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.)
