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The Fall is a game that I feel like came out of nowhere, I heard of it on IRC and because Giant Bomb (In particular, Vinny, which is worth mentioning) did a quicklook (http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-the-fall/2300-9225/). The game, an atmospheric adventure game about robots, is only $10 on steam at full price, and, while it is only a few hours long, depending on how long it takes to figure out the puzzles, it left my very satisfied. In fact, I thought it was amazing. It seems to be episodic, and it is unclear to me whether the $10 purchase is just for the first episode, but if it is I have no complaints, as I think it is entirely justified, and it also tells a very satisfying narrative in the space it has, it does not feel lacking.

 

For those unfamiliar (I assume most people, since I was) the quick look is a better illustration than any description I can give, but Ill try anyway. Imagine a game with the visual styling and atmosphere of The Swapper, but about robots and AI, and the problems they face, and also more of an adventure game than a puzzle game (no item combination, but picking up items and using them elsewhere in one off ways to solve adventure game style puzzles).

 

If it is not clear from what i have already said, I adore this game and highly recommend it. It is not, however, without faults. Most of the criticism I have for it has to do with the controls. The game has some combat, though it is not the focus, and that part isn't terrible, but is a bit clunky. I got used to it and ended up not minding it, but it certainly isn't the draw. Its not awful though, its no Dreamfall.

 

Anyway, has anyone else played it? I would love to talk about it, the subject matter and style are incredible and I really wish more games, or things in general, were like this. I also feel that this game has been relatively under the radar in the press (much like The Swapper as well) and would love to see it get more attention.

 

 

Oh I should probably say the developer. It was made by Over the Moon Games (http://www.overthemoongames.com/) and as far as I know it is their first game, but I don't know who is there and what else they may have done. Apparently the game was kickstarted, but I was not aware of it until very recently. As I said before, I think it is great and highly recommend it.

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This has been on my radar for a little while now, and is 50% off on Steam so I just grabbed it. Seems pretty well hyped by the (very few, it seems) reviews that I can find, and the trailer interests me. I think the lack of press on it is what surprises me the most.

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Yeah, I've also been suprised by the lack of press. Giant bomb did a quicklook, which is how I heard of it, but i've seen very few mentions of it or people talking about it, and I think it is very worth talking about and playing.

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This looks interesting, and I can absolutely see the Swapper vibe from it. I wonder if it was a conscious influence perhaps?

 

I have a slight apprehension that this prediction for the story could become true:

 

The robotic AI, being a female, will have some romantic interest in the human she is protecting. I suspect this mostly just because of the choice of their genders, and also a little because in the trailer she seems emotionally distraught about possibly losing her human companion. It makes sense she'd be programmed with a strong disposition to protect him but I'd be super disappointed if the game played it out as a romantic entanglement.

 

I can't get it right now cause my paypal's been cleared but it's on my wishlist (which basically my bookmarked 'cool games' list).

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This looks interesting, and I can absolutely see the Swapper vibe from it. I wonder if it was a conscious influence perhaps?

 

I have a slight apprehension that this prediction for the story could become true:

 

The robotic AI, being a female, will have some romantic interest in the human she is protecting. I suspect this mostly just because of the choice of their genders, and also a little because in the trailer she seems emotionally distraught about possibly losing her human companion. It makes sense she'd be programmed with a strong disposition to protect him but I'd be super disappointed if the game played it out as a romantic entanglement.

 

I can't get it right now cause my paypal's been cleared but it's on my wishlist (which basically my bookmarked 'cool games' list).

 

I can answer your apprehension, if you want:

 

that is not what happens

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It's a rather short game, and also, just episode 1. Next episodes might get made when this episode is commercially successful enough and will be sold separately.

 

The controls are a bit annoying at times, aiming with your flash light in order to start interaction possibilities. But the worst part is the pixel hunting you have to do on occasion. I wasted quite some time to find missing pieces in the puzzle.

Other than that the game was quite enjoyable, and I will most likely play the next episode.

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Yeah its a bummer that the controls are a bit clunky, the combat is tolerable but unnecessary. Still, I could look past that because I loved the atmosphere and environment and story. Unfortunately will have to wait till later next year to see more (based off a tweet by them saying it would be ~ 9 months). I didn't find most of the puzzles to be too pixel hunt, at least, not in a bad way, but there were 1 or 2 that stood out for that, which wasn't great either. I did really like the arc of the story even in the first episode, they ended it well, and I like that they gave the episode its own complete story arc.

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It took me a while to find the ladder to drop down on the wire thingy. It took me a while to find the empty glass. Stuff like that. They were near invisible, and the visual queues take a little while to show up so they are easy to miss.

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I've started this, I'm about halfway through now and really enjoying it. It has nice writing touches and I like that the exploration of AIs as individuals doesn't seem to be boiling down to just "AIs can be people TOO!" At least not so far. I look forward to finishing this out soon, especially because it's one of those games that gives me the impression that I can't be sure how it will end (ie. compared to obvious happy ending plots where you know the hero will win and everything will be fine).

 

I really liked the moment where I flipped the switch that drained all the power from the dormant robots. I'm not entirely sure if I was meant to take this away from it, but I saw that as like pulling the plug on a bunch of comatose people. Except the comatose people don't even have personalities, they are blank slates that could be easily reproduced again. It's not even comparable to an abortion, because even a ball of cells with no organs is a unique iteration, while the robots are a blueprint that presumably still exists to print out a new one. The reason that Arid is different is because she is breaking her programming and deviating from a set of processes. She's developing a unique personality and behaviours.

 

I think I'm gonna go try finish this now, as long as I don't get caught on any more weird puzzles that throw me off (the baby test one was a nightmare).

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I've started this, I'm about halfway through now and really enjoying it. It has nice writing touches and I like that the exploration of AIs as individuals doesn't seem to be boiling down to just "AIs can be people TOO!" At least not so far. I look forward to finishing this out soon, especially because it's one of those games that gives me the impression that I can't be sure how it will end (ie. compared to obvious happy ending plots where you know the hero will win and everything will be fine).

 

I really liked the moment where I flipped the switch that drained all the power from the dormant robots. I'm not entirely sure if I was meant to take this away from it, but I saw that as like pulling the plug on a bunch of comatose people. Except the comatose people don't even have personalities, they are blank slates that could be easily reproduced again. It's not even comparable to an abortion, because even a ball of cells with no organs is a unique iteration, while the robots are a blueprint that presumably still exists to print out a new one. The reason that Arid is different is because she is breaking her programming and deviating from a set of processes. She's developing a unique personality and behaviours.

 

I think I'm gonna go try finish this now, as long as I don't get caught on any more weird puzzles that throw me off (the baby test one was a nightmare).

 

Agreed, that one was annoying. There's one puzzle after where you are that I recall finding annoying as well but it wasn't as bad.

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It was a little annoying too that when I gave up, I had to skim through a let's play to find the solution. I guess guides aren't what they used to be. :(

 

EDIT: That was just meant to be a sad face. Damn these forums.

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haha. Despite a few puzzles that were pretty bad, I adored the game for its tone and story, so I'm really looking forward to the next part. I have a history of falling in love with adventure games that have bad mecahnics/puzzles I guess. Or at least, I love The Longest Journey and Dreamfall, and TLJ had one terrible puzzle in particular that was impossible, while Dreamfall had a really bad combat mechanic.

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Oh I do think it's great! The frustration is mostly annoying because it prevents me getting to the next part of the story I'm enjoying, but if I didn't enjoy it I'd have stopped when it started getting frustrating.

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This trailer is not what I was expecting. My anticipation for a follow this has wavered significantly, but I am definitely still curious about this follow up (and it is coming to Switch...).

 

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Wow, yeah, that's quite different from the original. Still interesting though.

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Ohhhhhhh that looks really nice, and not at all like the worst game in the history of video games which was coincidentally also named "The Fall" (but released in 2004). I just wanted to ask for a GOG version but see it's for sale on Humble, DRM free. Hmmmmmmmm.

 

On 14/10/2014 at 7:56 PM, coaxmetal said:

TLJ had one terrible puzzle in particular that was impossible

 

Hope you mean the Maerum altar. Because that other one was GREAT. :lol:

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