Thanks to Over The Moon Games for the review code

Title: The Fall
System: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Price: $9.99
Release Date: 05/10/2018

Story

In this adventure game, you take control of ARID, A robotic host seeking to protect its human inhabitant at all cost as it seeks to repair itself, but as it ventures deeper into the strange world it finds itself in, the question of if obeying protocol is truly the right call becomes a big moral crisis…

A cinematic game, this one was a bit surprising, with a good amount of quality voicework and a well-done narrative, even if it was split into pieces. Still, what you have available in this chapter of the overall story is pretty darn solid, and worth experiencing for yourself.

Presentation

The presentation here in The Fall is pretty damn impressive, with great atmosphere, and wow, does it start off strong in a dark, gloomy environment. Using a flashlight to navigate around and look for clues, this game really nails a visual style, and it just keeps getting better even after you leave the darkest depths. with wonderful sound cues, ambience, and a solid voice direction to tell its story.

It may be nearly a decade old, but I’m pleased to say that I felt this first part’s presentation aged very well in that time. The music itself may not be anything that special, but the whole combined presentation sure is memorable enough to get my thumbs up, managing to make the most out of dark environments.

Gameplay

The Fall goes for a very cinematic feel, and plays a lot like a slower paced adventure game with traditional movement that vaguely reminds me of a cinematic platformer. Thus, you’ll have moments where you’ll need to examine something further, or have to solve a puzzle using cues from the environment, while also having to deal with hazards and obstacles in action sequences.

Starting off you only have your flashlight, which is mainly used to examine objects and interact with them point and click style, but as you progress you quickly gain the ability to toggle to a firearm, which is used to defend yourself from the rogue robots and hazardous enemies as you continue to solve the puzzles. Switching is as easy as pressing down the right stick, and aiming and examining felt very natural, with the controls being pretty darn smooth, despite their cinematic influence.

The Fall has a lot of tricky puzzles in it, and there were some that I admit stumped me pretty darn hard, one to the point I had to look up a guide to figure out a solution that gave me a “oh why didn’t I try that” perspective upon seeing it. For a game all about defying protocol, it definitely factors into the puzzles and offers some pretty darn clever solutions that supplement the great storytelling, sometimes requiring you to think back to previous conversations or examinations you took notes of, and the midpoint of the game is especially good at this.

The game is also very generous with autosaves and checkpoints, so even if you mess up you don’t really lose much by fiddling around until you finally get past that tricky puzzle or obstacle. This is also where I should recommend that yes, you avoid spoilers for this game. While stuff in Part 2’s promotional material clued me into some bits on what may happen in this game, I was still pleasantly surprised by how great the story was here. It may not be absolutely inventive or anything, but The Fall’s narrative does a darn good job at gripping the player and having them stay engaged to figure out the ending, and while I was a bit bummed that Part 3 still hasn’t been made to conclude the full trilogy, I absolutely adored the bit of the story I enjoyed in Part 1 here, and definitely recommend you go in blind if how I describe the gameplay and puzzles sounds appealing to you.

Conclusion

For the first part of a (currently) two part adventure game, The Fall feels like a great prologue to what is certainly a promising story, and I’m definitely gonna pick up the second part later to find out what happens next. This Switch port may have been long overdue on my queue, and boy did I miss out on a gem.

It may not be the most actiony game out there, but for a cinematic, atmospheric title The Fall really nails it pretty darn well on the first go, and this Switch port is super solid and serves as a great place to experience this fun adventure. If you ever liked point & clicks or cinematic platformers for their story, then The Fall is a great romp that combines the best aspects from both of them. Hopefully Part 3 becomes a reality one day to conclude this great story, and now I’m definitely ashamed to have slept on this one in the queue!

I give The Fall a 7 out of 10.