The Fall
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Critic Reviews for The Fall
The Fall Part One's minor gameplay shortcomings don't even begin to tarnish the sheen on everything else. It's a seductive old-school sci-fi yarn, with characters that somehow manage to represent greater ideas and exist as fully-formed beings. Even though two more episodes have been confirmed, the game ends on an exciting conclusion that could function either as a cliffhanger or a definitive finale. If you're into books like The Martian Chronicles, there's no reason to let some potential head-scratchers keep you from a great experience.
The Fall is the beginning of an intelligent and engaging sci-fi story, one that'll keep you on the edge of your seat throughout every tricky brain teaser of a puzzle. With an excellent cast, a visceral, thought-provoking story and some great voice acting, the narrative has plenty of drive and it'll keep you guessing all the way to its tease of an ending.
The Fall is a flawed title marred by questionable voice acting, disappointing controls and, in classic adventure game fashion, segments where you'll find yourself rummaging blindly through the environment trying to figure out what to do next. If you can get past all of this, though, you'll find an innovative title with atmospheric visuals that puts a unique spin on old science fiction tropes through an intriguing storyline and some great meta-textual moments with the user interface. If all you want is a solid action-adventure experience, The Fall is probably not your best choice, but if you're looking for a more cerebral change of pace you should check this one out.
Arriving almost four years after the Wii U version, The Fall still manages to offer one of the most engaging takes on the age-old 'robot starts to feel alive' concept without feeling tired or rote. Sadly, the limitations of its gameplay haven't been addressed for this port, so while there's a great story to be experienced, the game itself remains a forgettable miasma of genres.
The Fall takes inspiration from all the right games, merging Metroid-style platforming and atmosphere with Dark Souls difficulty and Portal writing. Its deep and thoughtful explorations into the technicalities of AI are intelligent and surprisingly thought provoking. It's unfortunately hindered by clunky mechanics and overly complicated puzzles that often border on the obtuse when it comes to the specifics required to finish them. Google will be your best friend when playing through this, but try and avoid cheating or giving up entirely; solving The Fall's conundrums is actually somewhat worth the hassle for once, proving to be a creative and rewarding challenge that shows creativity and promise.
The Fall is definitely more than worth your time and money, and whilst the experience may be over quickly, it will certainly be one that you thoroughly enjoy.
This is supposedly the first of multiple chapters to this story, and if the writing stays as strong throughout then it's going to be a tale well worth exploring, but hopefully the next title will reduce the difficulty a tad.
