Developed and Published By: Over The Moon
Date of Release: May 10, 2018
Price: $14.99
It's no secret that I enjoy playing Metroidvania style games, and The Fall from indie studio Over The Moon is no exception. I've always loved when a game can just draw me in with a story and hook me to the end. When I started playing The Fall I had no idea what I was in for, on the surface it seemed like a fairly bog-standard entry to the genre, albeit with a rather dark and moody atmosphere, and a very interesting control scheme. This is definitely why you never want to judge a book by the cover, as you will miss out on some of life's best surprises that way, and the same goes for videogames as well.
Without delving too much into the story and spoiling things, The Fall starts with your player character crash landing on an unknown planet. Literally crashing, as in falling out of the sky from orbit. The for now unknown soldier is rendered unconscious, and this is where the suit's AI, known as ARID, takes over. She's a no-nonsense by-the-book sort of AI, and is keen to follow her programmed directives. As the story unfolds you get to see quite a bit of character development through her, and I have to say the entire game is incredibly well written. Despite the plot being quite strict and serious the game is bursting at the seems with some amazing dark humor, and the voice acting is some of the finest I've ever encountered. Add to that the excellent ambiance provided by the soundscape and mood lighting, and the production values are solid as can be.
As for gameplay, things are fairly standard exploration and backtracking for a metroidvania, however you have precise control over your aiming, and you also have a flashlight that you use to examine your environment. Nearly all progression is tied to investigating your surroundings, and it really works well. I never felt like I was being slowed down as I searched through the environments for clues to help me progress. The suspense made the search that much better, and i never felt like I was being forced to backtrack too much. The moody atmosphere and lighting gave quite a chilling sense of foreboding, and I spent most of the game with goosebumps and the hair on the back of my neck bristling at every odd noise. This is definitely how you do a thriller.
Unfortunately not all was perfect with my experience. Though when i first loaded the game and saw the title screen I thought maybe my download was corrupted, then I realized it was an intentional effect. I don't think however that the two control lockups during gameplay that I experienced were intention, nor was the point when a dialogue sequence failed to trigger. Fortunately I lost no progress as the game autosaves, I just merely restarted the game and continued onward. Such minor bugs are certainly not worth worrying about in my opinion however your mileage will vary. At the end of the day, The Fall was an intensely gripping narrative experience wrapped around a VERY solid metroidvania puzzler, and the ending makes me crave more. Thankfully the sequel is already released, and I will hopefully be covering that next. If you love a good sci-fi romp, you owe it to yourself to play The Fall.
