The Fall

The Fall is constructed to be a dark, story driven adventure game that explores the horrors of A.I. In the Fall, you take on the role of ARID, a robotic suit with A.I function that shields it's human pilot. It’s your duty after a crash landing to secure the human pilot to safety after he has become unresponsive. After the landing, you awaken on a strange planet, finding yourself in a disused (yet not deserted) facility that once housed, programmed and disposed of A.I controlled units. Wondering around the complex you discover some strange happenings with people and other A.I units being murdered and rather gruesomely crucified for display. Along the journey, you discover not all is well and that your psychotic antagonist judges you, fearing you are just another faulty unit. It’s a fascinating concept and with a strong narrative that compels its player into an immersive world and takes hold until the last moment.

Visually the game represents something from a 90’s era of adventure game, similar to Another World. The game world is intense and broody with an unsettling vibe that leaves players fearing the unknown. You can’t help but admire the level of detail in the design and enjoy the overwhelming sense of isolation felt. If only the controls were a little more easy to use, being fairly clunky to move around and having to open your flash-light in order to interaction with objects is somewhat long winded.

The Fall harbours the same style of gameplay to Another World, where you’re tasked to explore large areas of the world, obtaining various items that will help you progress further and pass various obstacles. Keen exploration skills are needed in order to obtain items and find solutions in a number of hidden documents to various puzzles. At times, this method of problem solving can be challenging yet rewarding or completely feel random and obscure. This indeed usually ends up with yourself frustratingly using all the items in your inventory, hoping for a positive interaction and result.

As said before, The Fall holds a pretty compelling narrative with concepts that are never really focused on in the mainstream media. It’s this factor in the game that makes it so fascinating and gripping to observe, keeping you invested throughout. The game begs to be replayed as some moments have multiple decisions and results. Minor but interesting enough to go back and look at. The characters are quite likeable and connections can be made, even if they are machines. Each has a personality and a purpose within the world. The slightly hammy voice acting was something I believe was done intentionally, due to the subject of machines being human, you get the feeling the dramatic and artificial voices were part of the intended vibe.

Even with the minor flaws of clunky controls and some obscure puzzles. The Fall is still an incredibly bold and engaging adventure game that any old school fan of Another World or Broken Sword will love. Its rich atmosphere, engrossing exploitative gameplay and thought-provoking story bring this to a high level of enjoyment for any Sci-fi geek, looking for the thinking man’s version of Metroid Prime. This is only the first chapter out of a possible three and me for one are defiantly looking forward to the release of the next instalments.