The Last Taxi

Chat, Choose, and Navigate a Complex Future! ★★★★★ Think of it as a mix of a chatty cab ride and a choose-your-own-adventure book. Jumping into The Last Taxi, it is clear from the start: this isn't a driving game. And that’s on purpose. It's set in the bustling city of Progress Point, and the real action happens inside your taxi. The game is all about talking with passengers, diving into their stories, and making choices that shape the narrative. You meet all sorts of folks in your cab, each with their own tales and troubles. With every conversation, you get to decide how it unfolds. You've got this secret listening device, which adds another layer of choices: Do you help out shady passengers? Snitch? Or stay neutral? This is a must-play if you're into games that make you think and choose. Hop in and enjoy the ride!

From the moment I slipped into the seat of my futuristic taxi, I was utterly captivated. Right off the bat, this IS NOT A drive-around sim. It’s way better than that. This is a deeply crafted narrative experience mixed with some legit gamer fun. Picture a future that's both wild and detailed. Trust me, the vibes here? Top-notch. Every corner of Progress Point brims with life, lore, and countless stories waiting to unfold through the passengers you pick up. Each conversation felt like unravelling a new chapter in a gripping book, with me at the helm deciding its direction. The attention to detail in the world-building is stellar; there's always something to marvel at or explore. And as if the conversations weren't enough, the game ups the ante with its plethora of taxi upgrades. The hacking, hijacking, and tools for enhancing the passenger's experience made every trip feel fresh and unpredictable. Navigating through environmental hazards and the occasional malfunction added a challenging but fun layer to the gameplay. It serves as a testament that in a world dominated by automation, the human touch (or, in this case, error) is irreplaceable. The developers have brilliantly married the best of narrative-driven games with immersive world exploration and player agency.

The concept is genius: A taxi driver in a world that seems too perfect, a tad dystopian, and undeniably quirky. It's so much more than just driving passengers to their destinations. It's about the choices you make, the secrets you uncover, the alliances you forge, and the moral compass you choose to follow. Whether you decide to keep the passengers happy for those tips or risk it all for a laugh by throwing in an insult – every choice has weight and consequence. This isn't just a game about you being a taxi driver. It's a deep dive into the human psyche, society's quirks, and the fine line between right and wrong. Buckle up because "The Last Taxi" is a ride you won't want to end!

[b]TL;DR:[/b] I think overall this is a game I would recommend (barely) but there's some serious caveats and you should get it on a good discount (don't pay more than $10). (Steam needs to add a Neutral rating.) [h1]The Good[/h1] First, the negative reviews are generally just people misunderstanding what the game is and that's an unfair reason to give a negative review. Let's start with why I'd recommend it. The writing is decent and interesting. There's a good mix of characters and a surprising variety of ways you can handle situations with what you choose. I think I'll address some bogus negative comments from reviews here: [list] [*] [b]"You can't control the taxi!"[/b] I actually like that you can't control it. Early game it might not be interesting but, as time goes on, you will be struggling to micromanage everything going on while still processing what the customer is talking about and responding. There've been a couple moments where I missed what a customer said because I was dealing with 2 or 3 things at once. [*] [b]"The voice acting sucks!"[/b] Actually I didn't have any issues with that. What do they even expect? I thought there was a good variety and the quality of voices were perfectly fine. [*] [b]"The lip syncing is bad!"[/b] No sh*t, Sherlock. It's a cartoon. How do you not understand this? Is your home under a rock, Patrick? [*] [b]"It's no fun. People just babble on."[/b] Yeah...that's the point of the whole game. Maybe if you played for more than 30 minutes you could actually comment on the quality of the game. [/list] [h1]The Bad[/h1] Here's some minor flaws that can be forgiven: [list] [*] The initial load into the game is painfully slow and bad. It's just a black screen for a long time then a loading bar...sometimes frozen and sometimes just fast. It's really just an annoyance but it's potentially related to something I'll mention later. [*] The range of adjustment is limited and grabbing the move handle is often awkward and requires me moving my chair. (I play seated.) This is tolerable for me because the range is fine for me but someone commented on this in the negatives and I think it's a fair critique. [*] Some dangers are literally unavoidable [spoiler]like a gate you can't hack because the taxi is too fast or a hazard that is at a location you teleported to.[/spoiler] Not game-breaking, but very frustrating. [*] The laser pointer for the [spoiler]device that hacks toll booths and bots for money[/spoiler] does not always properly display its laser (parts of the game overlap it). [*] There will be times when all you can do is repeatedly hop around looking for customers and you will at some point at least once [spoiler]just be transporting crates.[/spoiler] It'd be really nice if there was a more clear map that tells you at a glance where you should go to avoid this. [/list] [h1]The Ugly[/h1] Here's what's really bad--almost unforgivable--about it: [list] [*] The game is very likely abandoned for the following reasons (If I'm wrong I'd really appreciate the devs fixing issues I mention in this review.) [olist] [*] The last updates are fluff pieces and sales. [*] Bugs I see in negative reviews are still existant today. [*] The half-baked endings. The first ending I chose had a character model stretched out in a graphics bug. The second had no text visible but I had a feeling I was supposed to be seeing epilogue text. The third (and fourth) were a similar path but only gave end credits...one I really wanted to hear more about. I then did an ending where the person left my cab and made a long speech while I stared at nothing of interest--just the usual default stuff around that site. (I didn't see him or anything relevant...just heard the speech.)[/olist] [*] Something is wrong with the physics/hitbox of the shield ball/taxi. A lot of the time, it will bounce off an invisible wall and either activate late (falling to the ground usually) or just phase out of existence and never activate. I have taken so many hits because the shield ball didn't work properly. I started throwing it up into the ceiling. [*] I have occasionally had to restart the entire game because I suddenly see a black screen but the game is still running. (Sound familiar?) [*] The calibration for where the taxi console/dock is will reset [b]EVERY F'ING DAY![/b] Every single shift starts with unlocking the dock and reaching awkwardly down to drag it back into place where I want it. [*] I had a bug that required me completely restarting my game: When I picked up Obbie, I was[spoiler]robbed for 3000.[/spoiler] Now normally, I assume this is a one time thing (otherwise the devs are jerks) but, in my case, [spoiler]I was forced to pay 3000 fee every single day.[/spoiler] This led to my game being utterly unplayable. I had no idea when [spoiler]I'd earn 3000 in one day[/spoiler] so I restarted. Deleted the save. Created a new game. Figured I'd do the tutorial because I forgot how the vials worked (turns out just how I expected). However, in the tutorial he says he threw my license to scan but it's not there. I'm also showing all the stats from the deleted save. Long story short, I set everything to 0 in a config file and saved it to finally able to play again. (I don't think most people would figure that out.) [*] The guidance in the game is so bad. The tutorial is a nice introduction and I quite liked it but then you're left to the wolves with new stuff added in but no proper explanation of how it works. Just quick-scrolling descriptions. Still don't think I know how to use the scanner properly. The worst offender is a big spoiler: [spoiler]the final nanny options for the baby are mods. This might be explained in the text--I don't recall--but I had the impression that this was a very expensive permanent robo-nanny and thought nothing of it. I bought it early as possible to try to save money. Instead it removed gameplay and left me with endings I didn't want.[/spoiler] [/list] With all that said, I do recommend this game (barely). Just probably get it on a discount and have very low expectations. I bought it on discount for about $8 and can easily say I got that value from it. Is it worth $20? No. In its current state I'd say this is a $10 game at best. If devs decided to prove me wrong (on it being abandoned) and fix everything I said, and make proper endings as well, then I think it'd be worth $15 or $20. There's still achievements to get and maybe replaying the story to try to get different endings but if they're as pathetic as the ones I got, I don't know if I want to bother. I liked that there were a variety of endings and I could easily load back but they really left me feeling nonplussed. [b]Edits:[/b] I have no idea what is going on with Steam and/or this store page. The formatting with lists isn't showing? At least not on my end. Sorry if it looks like a rambly wall of text.

i got emotionally attached to a guy who was threatening to kill me more than once

extremely poor graphical performance. i have a 3090 and shouldn't be having any issues, but i'm getting more frame stuttering then i do in a public lobby in vrchat.

I liked this. The performance and the resolution aren't great. And ultimately I started to find it a little samey.

honestly i thought that you could drive the taxi your self how ever you cant it starts slow but thats not all that bad as you play you unlock new areas to go with your taxi and are given more and more things to manage within the taxi making the game have more as you go on how ever I feel that it can become very repetitive but i haven't played enough to really experience it great story telling but if you just want to fly around in a taxi pick people up and not have to listen to them too closely then this game is not for you but it overall is still a good game and i would recommend trying it out if you like story telling and actively talking to the passengers as it can actually change what they will do as you can see at the end of each day in the news for most of them