By Lars Olsen
In the year 2971, humans launch a ship into space in the hope of preserving their species. Global climate change has disrupted ecosystems and sea levels are rising. This ship returns to Earth thousands of years in the future to find a planet entirely submerged in water. Humans are extinct, but the aquatic flora and fauna have flourished. As the last human, it is up to you and your trusty submarine to explore the ocean’s depths and unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of humans.
From the moment you hit the water you are immersed in a new world that combines enormous subaquatic life with futuristic human technology. The sea seems peaceful at first, until you are equipped with a harpoon gun and are forced to fight a colossal worm trying to eat you. Designed by YCJY, The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human (AALH) will challenge your reflexes, ingenuity, and perseverance as you combat unique sea creatures and solve puzzles in the open underwater world.
AALH follows the basic Metroidvania template to create a beautiful, 2-D sidescroller with fantastic atmosphere, electronic music that amps up boss fights, and a dire warning about climate change. The entrancing, sprite-like graphics look hand-drawn and are bursting with personality. This is a brutally difficult game, so you will die frequently, but this makes your victories much more rewarding. AALH also has some graphic content, so I would not recommend it for young audiences.
The entire story is told silently through the scenery and forgotten journal notes called holo-tapes. Holo-tapes provide extra information remaining from the last civilizations, but you must piece together the subtle clues to see what happened. One billboard reads, “Water levels are expected to rise by 200 meters in coming years.” A holo-tape alludes to the relocation of coastal refugees. The environment is teeming with life and algae-covered infrastructure, including marine current turbines and solar panels. SPOILER ALERT: Piecing this together, you discover that humans could not end their oil dependency in time and sea levels rose much higher than expected so they were forced to live underwater while searching for other habitable planets. Only at the end of the game do you discover the true reason for human’s demise – population growth.
AALH delivers a competitively fun game based on important global issues. However, this game is clearly focused on gameplay rather than climate change communication; the game would be a poor classroom teaching tool. That said, AALH still has value as an introduction of the potential consequences of climate change to a casual gamer with less exposure to the topic. Climate change and sea level rise are very real threats to the future of human existence. AALH allows you to explore a post-apocalyptic world in a somber, yet vicious story where you are forced to shred through leviathans, but for what purpose if humanity is already doomed? Perhaps this is just a commentary on humans creating their own monsters. Personally, I find climate change to be more frightening than monsters. All in all, AALH is a fun game with a cautionary tale about our future.
Summary
Gameplay/Fun: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Educational: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Scientific Rigor: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Accessibility: Ages 13+
Platform: Steam ($10)
EarthGames 