Game:

The Fall (2014)

Category:

Review

Duration: 2:14

5 views

1

Studio page: https://www.overthemoongames.com/

Game link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/290770/The_Fall/

The Fall Review
Introduction
Hello and welcome to my review of The Fall.
This was going to be a serious video review, but I couldn’t make it work in my head because I am bad at it.
I am going to start with some background on the game first and secondly why I am doing a review for this game in 2022.
So first off the game released back in to 2014 and according to Over The Moon’s website is available from Steam and The Humble Store on PC, as well PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, Mac and Linux. I also checked the Nintendo eshop on my Switch and I can confirm that it is also available there too.
This is Over The Moon’s first title and was made possible through a successful KickStarter campaign back in 2013 which achieved 224% of it’s goal.
So why I am I reviewing this game in 2022?
I have many reasons, first one worth mentioning that this review began life in 2021 and due to my own personal failings and battles with my mental health and apathy I didn’t finish it. However the main reason is sentimentality, this was the first game I received a code for and successfully reviewed back when I was attempting to get a foot in the door of game journalism many years back. The website I wrote for is no longer exists and was not mine, I was part of larger team. Also worth mentioning that I was young and an idiot and didn’t back up anything I wrote. Such as is the folly of youth, so I have no portfolio or reference points.
I reviewed the game initially on the PS4 because that is what I was given a code for, and the console I had at the time. I have since picked it up on the Xbone and that is where the footage was captured for this review. I remember reviewing the game favourably, enjoying but recognising it’s flaws. Which I realise now is pretty much the summation of most reviews.
Now I have my own channel I wanted to play it again, partly for nostalgia, partly because I never played the sequel and wanted to remind myself of the story before I did, but partly because a small studio gave me a code for a game I enjoyed and the review no longer exists, so I feel like I should add to their search results on youtube at the very list.
Anyway without further ado here is the review, sorry for the waffle.

Biases
I will put out my main biases upfront, I love solving puzzles, I am a simple man and they make me feel smort, but I also love a good hard sci-fi story and these are two things are really a big focus here.

Story and gameplay outline:
The story is about an artificial intelligence called Arid, they are in control of a suit that has crash landed on a planet. Their main objective is to seek medical attention for the human within the suit by navigating the environment and over coming obstacles.
The game presents this story in a style typical of adventure games, you progress through the story by gathering items and using them to solve puzzles, with some light combat thrown in from time to time. Although the game controls more like a 2D platformer than a traditional point and click adventure, it still works well to service the narrative and keep things ticking along.

What I liked:
The atmosphere straight off is something I want to praise, this game gave me the willies. It wasn’t ‘need to play this whilst sitting on the toilet’ levels of scary, but it was fucking foreboding. There was plenty of times it caught me off guard with it’s jump scares and generally dark imagery, I mean that in both the literal and tonal sense of the word.
Without wishing to spoil the story the place Arid finds themselves in is abandoned and has been for a long time, exactly what happened is unclear, but the facility has been taken back in part by the planet, but relics of what the place was still stand there, looking eerie even with their original context. There are quite a few design choices in certain areas that reflect the fate of the facilities previous occupants, although not always explicit, they set a tone that is very much ‘let’s get the fuck out of here’.
The story for me was another highlight, the narrative is told through interactions with a limited number of characters and a butt load of environmental story telling. The dialogue that does occur, feels engaging and well thought, there is little that doesn’t serve the wider story and that which doesn’t serves the world building instead.
The world and the narrative present a very haunting possibility for human society in the future if there exists a continued reliance on technology, very similar in tone to something like Black Mirror with more of a focus on the AI than human suffering.

Conclusion:
The game is a short and sweet hard sci-fi adventure puzzler that people should really give a try. Stands well on it’s own but also leaves you wanting more. I recommend checking it out.

Other Statistics