Momiji Studio has been in hiatus for over a year since their last hit, Dewin Mawr, a game which landed them in the top 1% of games in the "Enjoyment" category of the fabled GMTK 2024 game jam. Often considered the most intense competition in the world, this global event has brought out the best developers to go head to head to create a game about loops.
The first thing players notice about "Last Mile" is the presentation. Not the game, but how cleanly the game page is. How polished the screenshots are and the pleathora of accessory content to get immersed in the narrative before you even click "Play". The team also generously provided Windows and Linux builds of the game along with an online version, making it one of the most accessible submissions of this year.
The gameplay is incredibly tight, with just 2 dimensions to worry yourself about. As you make intense turns and drift, you have to be careful not to let the grass slow you down or get too close to a building unless you want to have an untimely end. If you do finish a day you then deal with the greater challenge of more drivers on the road to evade.
If there was one thing missing from this game, it would be a story mode to progress and learn more about MPS and the strange quirks of their company and this little town. The post game scoresheet suggests we are actually in the Netherlands, which opens up interesting lore questions. Is the reason we crash out not because we are driving across a small town but instead because this is an abstraction of the A1/E30?
Another small quality of life change I wish was available was having a more flexible control over the movement but that is just because this game is better suited for console play than keyboard.
Overall, this reporter believes that Last Mile is going to become Momiji's next great hit, following their legacy perfectly and building a monument to the success of the German postal services.