Black The fall
Read our PS4 review here.
After decades of toil, an old machinist plots his escape from the oppressive grasp of the Communist regime. Through hidden passages, shadow and grief, he struggles. Ingenuity, reflexes and deception are his tools. Along the road, he befriends the most unlikely creature, an abandoned little robot. Could they escape this bleak and deadly world, together?
A few minutes in and Black The fall was already giving me “Playdead” vibes (See “inside”), I was not disappointed.
The atmosphere in Black The fall is fantastic, as you make your bid for freedom you stumble upon a multitude of interesting and telling events in a small Varity of places from pointless labor in the factory basement to fake new been filmed in a soulless studio. Black the fall also does a good job of introducing and using game mechanics without needing to spoon feed you information, with a few signs in place giving hints via simple icons your be on you way in no time. A common obstacle will be the Cameras and supervisors, I was shocked to see how fast these cameras are too deploy a rifle and shoot you with it once your spotted, Strongly implying your not working here because you want too. Respawning will put you at predetermined checkpoints and they seemed to be plentiful and in the right places.
To start your escape you actually have to do your job for a small amount of time, this involves peddling a bike to generate power for some sort of smelter/forge above this machine is a counter that starts at 10000 and counts down slowly as you pedal I did get to 9000 before releasing that I should just play the game before I seek secrets because I would put money on something happening when that counter hits zero and for all I know that’s your characters day of work done and he goes to back to his barrack, that’s still a something or maybe after that your no longer need and a nasty camera comes and shoots you to show the futility of your obedience. But I shall find what really happens (if anything) once iv setup a macro that holds E for me.
Might take some time…
Dystopian worlds always hold secrets and our dystopian communist Russia is no different, exploration been rewarded with snipits of whatever the hell is going on be it interrogations or the final resting places of those with a goal similar to yours, Although I’m sure they didn’t die testing if you can couch under those lasers or how close to that steam jet before I turn into dust.
Only three times did I tut at the game and two of those were for the platform I needed to jump onto to progress looking like background scenery the last one for getting past a boarded doorway by sheer flook as it involved my robot dog not listening to where I wanted him to go and me trying to climb on top of him. (As a step ladder only get your mind out of the gutter) Talking of my robot dog I was pleasantly surprised to encounter him as I had gone into the game blind (Bar a literal glance at the steam page) You order him about by using a laser pointer of sorts that you learn to use early in the game he fits nicely into a few puzzles and makes happy little beeping sounds so he makes good company.
I believe if you enjoy this sort of game your already know you want this, But seen as you have looked for a review of it I also recommended it as I was kept engaged thought-out and enjoyed my time in dystopian Russia and so will you or the cameras will……………
