Last Christmas review – Disturbing psychological themes to unwrap in this short but darkly compelling holiday adventure

• Reviews by Richard Hoover
• Published:

Christmas is a time of joy and festivity to be spent with loved ones. At least, that’s the hope. It’s with that attitude that Frankie has gone to his girlfriend’s parents’ cabin to prepare a cozy Christmas Eve for himself and his darling Betty. However, things will take a dark turn before the night is done in polytely games’ 2D point-and-click adventure Last Christmas, the commercial update to the indie developer’s Adventure Jam 2022 game by the same name. Short but well executed, it’s worth checking out but be forewarned it boasts far heavier content than one would expect of a game with its cartoony appearance and holiday-themed premise.

Certainly at first glance, Last Christmas looks like a cute and festive little game. However, after an innocent enough opening, the ensuing story goes to some emotionally troubling places, with suicide and seasonal depression being real issues addressed here. (If you or someone you know are experiencing such feelings, please seek the appropriate assistance.) Some may find the game's somewhat flippant attitude juxtaposed with such serious subject matter to be discomfiting or even in poor taste, but if you know what you’re getting yourself into, the experience portrayed here is sure to keep you fully immersed until the end.

Last Christmas is a traditional point-and-click adventure that is completely based on inventory puzzles. When Frankie first arrives at the snow-covered cabin, on Christmas Eve 1989, he has a to-do list of preparations for his evening with Betty. This includes such things as decorating the Christmas tree, drawing a bubble bath, and mulling some wine. These tasks are straightforward enough, but most of them involve somewhat out there adventure item substitutions. For example, when the mulled wine recipe calls for some spices, naturally a comedic adventure game protagonist is going to use a replacement that would never be endorsed by Julia Child.

Gameplay consists predominantly of collecting things and finding where to use them in the environment. Despite the entire game lasting less than an hour, a lot of items must be gathered. At one point I had over twenty in the inventory drawer tucked away at the top of the screen. This is very much the type of game where the hero’s pockets are bigger on the inside than out. My personal favourite pickup-able was a nearly two-story-tall Christmas tree that Frankie had no problem concealing somewhere about his person. The protagonist appears to be aware of his status as a protagonist in such a game, occasionally calling out his kleptomaniac tendencies to take everything that’s not nailed down.

The puzzles themselves are enjoyable although not overly challenging, even becoming easier as you progress and your abundant inventory items are used up. Probably the hardest part of Last Christmas is thoroughly combing all the rooms to ensure that you’ve taken everything that can be. This includes checking in every drawer, of which there are many, and behind drapes and other furnishings because many necessary objects are hidden away instead of out in the open. The drawback to this, of course, is that if you miss such an item then there’s no way to know where it is, thus requiring the re-searching of every possible hiding place. A hotspot highlighter is provided, which helps in identifying all the drawers, but if an item is squirreled away inside one, it won’t be revealed by this method.

All this sounds fairly traditional so far, but as Frankie completes major goals from his list, like fully prepping for a festive dinner, he starts having disturbing visions. Brief flickers of darkness showing graphic (for a cartoon) scenes of death begin to plague him. These are accompanied by horror-movie-like musical stings to drive home the impact before the visions vanish again. Clearly some foreboding psychological issues are rising, foreshadowing darker events still to come. There is definitely a horror element here, and while the sudden vision flashes have the feeling of a jump scare, the dark subject matter is much more emotionally disturbing and will stick with you even after finishing the game. The horror here isn’t exactly “fun” but it is compelling.

Most of Last Christmas is just Frankie wandering around the cabin, with its spacious living room, large kitchen, and series of upstairs bedrooms, as well as the front and back yards outside. After a while his girlfriend Betty arrives, and later still a detective. Each of these characters and backgrounds are hand-drawn in a pleasingly clean cartoon style. Frankie, with his orange puffy vest and mop of brown hair, vaguely resembles Marty McFly from Back to the Future, which I suspect is not a coincidence as the game has a couple of other Back to the Future references within it.

The game is fully voiced and the participants of the story are all nicely performed. Beyond the acting, the audio consists of a couple of repeating musical loops. These instrumental pieces have a vaguely “Carol of the Bells” vibe to them without reproducing any specific Christmas tunes. There’s a subtle ominous tone to the score that hints that not all is quite right with the world even before Frankie receives his first vision.

The occasional sound effects are used for things like Frankie driving up in his car, tramping through the snow, opening and closing doors, and so on. One nice touch is that the sounds are positioned in stereo, meaning that even something as simple as Frankie walking across the room has the sound traveling from left to right on your speakers. Ambient audio like birds chirping outside can also be heard, which helps make the world feel more alive.

Last Christmas is a very solid game on the technical and design fronts. With such user-friendly features as the hotspot highlighter and quick travel double-click, it has a nice degree of polish on its basic presentation and simple controls. Despite its brevity, the game even features a full free save system rather than automatic checkpoints. There are several different endings, which are really just variations on the same theme, so you may want to record your progress before making the final and only choice in the game that immediately determines the finale.

One unique aspect I found quite cool is the game’s handling of Steam achievements. During the course of play, you are notified by a pulsing star in the upper left corner when you’ve done something achievement-related. However, the achievement isn’t immediately awarded. Instead you have to go to the main menu and access the Achievements area. This then presents an advent calendar display of different numbered paper doors that can be opened. Doing so then grants the actual achievement. It’s a small thing but a clever little bit of Christmas-related gameplay to further set the game apart.

Last Christmas

Genre:	Adventure
Presentation:	Illustrated text, Realtime 3D, Side-scroller
Theme:	Cultural, Licensed properties, Musical, Technology
Perspective:	Third-Person
Gameplay:	Casual, Co-op, Escape, Investigative, Puzzle-platformer, Quest, Walking simulator
Control:	Point-and-click
Game Length:	Longer (more than 10 hours)
Difficulty:	High4

Final Verdict

If you’re looking for a nice little diversion to fill you with holiday cheer, Last Christmas is definitely not that game. But beneath the festive lights, caroling and seasonal well-wishes, the holiday poses a difficult time emotionally for many people, and this game dares to explore those oft-unspoken spaces. And yet it’s still an entertaining adventure in its own right. Its nice, clean cartoon art style is visually appealing, and the puzzles will challenge you to think outside the box while still (mostly) making sense for an adventure game. And yet there’s no getting around the fact that for all the traditional point-and-click goodness and seemingly festive premise, some caution is definitely warranted. While there is lightness in the humour, the dark endings and latter-game subject matter definitely make this a non-family-friendly outing. Those who don’t mind this will find an… enjoyable – is that the right word? – experience within. Maybe just don’t play it on Christmas Eve.

Richard played Last Christmas on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.

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