The Fall

I enjoyed this game a lot. Engaging story, interesting characters, some dark humor, some good atmosphere, good voice acting and sound design. I guess I forgot the whole description because I came here to review it and was like "oh it won an award for the story ok" There was not very much combat or actual "gameplay" in the style of like, timing of movements and jumping or whatever. It's mostly a series of objectives that require a bit of creative problem solving in order to achieve them. The controls were kind of clunky. That's why 4 stars. It didn't affect the enjoyability all that much. The game is forgiving enough that you're not dependent on making a complex series of movements or attack/defense patterns, it's all about figuring out what you need to do next, and the eventual solutions fit well within the logic of the game. I used a walkthrough for two of the objectives, I think. Both were cases of missing an object interaction icon and then running around a bit until I looked in the walkthrough. I played this over two or three evening sessions.

I got the game on a discount... For an indie title, its very, very good and a no brainer. I really liked it. The only complain that I got, is that I've successfully completed a riddle (the one with the baby) and the game didn't proceed as normal... So I was going around trying to figure things out for an hour + until I gave up... I've looked for the solution on a walkthough only to see the exact same steps that I did... After retrying, the solution worked and I was able to proceed... A bug maybe? I don't know... Just buy it, you won't regret it!

It seems you play as a sentient flight suit which crash-landed into a weird abandoned facility, and seeing as the pilot inside you is unconscious and badly hurt, it's your task to find him medical aid. The more you think about it, the less it makes sense, but it's an excuse to slowly walk through a creepy empty facility, with only the damaged mainframe which runs that facility to keep you company. Sadly, that exploration is quickly stopped when you arrive at the main area of the game, where the mainframe forces you to complete various trials, before he gives you the medical aid you need. From then on the eerie feeling I had was replaced with laughter, seeing how ridiculous and unintentionally funny that facility is. Although eventually boredom set in. Solving the trials given to you requires retreading the same areas over and over again, and with the facility containing several levels and various nooks and crannies, it becomes annoying fairly quickly. Especially since you walk around in darkness with a flashlight, pixelhunting for a new interactable item. It doesn't help that there's only one way to solve a puzzle, usually the most difficult and unintuitive way, and that some sections of the level and some items only appear after you trigger some event. The Fall simply isn't fun, and is too rigid for me to take pleasure in its puzzle solving. For example, coming across a spool of wire, I knew I had to cut a section from it, but couldn't until I moved that spool someplace else. There are some action scenes in between, where you need to shoot several robots who are out to stop you, but requiring no skill - only repetition, it makes the game even less fun. The game ending on a string of such action scenes ruined the ending for me, which wasn't great to begin with. It seems the game's creator simply chose from a handful of predictable endings, choosing the most unsatisfying one. The game ending with "To be continued" also makes you feel like you played half a game.

I recently finished The Fall --- an excellent, creepy, thought-provoking, very atmospheric action/puzzler. You play as the AI of a combat suit whose pilot is unconscious and possibly in critical medical condition after crash landing on a strange planet. You control the suit and are trying to get the pilot medical attention. Of course, in terms of gameplay there is no difference between "I control the pilot in the suit" and "I control the suit itself" --- you walk, examine your surroundings, jump & shoot in all the same ways. Rather, this premise is important to the story, which is gripping and gloriously original. (Avoid spoilers if you might play this game!) Dialogue is smart and real, and your AI undergoes fascinating character development. As far as gameplay, most of it is adventure-style puzzles --- think Monkey Island, Fate of Atlantis, Space Quest, but dramatic rather than comic. They are excellently designed; none feel contrived and several involve quite a bit of out-of-the-box thinking. There are some "action" sequences but even those can be beat by reasoning rather than reflexes. Emotionally this game is all about dread, with a bit of the surreal. Visuals and sound invoke both very effectively. All in all I found The Fall to be an underrated gem. My one qualm was that I found it a bit short. Was pleased to learn it is the first in a trilogy! (No release date set for the second installment unfortunately.)

When I first looked at list of subsystems, I hoped this one be the long play. And couple of moments after game ends. In my opinion story could go further, making game more interesting and long enough. Single issue is controls. You either run or go with gun ready. Nothing special except the only way to interact with something is when you holster gun and use flashlight. Gun/flashlight controlled by mouse but no cursor is on screen. It really annoying at the begging.