8-In-1 Game Collection Last Call BBS Is Zachtronics’ Latest (And Last) Release

Last Call BBS is the latest game from indie devs Zachtronics. And also its last.

The game is a compilation of eight games in one. The framing device here is that you receive a retro computer, the fictional Z5 Powerlance, provided by The Barkeep. The computer is loaded with games, “fully cracked and ready to enjoy”.

It’s a callback to the computing age in the ’90s when you can discover, in legitimate ways or otherwise, new games, all designed unconventionally.

The eight games that are part of Last Call BBS are as follows:

• 20th Century Food Court: Design factories to produce food just like they did over 700 years ago in the 20th century. Keep your costs low and your machines running fast!
• STEED FORCE Hobby Studio: Assemble robot models based on the anime smash hit Steed Force right on your computer. No sandpaper required!
• X’BPGH: The Forbidden Path: Enter a cursed world and create bizarre flesh sculptures in exchange for eternal life. The master is pleased… but can you trust him?
• Sawayama Solitaire: It wouldn’t be a Zachtronics release without a brand-new solitaire game. This time it’s a fresh take on Klondike, the “classic” solitaire variant.
• Dungeons & Diagrams: Try your hand at these beguiling tile-based logic puzzles. Can you map out the dungeons and steal all the treasure?
• ChipWizard™ Professional: Build integrated circuits using wires, transistors, and capacitors. Wait a second, is this a game or a CAD program?
• HACK*MATCH: The tile-matching minigame from EXAPUNKS, completely remastered with a single player campaign and local head-to-head multiplayer (with Steam Remote Play support).
• Kabufuda Solitaire: Create matching sets of Japanese kabufuda cards in this retro-demake of the challenging original solitaire game that debuted in Eliza.

Long-time fans of Zachtronics games should find something they like in at least one of the eight games in Last Call BBS. There are the usual programming-esque sandbox puzzlers where multiple solutions can be discovered (and be further optimised to climb the global leaderboards). There are weird and experimental games (one is a horror title, another has you just build plastic model kits including robots that will remind you of Gunpla kits). And two of them are Solitaire variants (card game mini-games are a recurring thing in the devs’ games). Overall, there are more than 100 puzzles to solve.

All of this is accessed via an in-game computer UI that will remind you of the good old days that were the 90s era of computing.

There’s also a meta-story going on with The Barkeep, the in-universe developers of the games and the PC you’re using as well to discover.

When Zachtronics said this is the outfit’s last game, they mean it. Studio founder Zach Barth confirmed this in an interview with PC Gamer saying “We’re definitely shutting down Zachtronics. It’s not [going to be] like, ‘Surprise! Zachtronics is back open!’ No, Zachtronics is over.”

The makers of SpaceChem, Infinifactory, Exapunks, Opus Magnum, Nerts! Online and Eliza are getting to end their run of making games on their own terms, with Last Call BBS.

Last Call BBS is available now on PC (Steam via Early Access) and is also on PC Game Pass.