I played The Last Challenge and it was quite unique and well written
Good timing since I also did check out "The Last Challenge" due to a mention here from Cambue.
You already pointed out most of the things I wanted to write about =\. One thing you didn't mention though is what the last challenge actually is =/. Well, it's
From what I remember this is avoidable. Still, this kinda sets the tone for what's to come I suppose. Although, now that I think about it, this challenge should also include his
Extra point from me if that's true, which of course it ain't..
Aside from that, the story itself could be interesting since we don't entirely know what happened to the rest of the world. Is it all like before when they come back?. Will there be anarchy or something?. I'm probably overthinking this and it'll be mainly a harem game and the story will be just like an afterthought... I mean, the setup is clearly inspired by covid. Which got me thinking, why didn't they just give Kenny "OG" Copeland a holler like we did when it all started?.
For the rest of it?. Like desmosome already pointed out, there's quite a lot to like here. The writing is solid and, just in general, the developer tries to do a little more when it comes to the options and overall approach. The highlight is certainly the the bus ride sequence. That one alone is worth checking out imo. Having 10+ people interact and play off of each other was quite impressive to see and the developer did an outstanding job here.
Another thing worth mentioning is the MCs sidekick, Donnie. He seems to be inspired by Jonah Hill from Superbad. To me it was a bit of a hit and miss when it comes to him and his humor... Pretty over the top, but over the top is also the name of the game here. The MC on the other hand is kind of a chad. He's the challenge king, a established womanizer which is probably more of a good thing for this kind of AVN. I don't know, it's hard to tell after just the first release.
One thing that I found a bit "concerning" is the potential scope creep. It's not as extreme as, for example, Summer's gone, but... you know... So many characters are already introduced and we're not even back home yet.. It feels like one of those "mega projects "where it's hard to get really excited about. IIRC, the first season will be about 10 chapters long and then there'll be a S2 and maybe even more which puts us already on a cool 20+ years development cycle.... Yikes....
Still, i'd give this a thumbs up for trying to do something more with what you've seen a thousand times before already. Worth checking out for sure. Probably safe to say though that this won't be a story first game

. But maybe it'll be a fun porn/pseudo "dating" game?.