One Last Breath – Test and News

One Last Breath is one of those games that immediately catches our eye. And for good reason, its polished artistic direction and its concept which immediately reminds us of gems such as Inside or Limbo were enough to make us want to put our hands on the controller and discover what this adventure hides. An adventure that can be followed with pleasure, but which is sorely lacking in something…

The story of the game begins with the birth of our character. A mysterious apparition in an equally enigmatic world. In One Last Breath, there is not the slightest dialogue, the slightest writing, and the entire story therefore passes through what you will observe and by the actions that you will have to carry out during your wanderings. A concept similar to that of Limbo and Inside which is not without interest even if, in this case, we would have liked things to be a little more explicit. Indeed, we understand the message hidden by the developers, but the ending and the exploitation of the theme clearly leave us wanting more. Afterwards, as is often the case with this kind of title, we can legitimately imagine that the idea is also to create discussion around our adventure, our feelings. In this case, it works moderately. This may be due to the fact that the game is very short (two hours)…

This lifespan – in itself – might not be problematic, if the game offered us a slightly more arduous experience. But that's not even the case. You will spend most of your time moving (left or right) and interacting with the objects around you. This handling – very simple – is, that said, exemplary intuitive. No need for tutorials and additional explanations, you immediately understand what you need to do as soon as an element comes to you. These mechanics evolve over the course of the game, thus offering small puzzles that we would have liked to be a little more difficult. At no time during our test did we get stuck for a few minutes with a problem. Everything is clear, crystal clear and therefore fast, too fast. And this is not to say that it is possible to choose a difficulty to make things more difficult. Damage.

Obviously, this simplicity in gameplay comes at a price. Because if the puzzles are solved very easily, the rest of the game, in addition, is limited to movements and a few games of hide-and-seek or chases that are just as simple, not to say simplistic. It's frankly a shame, especially since what we're doing, what we're going through, is truly nice. The intriguing side of the universe, its atmosphere and its intuitive gameplay give us a lot of pleasure and fun. We would therefore have liked to be able to explore this postapocalyptic world more. That being said, it is still good to note that terminals are scattered / hidden in the different stages. Ten in number, these can be unplugged and, if you succeed, this offers you the opportunity to discover another ending, a secret ending. An additional motivation to relaunch the game for completionists or for the most curious, but nothing which is truly revolutionary or which does not really increase the interest of the title.

Fortunately for him, despite gameplay that is far too simplistic, One Last Breath can benefit from successful artistic direction and a tasty atmosphere. From the first moments, from our first steps, we literally immerse ourselves in this dark and disturbing universe. The developers also play with the different depths by placing creatures on the background of the screen or by having one or the other of them pass right in front of you. These are small details, but they clearly contribute to creating a feeling of fear and distrust that will stay with you throughout your game. To this, we must add an impeccable technical part which makes the experience fluid and free of any bugs, which allows us to face a game that is pleasant to follow, effective in its proposal. Add to this a mastered sound and musical part, notably thanks to numerous relevant themes and you understand that the game turns out to be rather pleasant to follow.