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The Last Oricru is a game which doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. It comes across primarily as a messy amalgamation of disparate ideas which come together to form something which resembles that old cliché phrase; a jack of all trades and a master of none. This phrase is apt for this scenario, given that the reason that The Last Oricru fails is due to the fact that it tries to do so much and yet manages to do none of it well.

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This thing doesn’t know if it wants to lean into its FromSoftware influence and be a full-blown souls-like, nor is it certain that it wants to play like a Mass Effect game in a fantasy setting. In moments, it leans into its Skyrim influence and exploration and loot become the game’s priority. Frankly, it becomes tiring trying to follow The Last Oricru as it hops around, aping a multitude of other superior titles all within a couple of hours of playtime.

The Last Oricru is out now and is available on PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.

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The intro to the game plays like one of those sub-par Mass Effect clones which came out in the late 2000’s. Graphically, it also resembles the titles from that era. We are introduced to the game’s protagonist; Silver. After spending over 10 hours with Silver, I can safely say that he is one of the most insufferably obnoxious protagonists that I have ever had the displeasure of playing as.

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The Last Oricru’s plot utilises the tried and tested gimmick of the amnesiac protagonist attempting to regain his memory and learn where he came from. The only issue with this is that Silver is such an unbearable walloper, that it is hard to care where he came from and it is even harder to care whether he is going to make it back home.

Just look at his insanely punchable face.

The game takes place on a planet called Wardenia, which also happens to be inhabited almost exclusively with pompous eejits, meaning that Silver fits right in. Before much else is established, Silver is thrust into the midst of a civil war taking place on Wardenia and just as it is difficult to give a toss about Silver’s plight, it is equally hard to get invested in this inconsequential war.

A few lines scattered throughout the game’s script have a faint whiff of wit to them, but too many characters come across as intolerable tadgers that the charm gets buried beneath the rest of the nonsense spouted by these skudbooks. Incredibly though, even amongst this cast of self-important plonkers, the degenerate man-child known as Silver still emerges as the biggest halfwit in the game.

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The main focus of The Last Oricru’s gameplay is its combat. This is unfortunate given that the game’s combat system is rubbish. The dodge, parry, roll mechanic is employed here and it comes across as even more janky in The Last Oricru than it does in the already awkwardly stiff Soulsborne games that it lifts from.

The Last Oricru doesn't boast the smoothest of combat systems. — The Last Oricru doesn’t boast the smoothest of combat systems.

Again, more combat manoeuvres can be learned through training and better gear can be acquired for combat scenarios, but do we really want to see Silver become the greatest swordsman in the land, given that he is a complete and utter fud?

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When it is all said and done, The Last Oricru is not necessarily a bad game and there is a certain charm to it. However, there are better Mass Effect rip-offs available on the market, there are better Skyrim clones which can be experienced and there are a multitude of superior souls-like games out there too. This renders The Last Oricru as somewhat irrelevant in such a saturated market, which is a shame given the game’s handful of redeeming qualities.