Last One Standing: Royal Massacre
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Welcome to the Royal Competition of Death!
About
Last One Standing: Royal Massacre is a psychological horror/murder mystery visual novel that explores a different side of the classic no-escape storyline. After being abducted by a mysterious man who provides no name beyond "the King of the Competition" before ordering them to serve as his Court—the participants in his Royal Competition of Death, a challenge in which they will be forced to murder each other until one remains—fifteen unconnected people must figure out how to not only avoid untimely demise, but uncover the details of their situation and the King's motivation. This proves to be a much more difficult task than anticipated as perspectives clash, rifts form, and caution morphs into secrecy, raising the question of who can safely be trusted within their shared goals.
Synopsis
"Eyes do deceive, and names do lie. Who can you trust, when there is no one you can trust?"
Kostya Evanoff is horrified when he wakes up to find himself in a pitch-black room, completely unlike anything he's ever seen before. However, this is hardly the beginning of his nightmare. As he leaves this mysterious area, he only continues to find more and more bewildering sights, as well as fourteen unfamiliar people, but none of it compares to the shock of realizing where, exactly, he is: a castle in modern-day Russia.
The second piece of this puzzle falls into place when he meets the man behind it all: “The King of the Competition,” the leader of an enigmatic organized crime group that has been targeting the fifteen children for an unknown length of time, and for unspecified reasons. All he shares is his plan to host what he has titled the Royal Competition of Death, a murder-based challenge where the only way to win is to be the last person left alive—though the question of why remains unanswered.
With the “Court” pitted against one another, the logical next step is entirely unclear. Should they work together, mend the ties that the King shattered and search for a way out, or divide in hopes of protecting themselves? Both options seem to come with dangers that outweigh the benefits, especially once the competition begins at last.
As stress and intensity rise, Kostya’s resolve cracks, his desire for answers and for freedom sending him spiraling into a state that quickly seems beyond reversal. And when truths come out, betrayals shake the foundations, and uncertain enemies begin to present themselves within the Court, the line between perception and reality only continues to blur.
Who will be the last one standing?
Gameplay
Though this is a visual novel, we do try to make it as interactive as we can. Through dialogue options, menu choices, and floor maps, the player is given control of the protagonist, Kostya, in many ways, and is granted freedom to choose their own responses on many occasions, as well as where they would like to go and who they engage with. The prologue largely contains just maps and exploration functions, with dialogue options scattered throughout, but several new features, such as the Intermission events, are introduced in the first chapter.
An example of the Intermission feature from chapter one
One of the many maps that allows Kostya to move through the castle
The conference, however, is even more engaging. Serving as a debate in which the player must draw a conclusion about the events of the game leading up to that point, it is filled with different dialogue choices, memory tests, typing prompts, and minigames of all sorts. The types vary between situations and chapters, but the entire part functions on a point-based system, through which the player can also get a game over, forcing them to begin again from their most recent save.
That being said, despite this, the game follows a completely linear story. As in, though the player has freedom to make decisions and impact minor events, the overall results will be, in most senses, the same. There are many opportunities to take control, to choose where to go and what to do, so though they may not be too significant in the grand scheme of things, they create a more open and interactive environment for the player.
Language Options/Варианты языка
-English (default)
-Russian/русский
To switch the language, go to the main menu, select Options, then go to the Language menu and click your preferred language.
**Notice: The Russian translation is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience.**
Warnings
This game contains:
- Flashing/flickering/shaking images
- Depictions/descriptions of death and murder
- Graphic displays of violence
- Excessive strong language
- Frequent references to murder, suicide, etc
- Significant focus on sensitive subjects such as loss, grief, trauma, etc
- References to emotional, verbal, & sexual abuse
- Sexual references & humor
Play at your own risk.
Credits
Crimson Sugar Studio Team Members
Mist - coding, music, writing, plot, character design & creation
Dani - character art, background art, writing, plot, character design & creation
Voice Actors
Sean Madson - voice of Kostya
Mintskos (Ava) - voice of Olesya
K.AraVA - voice of Arina
Joshua Gallagher - voice of Iona
Astra Orion - voice of Lanassa
Jerron Bacat - voice of Lavrenty
Jet_VA - voice of Mikhail
LynnVA - voice of Sasha
Mikey Luna - voice of Fadei
GaAFfe - voice of Valeri
Kristen Erridge - voice of Sabina
Anthony Rodriguez - voice of Kuzma
Falon Echo - voice of Antonina
Bianca Shaw - voice of Yana
Zel Tracey - voice of K
Norm L - voice of the King
Nikko Abanilla - additional voice work (screaming SFX)
Other Associates
BlindedByJustice - Russian language translator
Contact Us
For information about our studio, news updates, walkthrough guides, and more, check out our website!
Studio Twitter - @crimsonsugarstd
Mist's Twitter - @queenmistcss
Dani's Twitter - @queendanicss
Email - crimsonsugarstudio@gmail.com
(If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to reach out to us through any of the methods listed.)
Download
Development log
- Chapter 5 Part 1 Progress22 days ago
- Starting Chapter 5 Part 1!53 days ago
- Chapter 4 Part 2 RELEASED!75 days ago
- Full Game Writing Complete!96 days ago
- Chapter 4 Part 2 Release Date Announced!Aug 31, 2024
- Chapter 4 Part 2 Progress - GameplayJul 25, 2024
- Chapter 4 Part 2 Progress - StoryJul 10, 2024
- Chapter 4 Part 2 ProgressJun 21, 2024
Comments
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I just finished chapter 2 and honestly, I no longer have the desire to continue reading this story. It was a combination of a lot of smaller things.
The unnecessarily long pacing and build-up to the murders take hours of characters basically going back and forth about nothing, I've been reading through this for most of 2 days and have only just got through chapter 2 with 1 conference per chapter, that's much to long.
The constant taunting and ridicule of the MC for completely reasonable things combined with characters randomly acting like completely different people at one point made me think there was some kind of mass chemical mental manipulation going on, induced by one character who causes the MC to go into a rage whenever he's around, half the time screaming nonsense and the other half is the only time he actually stops ignoring obvious issues and starts making sense. Now I think I was just reading into it too much and the story is just inconsistent.
The issue that ended it however is the incredibly strange morality and sense of "justice" of the characters. They seem to almost revel in the pain they cause the murderers after their revealed as such, everyone immediately says that the death of the murderer is deserved and a good thing. When the character known for being kind essentially told the woman who committed the murder, as she was breaking down about to be executed, that she was glad that she was being killed and that everyone hates her, I found it genuinely offputing. That wouldn't be an issue of course if the intent was to show these characters as crazy sadists, who think justice is about death and torture, but I got the impression that the game expected me to agree with them. It might seem like I'm being prudish or overblowing something but these things are difficult to express in text.
We apologize that you didn’t enjoy the game! Thank you for taking the time to play it though, and for providing your feedback. We always like to hear what others think of our work, regardless of the nature of the commentary!
Honestly, we do understand how the pacing could be a deterrent. Our goal in producing this story was to ensure thorough opportunities for plot and character development; however, this does cause things to go on quite long. For some, this may make the story feel boring and/or repetitive.
Would you mind elaborating on the point about characters randomly acting like completely different people? We aren’t entirely sure to what you are referring, but we’d like to look into it.
As a final note, we would like to point out that, no, players are not necessarily supposed to agree with the extreme notions of justice presented by certain characters within the game. The point of these debates is to show multiple perspectives; it is up to the players whether they agree or disagree!
Once again, thank you for giving our game a chance! Even though it’s not your cup of tea, we’re grateful that you took the time to play it, and to review it.
I wouldn't go as far as to say I didn't enjoy it, I don't think I would have stuck with it so long If I didn't at least think it had potential and there are aspects I enjoyed of course. The overall mystery was engaging, it just took too long to have any real payoffs or build up the individual murders, and while I'm usually not a fan of romance I actually found that aspect quite cute.
As for characters acting like different people, off the top of my head, There was Mikhail who spent Ch 2 acting completely different than Ch 1 he was much more confident and at times seemed aggressive and taunting while in the 1st he was much more meek. Kostya, of course, spent the second half of ch 2 trying to delude himself into thinking nothing was wrong or suspicious, despite being fairly intelligent and more level-headed when it comes to trust previously. K becoming more whiny and less competent and some others I'm forgetting but the one that convinced me that this had to be intentional was actually when you talked to Yana after you started investigating, the entire game she has been nothing but rude and dismissive of others and of murder, but when you talk to her she talks about how she understands this is difficult and that she would do her best to find the killer, it felt contrary to her portrayal until then. But these examples are just off the top of my head and I would need to re-read it to be more specific.
On their own those things would be understandable, Kostya having a mental breakdown, or Mikial becoming more comfortable, but altogether it had me convinced that Mikial had somehow used some kind of mind-altering substance on everyone or at least Kostya, which made everyone ignore his blatantly suspicious behavior or making them more dumb and docile, like right before the murder where Kostya somehow thinks he had to go to the audience hall, then follow Mikhail.
As for the morality issue, it's less of an issue than I made it sound, like I said these things are difficult to elaborate in text but I felt the perspectives were too limited, ranging from "killing murderers is a good thing" to "I agree but I don't want to watch". I could have missed something of course but that's just how It looked to me.
I apologize if my previous comments came off as rambly or insulting, I was very tired at the time and wanted to get my thoughts down fast, but wanted to keep it vague to avoid spoilers in my comment.
As I said there are aspects I liked and I still look forward to seeing what you make. I'm willing to try it again when it's Its fully complete, but currently, it just takes too long to do too little to keep me engaged.
Thank you for taking the time to respond!
As for the character changes, that’s actually just them opening up more with time! For instance, K lowered her guard as she got to know the others (causing her immature streak to show); Yana showed that there’s more to her than just being nasty when truly awful things such as murders occurred (she does have empathy, of course); etc. No mind-altering substances, haha! And like you said, in Kostya’s and Mikhail’s cases, the former is facing heavy psychological impacts from the competition and the latter is getting more comfortable showing his true colors with time.
Even if the pacing and structure didn’t suit your taste, we’re glad that there were aspects you enjoyed! And that you’re willing to be so fair; many people will just play a few minutes and turn it off if they’re not crazy about it (especially with indie games!), so we’re grateful for the fact that you viewed several hours of content before making a judgment.
Very interesting concept, and the mini-game was very fun to play. If I had one piece of feedback to offer, it would be that the main character - the one you play as - isnt very likeable. His actions are often rude and un-thoughtfull, and it sometimes makes decisions in the game hard to make, as I would not do any. But overall this game is very well written, and I do like all the other characters.
is it possible to see a ru translation soon? I've been following updates for a relatively long time, so I'd like to know if localization should be expected in the near future T.T
While we do still have the original Russian translation, it has been made temporarily unavailable due to complications in development. We hope to fix this soon and get it up and running again, though at the moment we don’t know how soon to expect this. We apologize for any inconvenience!
I don't think the Mac version works, there is no file to execute to start the game.
Oh no! We’re so sorry! We’ll look into that soon! Have you checked all of the folders that were downloaded onto your computer?
When I downloaded the Mac version, the folder that was downloaded onto my computer is called LastOneStanding-7.2-pc. I suspect this might be the Windows version accidentally marked as the Mac download. I just downloaded the Windows version to check, and the Windows version has identical folder contents: game folder, LastOneStanding-32.exe, LastOneStanding.exe, LastOneStanding.py, LastOneStanding.sh, lib folder, renpy folder.
If it was the Mac version I think there should be a file with an icon called LastOneStanding.app.
Thank you for taking the time to respond! We believe we have located and remedied the issue now. You were correct about the mix-up. Something must have gone wrong in the uploading process that caused the PC version to come up in place of both Windows and Mac! We have since reuploaded both versions. It should work fine now!
Again, thank you for informing us of this!
Lots of care went into this, and it shows!
Really well written and the art is enjoyable! Clearly a lot of work went into this and the characters are have rlly fun and unique designs! Highkey would recommend, it was a blast playing!
Love the pacing of the story and character design. The soundtrack is also fitting! You clearly put a lot of effort into this game! 10/10 reccomend