Improved Performance, Quality of Life Changes and Other Fixes
A performance-focused patch is now available!
Our first patch delivers significant performance enhancements, addresses some important quality of life features and addresses a significant number of important bugs.
As performance was our primary focus, The Last Taxi has been streamlined to use less memory, and improve both GPU and CPU loads. The results of these changes is a significant reduction in memory usage (about 50%), as well as a large drop in overall GPU and CPU use. This will make the game run significantly better on all machines, but machines on the lower end of the requirements will notice a much bigger jump in performance and playability. The game’s memory usage now tops out at around 8GBs for loading and 6GBs for gameplay.
We’ve also begun adding in a series of QOL changes such as expanded haptics support, improved settings and more.
If you are still having issues please do not hesitate to open a ticket in our Discord and we’ll look into it.
Performance Enhancements:
Significant additions and improvements to HLOD system to allow for additive and async loading/unloading of assets and scenes
Environment and asset performance and handling enhancements
Significantly improved region handling to better hide objects out of line of sight
Streamlined mesh and texture loading
Improved physics interactions to reduce physics overhead
Improve the asynchronous loading system to ensure objects are streamed on a priority-based systems
Fixes to mesh visibility in the central area of the city
General Updates:
Haptics added to remaining controls and collisions
Settings menu with back to main menu option, and audio and haptics on/off toggles
Improved river and ripple water shaders to remove high shader overhead
Added visual effects to cargo drone cargo when it is hit by the tractor beam
Further in-world debris warning icon cleanup
Bug Fixes:
Fixed several story progression issues
Fixed visual mesh issues on several passengers
Adjusted several flight paths to avoid collisions with the world geometry
Fixed a rare occurrence that could cause a user to be charged and earn twice the intended money for a ride
Fixed a softlock that could occur if the user paused during certain story sequences
Fixed an issue forcing the user to lock the energy vial to the wrong hand, or allowing the user to do so
Fixed several achievements that weren't always triggering appropriately
Fixed an issue that would occasionally allow wide taxi controls to be socketed into normal-sized sockets
Fixed news feed and passenger summary entries that wouldn't trigger properly if they were dependent on whether a passenger was reported
Fixed a visual issue where certain meshes were not showing up when intended; primarily in Central City
Performance Update
Hey everyone!
We’d like to thank you all for the downloads and constructive feedback for The Last Taxi! It’s been amazing to see your playthrough videos and reactions to the characters of Progress Point.
With the game having been out for a little over a week we wanted to give you an update as to where our focus is in the near term.
We're actively working to prioritize bug, support and feedback reports we’ve collected.
Our top priority is to resolve a number of performance issues that have been reported across variety of hardware and device configurations. Resolving these is where the bulk of our effort have been since launch and we hope to have more news regarding this soon.
We’re also investigating a number of priority issues specific to Index users and will be working to deploy fixes as soon as possible.
Thank you all again for the thoughts, support and love you’ve shown The Last Taxi!
- ZenFri Team
Developer Livestream
Watch Dee King (Co-Founder of ZenFri Inc.) play The Last Taxi!
Launch Day Patch
Fixed performance issues encountered when loading an existing save file
Resolved visual differences between new games and loaded save files
Last Taxi Out Now
MAY 31st 2022 – Today, developer ZenFri Inc. is excited to launch The Last Taxi onto Steam VR. The Last Taxi is a VR adventure where players will explore a fully automated world as the city's only human taxi driver.
Players will find themselves behind the wheel of a hovering taxi as the only organic transport operator in the futuristic city of Progress Point, a megacity fractured by politics, morality and money. With automation having all but eliminated the need for human labour, work is incredibly hard to come by and every day is a struggle for survival for those not among the lucky few of the city's elite citizens.
After carrying a mysterious wounded passenger in your cab, they disappear suddenly, leaving trouble for the player in the form of an unregistered infant. Players will have to work hard to support both themselves and the infant while they figure out what's best for them. Thankfully it's not a decision that will be made in a vacuum, with over 80 passengers with their own thoughts, philosophies and problems, players will become a true citizen of Progress Point, and can decide the future for the infant that they believe to be the best with over 20 different endings.
As players explore both the soaring heights and rotting underbelly of Progress Point, they will carry passengers to their destinations, providing a comfortable journey and pleasant conversation throughout. Helping citizens to relax might just encourage them to open up to you about their problems, and with no saints found among survivors, players will have to consider either helping them with their woes, or reporting their shadier customers to the proper authorities. There's never a 'right' or 'wrong' solution, but a player's decisions could have far-reaching consequences.
Standard taxis in Progress Point come equipped with mandatory listening devices (as per governmental regulation), but as a non-automaton players can customize and modify their taxi with a variety of above board and under the table upgrades. Improve comfort for passengers, or invest in remote hacking equipment to unlock areas taxi drivers really shouldn't be in.
The Last Taxi introduces players to a diverse cast and a one-of-a-kind setting, creating a true sense of place. Progress Point truly comes alive for players as they explore one of the most vibrant and alive worlds to ever come to the world of VR.
A nuanced story of morality and meters, each decision carries weight, no two playthroughs of The Last Taxi will be the same as players ask passengers (and themselves) the big questions, "Is it right to commit crimes to survive?", "Do machines have souls?" and "What should you do when a stranger leaves a baby in your car?", okay that last one might be a bit more literal.
Dee King, Co-Founder of ZenFri Inc. said: “The Last Taxi is a 'sonder' experience. It’s not a word you often hear, but it describes the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. This perfect word is what our game encapsulates.
In The Last Taxi, you play yourself - the last human driver - having conversations at the end of the world. You show up very briefly in the lives of the characters in Progress Point; some you help, some you hinder, and some maybe you have no profound impact. Much like real life, you’ll encounter all sorts of people, all of whom have their own big and complicated lives, and you might only be a fleeting moment in their day.”
The Last Taxi is available now on the Oculus Rift and Vive via Steam VR, priced $29.99 / €26.99 / £22.99.
You can feel it… the final breath of humanity.
You can feel it… the final breath of humanity.
There is a sound and fury to it, both musical and profane. Where chaos is blunted, there lingers the suffocating silence, apathy, radical defiance of humour and in some quarters: the absurdity of hope.
Here in the heart of humanity's last stand, some of us are still, perhaps naïvely, human.
Amid the chaos, desperation, and the never-ending torrent of bad weather, one sentiment is underlined… the long-dead generations have doomed us, and if we are to survive, we may have to forfeit our humanity.
Forfeit? To what end? This is no longer the land of plenty; choices must be made.
When this final city dangles by a thread, do you knock it down? Or, do you re-enforce the tyrants that help hold it together? Perhaps with some sense of vision, or an odd feeling in the gut, you find a different path with its own set of trade-offs...
Time to sit in the driver's seat; your choices are near, and conversation your most potent tool.
See you on the flyways on May 31st!
Become the last driver with a heart in The Last Taxi on Steam VR
APRIL 13th 2022 –Today, developer ZenFri Inc. is proud to announce the launch date of The Last Taxi for May 31st. The Last Taxi is a VR adventure about the last human taxi driver in a fully-automated world. Among the dark backdrop of a city on a knife’s edge, The Last Taxi introduces a wide cast of characters, each with their own stories and worries. Players must carefully navigate both the route and the conversation, as they shuttle passengers in their dysfunctional cab to try and earn a living and hopefully, a tip.
The Last Taxi buckles players into the driver's seat in the futuristic Progress Point, a megacity fractured by politics, morals and wealth. Automation has all but removed the need for human labor, and created a permanent dividing line: on one side, the exceedingly rich, on the other, the devastatingly poor.
As the last human taxi driver in Progress Point, the player must take on new fares, transporting them safely from A to B and keeping them engaged in conversation while the meter gradually rises. While they explore the dichotomy between a seemingly affluent futuristic city and its seedy underbelly, players will need to turn on the charm to keep passengers of many different backgrounds comfortable. Focus will be key here, as an accomplished driver will need to hold a conversation while avoiding environmental hazards and managing their trusty but erratic cab.
As citizens of a vast and uncaring locale, naturally some passengers will reveal their own personal dilemmas, drawing players into challenging choice-and-consequence decisions. In a world where black and white have converged into gray, there is no right or wrong way to solve a passenger’s problem - but some decisions may have very far-reaching outcomes.
Per Progress Point governmental regulations, taxis are fitted with mandatory listening devices, and not everyone who steps into the cab will be of upstanding character. With harsh penalties for breaking the status quo in the city, it’s safer (and more lucrative) to simply report suspicious passengers to the authorities - but is it really that easy to judge a person’s intentions based on a conversation?
The Last Taxi features a cast of over 80 characters, each with unique personalities and problems. Progress Point and its diverse cast create a sense of place, and the feeling that The Last Taxi offers one of the most vibrant and alive-feeling worlds to grace a VR platform.
A nuanced story where each decision truly matters, The Last Taxi offers the chance to experience over 20 unique endings, ensuring each player will step out of their cab feeling like they have had a very personal experience in Progress Point.
Dee King, Co-Founder of ZenFri Inc. said: “We wanted to explore stories within an expansive post-collapse and environmentally ravaged world. The Last Taxi mirrors today's climate of division and existential threats. With the art of conversation at its core, we leave all choices firmly in the player's hands. When a wounded cult member abandons a mysterious baby, a rarity even in the wealthiest parts, you're thrown into an adventure that cuts across all levels of society and brings about choices that can change the future of humanity's last city on Earth.”
The Last Taxi is planned for launch on May 31st on the Oculus Rift and Vive via Steam VR, priced $29.99 / €26.99 / £22.99. Players can wishlist the game on Steam now to be notified when the game is available.
Get It While You Can!
It's not going to be here forever!
If you aren't one of the 5,000 people who has already downloaded & tried The Last Taxi demo, get it while you can!
Our demo will only be available until April 11th, after that, the only way to discover the world of Progress Point will be through the full experience!
We hope to see you driving the skyways!
- ZenFri Team
THANK YOU!
A massive THANK YOU to all who joined us for Steam NextFest!
We’re incredibly grateful for all the demo plays, wishlists, and especially your feedback.
Through the Steam broadcasts and youtuber livestreams we got to spend time with the VR community, answer questions, and showcase just a taste of what is to come in The Last Taxi. There is so much more in this beautiful world we're building and we're so excited for you to experience it all in the full release.
If you'd like to join the conversation about game lore, announcements, news, sneak peeks, and more, we'd love to have you over at the The Last Taxi Discord!
Thank you all again for playing, watching, bug reporting, wishlisting, and supporting us through the long process of building what we believe will be an incredible story-rich VR experience.
-ZenFri Team
VR at NextFest | Developer Livestream with Q&A
The Last Taxi is a narrative-driven adventure game set in Progress Point, a politically and economically-divided sprawling metropolis that has fully embraced automation and human modification, creating a satirical and somberly-surreal vision of the future.
As the last human driver, you’ll meet a diverse cast of passengers, each with their own tailored conversations. Be drawn into morally challenging decisions that lead you into the heart of a dying society.
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Join us here on Steam Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 2 pm CST (02-22-22 @ 2!) and Friday, Feb. 25th at 3 pm CST for NEXT FEST as we broadcast our demo of The Last Taxi!
We'll be digging through all the game's conversation threads and answering your questions so if there's something you want to know, be sure to tune in!
Watch both streams to see the conversations and characters you may not know yet, but will certainly love - this demo won't be the same every playthrough!
