The Last Dalek

Deep below the plains of Utah, the last Dalek in the universe is imprisoned by humans and tortured in an attempt to learn its true nature. As the Dalek prepares to succumb to its injuries, a pair of time travellers come to witness its dying breaths - one of them, a naïve human girl; the other, the man responsible for the near-total extermination of the Dalek race: the Time Lord known as the Doctor. Taking pity on the Dalek, the Doctor's companion, Rose, places her hand on its casing, unaware of what the gesture will unleash. By extrapolating the DNA left by her touch, the Dalek rejuvenates itself, breaks free from its cell, and sets out to fulfil its original purpose: the extermination of all other living things.

The Last Dalek is a Flash game published by the BBC that serves as an alternate take on the 2005 Doctor Who TV episode Dalek. As the titular Dalek, the aim of the game is to kill all the humans the player comes across, escape the Vault, exterminate the Doctor, and finally destroy the Doctor's time machine, the TARDIS.

As the Dalek, the player can move in four directions across the isometric grid using the WASD keys, with the left mouse button being used to attack enemies or hack electronic locks to access new areas (once the Bio Processor has been acquired). The player starts off with only the ability to kill enemies in close quarters with the manipulator arm, with better weapons and abilities acquired throughout the game. Pressing the spacebar pauses the game and opens a menu where weapons or abilities from the Dalek's arsenal can be equipped, with a maximum of two being able to be equipped at any one time.

The death ray, for example, replaces the manipulator arm with a gunstick that enables the Dalek to kill enemies from a distance as well as destroy barrels that block access to certain areas. Occasionally, barrel explosions will leave holes in the floor that cannot be crossed until the Anti-Grav device has been acquired and equipped. Other environmental obstacles include stairs and manholes, which must be overcome with the Anti-Grav, and invisible explosive mines that require the Inter-Spectral Vision upgrade to navigate around.

The Vault is divided into 10 levels, with each containing numerous separate areas that the Dalek must pass through. An "energy" bar serves as a health indicator; if it is depleted, the Dalek dies and the player is sent back to the beginning of the level. ln some cases, all enemies in a given area must be killed before the player is able to proceed onto the next one.

Common enemies in the earlier levels include harmless scientists that attempt to flee, guards armed with pistols, and sentry units built into the floor. Sentry units cannot be destroyed, but will retreat into the floor temporarily if the player lands several consecutive hits on them with the death ray. Additionally, they can be prevented from resurfacing by parking on top of them. Later enemies include invisible guards that can be circumvented using the Inter-Spectral Vision upgrade.