a special ability that can include a move that slams into the ground and leaves a wave of damage, or the initially less impressive grenade, which, through upgrades, becomes devastating. Having a setup at the beginning that carries you through the game is a little disappointing, as potentially these runs are about those marginal gains and incremental damage increases. It got to the point where I stopped experimenting and stuck with what worked.
PvE gameplay is all about surviving the clock and destroying all the robots. Each kill grants XP that awards one of three upgrades, ranging from elemental damage to bespoke tweaks to the gun you’re using, such as laser precision or adding a drone to shoot anything behind you. The latter is highly recommended as Last Man Sitting doesn’t give you that overview perspective seen in similiar games where you can see all around you, and enemies have a nasty habit of spawning behind you, meaning these wheels are key to survival.
I actually found that it was much more enjoyable with the freedom of movement, as you can jump and dash, as well as pull off a Tony Hawk and grind rails to get around. I was a little hesitant that this would be a prominent feature, as you move a little too fast, which makes it harder to aim. That said, it’s needed as Last Man Sitting dishes out mini events such as a Fortnite-like storm of Termination where you have to survive in one spot, or complete quests such as collecting trash, destroying crates or escorting executive robots on their way. Getting around quickly crucial. For the first few runs, these quests are a little too chaotic to understand, but once you’re familiar with them, they are vital to levelling up mid-run. Regrettably, the same quests tend to play over and over, which is monotonous.
We’ve covered all the core mechanics except chair upgrades. These are like permanent buffs, or similar to the runes in Grind Survivors, where you can swap out buffs based on rarity that can improve your XP generation, lower the damage you take, or modify elemental damage so that it stacks. Last Man Sitting can be played sitting down, with friends, via the co-op mode, or PvP, where the robots are gone, and it’s stuff like King of the Hill and whatnot. The online stuff didn’t appeal to me as much as PvE. However, while it’s expected that a game such as this would be repetitive, it doesn’t have that same draw as other counterparts may have.
’d have liked the characters to be a little more unique besides their special abilities and aesthetics. There aren’t many chairs to choose from, but there’s a wealth of guns. Alas, starting with the minigun was a bad choice, as it’s just so easily the best weapon in the game and makes the others redundant. Enemies are varied enough, but there are only two real main bosses. Sure, there are mini bosses throughout, but considering how easy it is to get stacked damage through chair upgrades, ongoing levelling and the bonus vending machines that add extra boosts, even on some of the harder settings, it’s quite easy to shred through the ‘harder’ enemies.
Nevertheless, Last Man Sitting is a fun idea and, in short bursts, mostly enjoyable, though it lacks the replay value of some of the more recent rogue-likes I’ve played – probably because of unlocking some of the best gear too early on. Still, outside of Say No More and perhaps The Company Man, this is one of the better office-based experiences and far better to wreak havoc than sit in a board meeting or dick about on Excel. We all love a good swing on a swivel chair, right?
