When the Last Oasis Season 1 was announced in January of 2019 by game developers Donkey Crew, gamers worldwide, myself included, began to ready themselves for an amazing sandbox MMO gaming experience. However, in the summer of 2019, we were disappointed to hear that the launching would be postponed till 2020, but then we weren’t surprised, at least I wasn’t. I mean, most games never launch on the promised date. 

But nothing in the world prepared us for the post-launch heartbreak that came in March. One the same day the game launched its Early Access on the Steam platform for $29.99, players trooped in large numbers to enjoy the game, only to be greeted by terrible connection issues. According to Donkey Crew, the server crashed due to the massive number of players seeking to play the game. The server crash was so severe it had to be taken down completely. Fans were refunded and a lot of hearts broken but not for long, seeing that in early April, the developers came out with a second first Last Oasis that had all the bugs fixed and ready to play. 

Just as we were getting adjusted to season 1, Donkey Crew launched season 2 of the game to improve gameplay and content. 

About Last Oasis

The Last Oasis is a survival MMO developed and published by Donkey Crew that was released on March 26, 2020. Like most survival games, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic earth, which no longer has a moon and has stopped rotating around the sun. Naturally, this resulted in the earth being divided into two polar regions: the very hot desert and the exceedingly ice lands. There is an ever-moving safe zone. The mobility of the safe zone and the scarcity of resources create the struggle for survival as you take on other players and monsters alike searching for resources and raw materials.

Because the safe zone is never static, players have also continued to be in motion. To do this, players have to create a special device called the Walkers. These are wind-powered structures that help you travel conveniently to avoid getting sunburnt, and they could come in handy in running away from some other dangers. The Walker isn’t just for traveling; it can be used as a mobile camp, harvesting resources, or combat; and can be personalized and upgraded. Of course, to build this would require resources that may not be easy to find. Added to that is the risk of getting pillaged by other players. To prevent that from happening, just like most other sandbox survival MMOs, you may need to join clans and forge alliances.

Luckily, the developers ensured that the fear of coming online to find all your resources stolen was eliminated, a novel feature I must commend. The game continues to push forward the survival narrative by ensuring that players don’t stay in one oasis for more than a day or two before that oasis is consumed by the heat of the sun. This way, you get to harvest resources and survive one oasis at a time. This, coupled with a mysterious narrative and player-driven economy, makes Last Oasis probably the most ambitious survivor game in 2020.

The Upgrades in Season 2

 In the recent months following its first failed attempt at launching, Last Oasis has witnessed a massive drop in players. With a lot of oof players leaving the server entirely. The game developer, Donkey Crew, took on their Steam Community post to offer some form of explanation as to why this may be happening. Having listed a couple of areas where season 1 botched, the developers announced that the game would be needing a “complete overhaul and radical changes.” Yes, you guessed, right! Season 2 is to be the messiah Last Oasis needs. So, let’s talk about these big changes and how they affect the gameplay. 

Nicknamed the “Commerce Update,” this second season was released majorly to address the gaming community concerns. It is tailored towards encouraging in-game trade, especially for smaller groups and solo gamers. In this update, Flots have an increased value as they can unlock new technology and clans for clan fights. They can only be gotten through quests or trade with other survivors. Thus, by breaking the bigger groups’ monopoly, the game gives all players a level trading and playing platform, making it much easier to go higher on the tree.

In their continued commitment to breaking large groups’ excess power, the developers ensured to eradicate the “clown car” culture of big clans. Clown car-ing is a strategy used by members of a big clan in pirating where they take advantage of the fact that they could spawn from any Clan walkers. Players used this teleport to new locations to pillage their resources. Now, you can only spawn from a pre-selected Walker. Furthermore, traveling now would have to be done solely by moving with your Walker rather than teleporting.

Another major improvement comes in the form of an extension of burn-out time. Now the time it takes before the oases burn out has been extended, giving players enough time to settle in and explore better before having to be on the move to the next oasis. They’ve also introduced a daily maintenance levy for your base, without which the base starts to rot away. The thrust of this was to prevent the proliferation of throwaway bases. 

Many improvements have been made with the second season, some of which I am yet to discover. The developers have also promised that greater things are yet to come shortly, such as new PVE content and end-game content. 

Despite their rocky start, one has to commend Donkey Crew’s commitment to bringing their fanbase with top-notch content. Already, Last Oasis is easily one of the best survival MMO games released this year. The idea of wooden multipurpose spider-like Walkers is unprecedented and amazing.