When I first heard that Imagine Dragons’ lead singer, Dan Reynolds, and his brother and band manager, Mac, were opening a video game studio, I could not believe it. Then, when I found Last Flag was the game they decided to release, I was flabbergasted. Last Flag is a fast-paced 5v5 shooter with showstopping contestants, set in a televised competition where strategy, teamwork, and chaos blend in the ultimate game of Capture the Flag. At first, it seemed like a simple CTF format, but there is a bit more to it.
Players have 60 seconds to find a sneaky hiding spot for their flag—after that, the game begins! Allies work together to take control of the map and stop the other team from finding their flag, while hunting down the opposing team’s flags. The first team to bring home the opposing flag and successfully defend it claims the glory. It is just this simple! But not quite.
I thoroughly enjoyed the CTF rework that used the Radar Towers to eliminate possible hiding locations in certain grid regions. I felt this system sped up gameplay a lot. Also, once your team finds the flag, it leaves the enemy team’s flag marked—useful for re-hitting the flag in case it is returned.
“The fun part about Last Flag is its wacky cast of characters.”
In terms of game balance, the team that finds the enemy’s flag could snowball at that point—especially if a team sets a portal near the flag with Knives’ Ultimate. It was not a full “game over” moment, but still felt like an uphill battle to maintain Radar Tower control, defend one’s exposed flag, and continue the search for the enemy’s flag.
The fun part about Last Flag is its wacky cast of characters. Each one is armed with primetime firepower and signature abilities. Like many hero shooters, I experimented with a lot of synergies with teammates. Some complement each other more than others. For example, Arsenal’s Teleportation Gun can bring a nearby Lumberjack into an uneven fight. Her gun can also be used to save teammates from outmatched fights or send an enemy further away to even the odds.
The game’s small MOBA/farming element involved killing Cashbots, which offer money to upgrade abilities. One of the interesting parts about abilities was that ability levels and Ultimate charge levels stay across characters. This meant that if a player changed from a Skyfire to a Lumberjack midgame, they would carry over their charges to Lumberjack. Each ability had two levels to upgrade, but I did not feel the impact of my upgrades in fights.
“So far, the main issue Last Flag has is its character balancing.”
I found kiting and having accurate shots were more important. This could be that the devs would rather players still be rewarded for having good aim. I like that philosophy because I could see games like Valorant, which say they focus on gunplay, but some new Agents win fights because of their game-changing ability kits. That said, Last Flag was not exempt from having some busted characters.
So far, the main issue Last Flag has is its character balancing. Arsenal’s kit is stupid busted; she can do so much, almost single-handedly carrying the team in every situation. The Teleportation Gun could use a higher cooldown, along with her turret and poison gun doing a bit less damage. It is really her stationary healing ability that seems to be the most balanced part about her.
Scout’s abilities were also very strong, especially for covering a lot of ground searching for the enemy’s flag. This guy could clear multiple quadrants in seconds, especially with his eagle vision ability, which could also clear out multiple hiding spots on buildings in seconds. As a tank character, Lumberjack stood out from the rest. His kit reminded me a bit of Reinhardt’s from Overwatch. He could soak a lot of damage and dished out some good close-range damage. These three characters felt the most essential in any team composition.
“The discourse of live-service hero shooters continues, but hopefully Last Flag can find a big enough niche audience to keep the lights and mics on.”
To contrast Arsenal, Scout, and Lumberjack’s overall ability design, Tango and Roadie’s abilities felt like the most vanilla and least impactful for the team. Tango’s regular gun felt like a generic automatic rifle from Fortnite, while Roadie’s grenade launcher fired a bit too slowly. Tango’s Ultimate reminded me of a Raze Ult from Valorant, but less cool. Roadie’s Ultimate was great for crowd control, especially when defending the flag. But everything else in Roadie’s kit felt stale.
The TV game-show aesthetic, mixed with the chaotic gameplay, works well for Last Flag. I will admit this cast of characters was more interesting than what Highguard was trying to accomplish in their game. Initial impressions made me think the game looked like a mashup of character visuals from Team Fortress 2and Fortnite.
Keeping the CTF as its core gameplay mechanic helped, rather than trying to mash up a couple of other genre elements. Yes, there are MOBA elements baked into Last Flag, but they were not overshadowing too many of the games I played. Also, the average length of games was about 10 minutes long, the longest being about 20 minutes. So, it was better than MOBAs or other competitive shooters.
For those hoping to hear some groovy music from Imagine Dragons, players can spend a bit more to listen to the original soundtrack. I am questioning whether gamers would shell out $14.99+ for this type of multiplayer-only game. This is not unheard of, but I am not a hundred percent convinced that the average gamer could distinguish this game from other live-service shooters that have been axed since Concord. The discourse of live-service hero shooters continues, but hopefully Last Flag can find a big enough niche audience to keep the lights and mics on.
