Thriller Visual Novel Review: The Last Weekend

Written by Rastafoo69, edited by Jin0uga and Otaku Apologist

The Last Weekend, a horror visual novel developed by KexBoy. Released on March 14, 2017. Download on Nutaku.net for $4.00. For PC Windows and Mac OS. No voice acting. Uncensored genitals.

Four horny teenagers are lounging at a cabin lake house. They are cut off from civilization, they’re having sex behind their parents’ backs, and a serial killer is on the loose. Choose your character and play from four unique perspectives! Try to survive the local predator long enough to insert your genetic mass in a cute girl. Darwinian natural selection in effect!

STORY

A group of guys and girls is spending their weekend at a lake side cabin. Located deep in a forest, they have no phone signal, no paved roads, no internet, and no-one to scream for help when shit hits the fan. When a storm hits the lake side, the place is completely isolated from the rest of the world.

From the get-go, everyone is flirting shamelessly with each other in preparation for copulation. After the group is done eating dinner that night, the hostess of the cabin has a seizure and dies.

The four characters have very different personalities, which makes their relationships and banter interesting to follow. All the characters are designed around classic tropes you see in horror movies. You have the idiot blonde, the slim nerd, the bull-headed athlete, and the clever redhead. The story does not delve deeply into their personalities, merely using them as pawns in a game of chess with a killer.

For example, hiding from the killer in the bathroom will you get you killed, because one of the characters sabotaged the door earlier in the story. You would only know this if you played as that character beforehand!

Since The Last Weekend is a horror game with a mystery plot, I’m ending the spoilers here. The important thing is that you’ll be given multiple choices at certain plot points. Each choice will decide who survives and who gets butchered. The story rewards multiple playthroughs and the ability to pay attention to detail.

GAMEPLAY

The Last Weekend is a visual novel created in the Renpy game engine. You click the screen to advance the story. The game presents you with several choices at certain points, but few impact the plot in a meaningful way. It’s linear and simple to understand. You can save your progress in multiple save slots whenever you want.

The game features a handful of sliding block puzzles. Depending on your choice of point-of-view character, you’ll only face one or two puzzles during the entire run of the game. There are no meaningful differences between the characters.

Some branching choices are very unclear. One choice was between “Find the Painting”, or “Leave the area”. I chose the second option, and instead of my character leaving the area, my partner abandoned me and drove away!

GRAPHICS

The game’s art is an original, semi-realistic drawing style. Though it looks unique, it almost seems as though the developer downloaded drawing templates from the internet and simply colored them. There’s no personality to the artwork at all. All the backgrounds and characters look manufactured and robotic.

The art gets worse during partially animated scenes. When the hostess of the cabin has a seizure, twitching and convulsing on the floor, the rest of the characters remain blank and expressionless. They don’t show any care for someone suffering in front of them. If you’re going to do an animation, do it for the whole scene.

The sex scenes are somewhat animated, but look like a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. An image will pan up and down on screen. The presentation comes off as lazy and unrealistic.

The visuals have good things about them too. The women look like sexy goddesses with perfect curves. The character designs are on point. The super model runs around in skimpy shorts, the athlete wears a skintight muscle shirt, and the programmer wears a loose T-shirt and jeans. Everything is believable and visually appealing. The bad animation sabotaged what could have been a decent-looking indie game.

VOICE ACTING AND SOUND EFFECTS (SFX)

The Last Weekend has no voice acting.

Sound effects are limited, but they do their job well. It’s just difficult to distinguish them from the atmospheric music in the background. Most of the game is played with only the sound of rain in the background. You occasionally hear a door open or slam, but most of the game revels in the silence and patter of raindrops.

MUSIC

The sound design is split between perfectly fitting and completely inappropriate. During sex scenes, the music mixes electric piano and violin to create a soft and sensual tune, punctuated by light moaning. On occasion, a cymbal will ring out to keep you interested in the coming melody. It’s a beautiful track.

On the other hand, after a character is murdered in a bloody mess and, the scene is followed by a puzzle game featuring upbeat music. It mixes guitar and electric piano to create a happy puzzle tune, keeping you energetic and focused on solving it. The mood switch is a killer itself, going from depressing to cheery in less than a minute.

HENTAI

The hentai content is minimal and ruins the mood set by the horror elements. Someone was just murdered in the kitchen, and Alice’s first response was to get on her knees and start gagging on dick! Featured sex positions include simple blowjobs, and standing sex, followed by the male cumming all over the female’s perky breasts. It’s repetitive and predictable. In ecchi scenes, like when the girls are showering, they look good.

In the best scene of the game, a guy peeps on a girl showering. She knows he’s there and gives a seductive show to please him. She washes her legs, then turns to the side to give him some delicious side-boob. But when they have sex, all of that passion is gone, and you’re left with two character models panning up and down on screen to simulate sex.

CONCLUDING WORDS

The Last Weekend is a unique horror title in the adult gaming market. As the first game by an indie developer, it’s not perfect. But even with the shortcomings, I still had fun. Players can explore four perspectives to solve an exciting murder mystery and enjoy cute pussy and puzzles.

I recommend this game to fans of horror stories. Download The Last Weekend today.