BinaryMessiah The Fall Review

The idea of robots taking over humans has been an age-long discussion, but what if they were designed to help us instead, no matter the cost? That's the idea that The Fall presents to players. You play as a pilot who has crash-landed on a planet, but his AI known as A.R.I.D. (autonomous robotic interface device), kicks in and uses the advanced smart suit to basically puppeteer the pilot's body around trying to find medical attention. The pilot lands on a derelict planet run by an AI called the Caretaker, who is examining and studying ARID for unknown reasons. The story, despite being very short, is done very well thanks to excellent writing and voice acting. Not a single line of dialogue or moment is wasted. This is an incredible premise and idea that I want to see more of. The Fall is a Metroidvania-lite, but with its own identity. Something that the genre has seen little of today with the explosion of indie games being produced. The game is surprisingly complex for what it is, with a pretty advanced control layout. You can walk around in a 2D plane, but jumping and combat are limited. You must use the flashlight on your pistol or light the path ahead, as the game is very dark and is mostly underground. When you shine your light over objects, a context piece of text will appear describing it or allowing you to interact with it. The majority of the game is puzzle-based, relying on an inventory system to combine and interact with the right object. The game is broken up into sections, with the longest being the testing center that the Caretaker puts you through. Many puzzles are actually quite fun and clever, but a few can take a weird obtuse angle and make little sense on how they are solved. Combat in The Fall is crunchy and powerful but very limited. Other androids will try to attack you, but very limitedly and only during scripted events. You can hide behind cover and pop out to deliver a headshot. You must switch to the laser sight for better accuracy. You can sneak up behind enemies and kill them or advance on them as they will take cover as well. The shots are impactful and crunchy. The combat doesn't overstay its welcome and is used at the right times. Of course, you can't use your gun for the first third of the game, as abilities need to be unlocked, such as faster fire rates, the gun itself, and other suit abilities. Sadly, the game features a lot of backtracking, meaning you will be going from one end of a level to the other quite often, and this is the most tedious part of the game. I understand that this is part of a Metroidvania, but you aren't going back to a level once you have the upgrade and can access new parts of a level. You just run back and forth finding parts of a puzzle, hopefully having the correct part, only to realize you don't or it's for another puzzle somewhere else. It's not game-breaking, but it does get old pretty quickly. Once you have read all the text and discovered every part of the level, the adventure part of the game kind of disappears, and all that's left is the tedious process of solving puzzles and running around. The atmosphere and graphics are fantastic even today. The game has a surreal feeling of almost transporting you to the world thanks to its great sound design and visuals. While there is a lot going on in the foreground, most of the atmospheric stuff comes from what's going on in the background. A lot of the background stuff can give you a visual cue as to what's going on just from one glance. A giant cavern, the outside of a spaceship through the windows, etc. The few occasions with spoken dialogue are great, and you really hang on every word thanks to the great writing. Overall, The Fall is a fantastic atmospheric Metroidvania-lite with great writing and tense gameplay with gun sections that don't overstay their welcome. ARID is a great character despite being a programmed robot, and the ending of the game is well worth your time. This game was one of the few indie games that marked the "indie revolution" of the early 2010s and helped kickstart the Wii U eShop for being known as a great indie platform.