The shooter Last Flag from Night Street Games is one of the most unusual indie projects of recent times. The studio is led by the Reynolds brothers: Dan (you might know him as the vocalist of Imagine Dragons) and Mac, who manages the band. PC Gamer released a 22-minute documentary about the making of the game—it was filmed during last year’s PC Gaming Show. Fans of the band will be doubly interested, but the project itself is not directly connected to Imagine Dragons. The brothers simply share a long-standing love of video games, which, according to Dan, even predates their musical career.
Incidentally, music was a major influence on Last Flag. Dan was responsible for the 70s-inspired soundtrack, and producer JT Daly (a multi-instrumentalist with a wild range) recorded tracks inspired by the TV show—he alternated between drums, bass, and saxophone. Early in development, Dan went even further: he composed a separate song for each character and sketched out gory sketches. The violence has been toned down considerably—the style is closer to Team Fortress 2, which is a welcome change.
It all started during the pandemic, when Dan started learning Unity. Initially, the brothers wanted to tackle it alone, but quickly realized they needed a team. That’s how Night Street Games was born. It’s funny, but at first, they had different ideas about the genre: Dan is a League of Legends fan, Mac is a shooter fan. They agreed on one thing: capture the flag should be the center.
The main feature of Last Flag is its hide-and-seek mechanic. During the setup phase, one player on the team manually places the flag in a hidden corner on their half of the map. When the match starts, the enemy has two options: either crawl through enemy territory and search blindly, or take the central towers—they gradually provide clues. According to the developers, this ability to hide the flag, rather than keep it in plain sight, captures the spirit of childhood yard games or scouting trips. Frankly, it sounds very refreshing compared to the typical shooter formulas. Night Street Games didn’t skimp on details. Last Flag is pure capture the flag, nothing more. No battle royale, no extraction, no standard teamfight. Just flags. Mac Reynolds makes a good point: when a mode is just an add-on to the main event, you’re always limited in how you can develop the concept. But here they decided differently. Everything from scratch—mechanics, levels, heroes, abilities—was built for a single goal.
Journalists who’ve already played Last Flag at various stages were satisfied. At first glance, it seems logical to hide the flag away, in the farthest corner of your base. Let the enemies wait until they reach it. But that’s the catch: these are the very corners they check first. If the game attracts a large enough audience and the meta develops, we can expect some truly cunning tactics. Someone will surely start hiding the flag right under the enemy’s nose—a bet on surprise. Breaking into the competitive shooter market these days is quite an adventure. But Night Street Games has no illusions. The price is a symbolic $15. There are no inflated expectations, which have already doomed many an ambitious project. Last Flag will be released on April 14th on Steam and the Epic Games Store. And you can snag the game at a discount until April 22nd—we advise you to get it now.
