Say your prayers, zombie slayer.
- "And The Dead were made flesh and dwelt among us. In flesh ripped and pocketed in running sores and the terror of our age our bodies cannot staunch the flow of darkness nor stem the tides of death. We are food but not for long."
Last Rites is a 1997 First-Person Shooter made for the DOS, developed by Ocean Software Ltd and published by Ziggurat Entertainment. Like every horror-themed FPS at the time, it's yet another blatant Doom clone, except this one is set on earth. It is notable for being one of the first first-person shooters with friendly A.I. teammates that follow you around for the majority of several levels.
In (the then-distant year) 2021, a Zombie Apocalypse of unknown origin has wiped out an entire city, turning the entire population into the walking dead. You and your team of commandoes are sent to contain the outbreak and investigate the truth behind the apocalypse.
May almighty God bless us with his peace and strength, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (RELOADS SHOTGUN)
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: One of the stages is set in the city's sewer system, with plenty of room to explore and zombies to kill.
- Assist Character: You're the leader of a commando team, after all. Your squadmates will tag along in several levels and assist you by blasting zombies, and they do a decent job holding the undead at bay without your help.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: As a by-product of the virus outbreak, you'll face huge insects in a few levels.
- Dead Weight: You encounter overweight zombie women in a few areas outside the mall. She's more durable than regular zombies, expectedly.
- Dem Bones: Some of the zombie mooks in later stages have decayed until they're but skin and bones, with skulls for heads. They still bleed after being shot to pieces though.
- Enemy-Detecting Radar: You have one on the lower-left corner, with hostiles depicted as blue dots. It seems advanced enough to register non-undead mooks (like human mercenaries) as enemies.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: You collect a flamethrower early on, and it's one of the best weapon for wiping out entire walls of zombies. The downside is that it tends to run dry rather quickly.
- Fun with Acronyms: Your Uzi has the words F.O.A.D - Fuck Off and Die - written on the stock, visible during close-ups. The game came out in 1997, way before the term becomes a popular internet slang.
- Gatling Good: The chaingun, one of your later available weapons, which carries loads of ammo and allow you to saw through the undead using bullets.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Skinless zombie enemies will split into half if shot at the waist. While their legs and body parts below the belt dissolves to bits, their upper bodies however can continue crawling after you.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Your character isn't given a name and the first thing you do is naming yourself, right before stage 1. Your name has no impact on gameplay whatsoever.
- Hidden Villain: The final arc of the game reveals that the zombie infestation is caused by one Father Mordae, a wealthy tycoon who discovered the source of Eternal Life by making a pact with the forces of Darkness, immortalizing himself while turning the entire city into the undead. You battle him in the final level to end the apocalypse.
- Homing Projectile: The rocket launcher has a "Lock On" feature - hold the trigger, hover your mouse over your intended target, and release.
- Hook Hand: Some of the zombies has hooked blades grafted above their wrists, which they'll use to slice at you. They do far more damage than the biting and grabbing of regular undead mooks.
- Immortality Immorality: The game's true villain, Father Mordae, made a pact with the forces of evil to live forever. He can however be killed by bullets.Mordae: No! I cannot die. I am forever... you cannot be! Take away this light... I offer you...
- Invisible Monsters: The last stage, after having you shooting up zombies, oversized insects, and human mercenaries, somehow throws hovering, cloaked demons who can turn invisible to ambush you. However their projectiles are still visible allowing you to target them - they turn visible when shot at.
- Keystone Army: Once Father Mordae is slain, the zombie plague is over with all the undead returning to their graves.
- Lightning Gun: One of the weapons you can get, albeit one that fires a crackling ball of electricity instead of a straight lightning bolt. You can hold on the trigger to accumulate it's lightning and send a larger thunderball into mooks.
- Muzzle Flashlight: The whole game takes place almost entirely in total darkness, with several levels indoors where the lights are out. Your only way to see the incoming zombies is by firing away at shapes in the dark.
- Mystical Plague: The truth behind the apocalypse, as you found out near the end, courtesy of Father Mordae selling his soul to demonic forces to unleash a zombie plague while making himself all-powerful.
- Paint the Town Red: The last stage, which introduces demon enemies, have plenty of red all over the place. From pools of blood you literally wade across, to dripping red from ceilings and walls where a mini-waterfall of red cascades down...
- Pre-Battle Banter: Father Mordae will let out an epic one before you face him."You see all of this and still you come before me. I have torn the very concepts to which you cling and still you do not kneel. Have you no respect for the Eternal Life, the Eternal Darkness? Have you no fear of me, child? Come then. Let me show you fear at the end of all else."
- Skull for a Head: The floating demon-like enemies have skulls in place of heads, and can spit fireballs from them as an attack.
- Spread Shot: One of the few FPS games with this type of weapon, you can obtain a laser blaster that fires three projectiles per shot. It's firing rate is also insanely fast allowing you to spam attacks on waves of enemies instantly - alongside the shots having Pinball Projectile qualities.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: Roughly halfway into this zombie-killing game, you're informed of a squad of mercenaries who took over parts of the city as their territory, and they're actively targeting anyone not on your side. Cue introduction of human enemies you'll swap lead with.
- Zombie Apocalypse: One occurs in the backstory, and you're tasked with finding out the cause.
