From the intense battles to the simple and tasteful animations, Fall of Light had me captivated not only for its unusual yet distinctive art-style but also for its intriguing story line.

Fall of Light is a top down perspective dungeon crawler developed by Runeheads was released recently for PC on the 28th of September, 2017 on the prominent global game distribution platform known as Steam.

Fall Of Light

DETAILED REVIEW

Story & Narrative

Nestling itself rather comfortably in the dungeon crawler setting, Fall of Light’s story initiates with a formal prologue which enunciates about a world plunged in darkness.

Before the era of men, there was only an excruciating, screaming void where monsters and loathsome creatures would linger about in eternal gloom. Then came Luce, and with her came warmth and order which instituted the era of men. But that didn’t last long. The 14th era of men ended abruptly, as a dark sorcerer named Pain emerged from nowhere and worked in secret. He used his magic to defeated Luce and before anyone knew it the world was once again encapsulated in perpetual darkness, dominated by fear and patrolled by unknown creatures that abhor light.

As Nyx, an old retired warrior, you must dive into this malignant world and explore the darkness accompanied by your daughter Aether— an Indigo child who emits light from her incandescent body, whose aura gives you strength to overcome your enemies.

Aether seems to be suffering from an unknown illness, and to find the cure, you must bring her to the last place on the face of the earth that still sees sunlight.

Graphics, Sound & Performance

Optimisation: Fall of Light was run on a mid-end PC with the following specifications:

1) Processor: Intel Core i5-4440 CPU 3.10GHz

2) GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 750Ti

3) RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 Gigs

Fall of Light was run on ‘medium setting’ and ran at 60 FPS occasionally dropping to 45 FPS. Stutters were experienced at certain parts and for a game which demands less powerful hardware to be run without any complications, it surely does require a rework.

Graphics & Animation: Fall of Light is not boastful of its visuals. They are neither groundbreaking nor ostentatious. But one of the most astounding features of the game is the interesting low-poly art-style. Fall of Light wonderfully combines this art-style with the dungeon crawler setting, proving only what people thought could never be achieved as a wrong conception. Rest assured, it stands out really well. From the fluid combat animations to the flamboyant particle effects, Fall of Light’s dark environment blends all these components tactfully. All this is extremely flavorful and eye-catching.

Sound: Fall of Light’s music selection is by far the most impressive. It is partly influenced by English folklore and is an outstanding example of how much effort was put into hand picking the finest melody that would commingle with the murky surroundings.

Gameplay & Mechanics:

The gameplay is primarily based on exploration and fighting. This ensures that the players are rewarded handsomely for their actions. Weapons and equipments can be found lying around and could be picked up and equipped like an RPG game. Secrets and chunks of the lore are hidden around the darkest corners of the map which could only be obtained through exploration.

The combat feels somewhat clumsy, mainly because the target locking system which is partially more favoring to players who use controllers than the ones who use a keyboard and a mouse.

Fall of Light is probably one of the toughest games I have played. Inspired by games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, it creates challenges for players by putting them up against tough enemies and bosses with special abilities without warning. All these enemies have a pattern. Hence, the key to winning the game is being observant. Anticipating moves by carefully avoiding the enemy’s attacks is crucial to staying alive and finishing the quest with the least amount of damage suffered.

Fall of Light’s dark atmosphere does exceptionally well in concealing the enemy. It then becomes important that the player does not let his guard down. Stealth would have been an excellent mechanic for a game taking place in a dark setting such as this. But it seems like the developers have decided to borrow completely from the concept of Dark Souls, which is totally acceptable.

What I really like about Fall of Light is the fact that like any RPG game it allow players to equip their character with the loot they have obtained from various quests. There are 20 different battle stances and 10 different weapon classes to pick from. It lets the players decide and put their play style into action. However the loot system is heavily weighted against the player. The root drop rates for special items is really low, and with all the other difficult circumstance already in place, it feels as if the game is deliberately piling on the misery. Maybe make the drop rates better in the coming updates.

The save points are placed at a tedious length from one another. This is deliberately done to make the game a little bit more difficult. These save points are in the shape of shrines. In order to save, Nyx and Aether would have to kneel infront of the shrine together. Saving the game restores health and a ton of other attributes. In the event of death, the player respawns back at the shrine and all the enemies that the player had killed will be reset to their previous state. But if Aether were to die somewhere, the player would have to follow a trail of blue light to the location where she was killed in order to resurrect her.

Despite its attractiveness Fall of Light is not devoid of its flaws. One of the most vexing points in the game that the player would have to bear whether he/she likes it or not is the part where Aether gets kidnapped. And this doesn’t happen once, infact, it happens throughout the game. At this point it genuinely feels like the developers are purposefully making the game even harder for the players. The game would then force you to back track all the way to save her because without Aether the save points won’t work and the absense of her aura critically plummets your strength. All this feels incredibly redundant and unforgiving.

VERDICT

For fans of tough hack and slash games like Dark Souls, Fall of Light is exceptionally well crafted. Taking its roots into the depth of misty dungeons where vile creatures crawl about in ignominious darkness, the game’s highly efficient difficulty factor which rises subsequently and its abstruse level design warrants that the players won’t feel bored, repetitiveness is out of the question. For players who have never played Dark Souls, the game would appear challenging. At points it becomes redundantly strenuous and frustrating but in the end it all plays out well. The story has a certain charm to it and would keep you riveted to the screen till the very end. With that being said, Fall of Light has a very tempting game design and therefore is something that is definitely worth your pennies without any doubt.