Black The Fall

Release Date: July 11, 2017

Adventure, platformers, puzzle elements, dystopia, 2.5D, action adventure, singleplayer

7.0

OpenCritic

79%

Steam

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An action-adventure title developed by the independent developer Sand Sailor Studio. The action of Black The Fall takes place in a communist industrial dystopia where the inhabitants are completely subject to the regime. The main hero, named Black, is a obedient worker at one of the many factories. However, when the entrance door gets damaged, he takes the opportunity to break free.

Videos and Screens

[1:16] Black The Fall launch trailer

[1:21] Black The Fall trailer #2

7.0

OpenCritic Rating

Game is Recomended by 40% of Critics. There are 46 Critic Reviews.

OpenCritic

PlayStation Universe: 7 / 10 by Neil Bolt

Black the Fall paints a pretty bleak picture of a quite personal dystopia. It doesn't excel at its puzzle-solving all that often, nor does it always feel well-designed, but it does well enough to keep you moving through the oppression in the hope the protagonist gets to fulfill his dream of freedom from it.

Full Review

Wccftech: 6.5 / 10 by Rosh Kelly

Black The Fall is an atmospheric 2D puzzle platformer, and although it creates an interesting tone, the game itself can't quite hold up against the titans of the genre.

Full Review

IGN: 6.5 / 10 by Ryan McCaffrey

Though Black deserves credit for adding new puzzle mechanics along the way, it could've easily seen its 6-8 hour runtime chopped in half and still gotten its message across. That entire time I found myself wondering if, like Inside, Black would have anything to say. When I finally discovered its message at the end of the campaign, it did inspire me to look up the real-life issue it was drawing attention to and learn more about it. I applaud it for that. Sure, it could've done so with a bit more subtlety – it's a bit heavy-handed at the very end – but at least Black does have a point to make. It's just a shame that it wrapped that in a game that's so shamelessly and distractingly derivative.

Full Review

79%

STEAM Score

All Reviews: Mostly Positive (682)

STEAM

Black The Fall is an adventure title developed by the independent Sand Sailor Studio with the help of Square-Enix from Japan – the game takes part in the Square Enix Collective project which supports independent creators. The production for PC, SWITCH and etc. is also a successful Kickstarter project.

Plot

The action of Black The Fall takes us to a communist industrial dystopia where the inhabitants are completely subject the regime. The main hero named Black is an obedient employee of one of many factories. However, when the entrance door gets damaged, he seizes the opportunity and tries to escape.

Mechanics

The action of Black The Fall on PC, SWITCH and etc. is presented from a side-view. The key ingredient of the game is exploration of the mysterious environment. Different locations, such as the mentioned factory, or a gloomy city, are filled with numerous traps, obstacles, and environmental puzzles. In order to solve them, you need to manipulate elements of the environment and make use of the laws of physics. Moreover, Black wields an unusual tool – a designator – with which he can control not only regular workers, but also machines and friendly creatures. Apart from that, the title features a stealth system that enables the hero to sneak behind backs of hostile NPCs and alert machines.

Technical aspects

The title for PC, SWITCH and etc. utilises 2.5D visuals that feature rather gloomy hues - the only intensive colour you see is red. The animations are created with great care – not only does Black naturally move, but also naturally interact with the environment. The developers call their technique 2.75D – even though most of the action is seen from a side-view, the camera often impressively rides, zooms, and shows the action from various movie-like perspectives.

Last updated on January 23, 2017