Survive the Fall Review: Building Hope

Ever since I first stumbled into the glorious wasteland of the original Fallout, I’ve been obsessed with post-apocalyptic games. So when Angry Bull Studio dropped Survive the Fall, I sprinted toward it faster than a starving mole rat spotting a radioactive buffet. The last two weeks of my life were spent exploring every nook and cranny of the Comet-struck world of Survie the Fall to give it the official Gameffine seal of approval. If you’d rather see the game for yourself than read this review (it’s fine, I’m not sad at all), the game comes out today, May 22nd, on Steam.

Same, But Different

Despite having one of the most saturated settings in gaming, Survive the Fall tries to do something different with it. Unlike most post-apocalyptic settings, anthropocentric activities did not bring on the end of the world. Rather, we were just unlucky to be hit by a giant comet. The collision left behind a ginormous crater, which emits a toxic material called Stasis. With half of humanity wiped out, it’s up to the player-controlled ragtag group of misfits to bring their community together and stave off impending doom. Some of your quest choices, alliances, and faction relationships directly influence which ending you’ll get, a staple of the setting.

The story isn’t anything special, and the uninteresting main characters have a lot to do with it. Its presentation through static images doesn’t help either. But the atmosphere, the factions, and some of the NPCs make the experience worthwhile. What really sets Survive the Fall apart is its vibe. Unlike most post-apocalyptic games where everything’s trying to murder you 24/7, this one’s more chill—like Mother Nature rolled in, kicked humanity to the curb, and is now redecorating with overgrown vines and eerie silence. Sure, everyone will compare it to Fallout, but honestly? It’s more like Miasma Chronicles and Tunguska: The Visitation had a love child. And honestly? I’m here for it.  

Taming the Apocalypse

The gameplay of Survive the Fall is split into two different game modes. Firstly, there’s the top-down open world exploration mode, and then there’s the base-building/survival mode. Most of your time in the game will be spent on exploring three sizeable biomes with up to three playable characters. Your main goal in this mode is to explore remnants of the old world, scavenge supplies, and fend off opposing forces.

Every survivor brings their special skills to the table—foraging, hunting, and probably complaining about the lack of toilet paper. And oh boy, the loot! The game throws everything at you: guns, food, scrap that might be useful someday, and even research points. You can flip between characters on the fly. If you’re a micromanagement wizard, you’ll be multitasking like a wasteland CEO—send one guy to scavenge moldy cans while the other hunts mutant squirrels. Efficiency!

But here’s the catch—your backpack has the capacity of a fanny pack. You’ll spend half your playtime agonizing over what to keep and what to ditch. The crafting system is legit impressive, though—nothing goes to waste. Now, the downside: The map is drowning in loot. Your screen will look like it’s having a tooltip seizure, and good luck finding anything in your messy inventory. Sorting options? Basically nonexistent. It’s like the devs said, “Here’s 500 items—enjoy your clutter simulator!”

That said, fights are sometimes unavoidable, and when they happen, the game actually delivers a decent amount of depth. Combat blends melee and ranged options, with a solid variety of weapons and upgrades to tinker with. There’s even a handy pause feature, letting you queue up commands mid-battle (though purists can ignore it and power through in real-time).

Unfortunately, both combat and stealth suffer from clunky animations, spotty hit detection, and a general lack of weight behind your actions. Enemy AI doesn’t help either—it’s more “accidentally hilarious” than “strategically challenging.” I wouldn’t call it bad, exactly—just underwhelming. With a bit more polish, this could’ve been a real highlight. Instead, it’s just… fine.

Surviving the Fall

Let’s be honest—I’m no master builder. My Fallout 76 “camp” is basically a few wooden planks haphazardly stacked together, with crafting benches tossed around like leftovers. So, when a game throws deep settlement management at me, I usually nope out. But Survive the Fall eases you in gently, walking you through every step with clear guidance. Before I knew it, I was orchestrating a functioning survivor community like a post-apocalyptic city planner. The core loop is straightforward but engaging: fortify your base, construct essential facilities (think kitchens, farms, medical bays, workshops, and storage), and keep your survivors fed, powered, and healthy.

What could’ve been an overwhelming system instead feels intuitive – even rewarding. And for someone who typically avoids management sims like irradiated water, that’s high praise. But Survive the Fall doesn’t stop there. You’ll gradually expand your ragtag community, recruiting new survivors (some of whom can join your three-person scavenging squad), navigating faction politics, and unraveling a surprisingly deep tech tree that unlocks advanced construction options.

The game smartly balances these systems with its day/night cycle – you only have so much daylight for base management before needing to head out on expeditions. Thankfully, the ability to pause and fast-forward time is an absolute lifesaver, letting you optimize those precious hours between scavenging runs. It’s this thoughtful pacing that keeps the gameplay loop engaging rather than exhausting.

While the core mechanics work well, the system isn’t without its shortcomings. The UI/UX design feels very generic and something that you find in mobile games- functional but lacking personality, constantly pulling you out of the immersion with its gamey presentation. Your settlement never quite feels like a living community, but rather like a menu-driven simulation. Technical issues compound these problems. Occasional bugs and glitches disrupt the building process – nothing game-breaking, but enough to occasionally frustrate. A bit more polish in presentation could have elevated the experience from “functional” to “engaging.”

Feeling the Apocalypse

Survive the Fall adopts a competent visual style reminiscent of State of Decay, one of its clear inspirations. The environments impress with their dense detail, and enemy designs meet expectations for the genre. Players will appreciate the generous selection of graphics options for tuning performance.

The game demonstrates impressive handheld optimization, maintaining a stable 40-45 FPS on Steam Deck at low-to-medium settings. While the interface text can appear somewhat small, it remains perfectly legible for handheld play. The desktop experience tells a different story – my RTX 4060 setup suffers from inconsistent frame pacing, with periodic dips from triple-digit frames down to the 70s. These microstutters are notably absent on the Deck, pointing to potential PC-specific optimization or driver issues.

The lack of modern upscaling technologies (DLSS, FSR, or XeSS) in 2025 feels like a significant oversight, needlessly excluding players with lower-end hardware who could benefit from these performance boosters. This becomes particularly puzzling given the game’s otherwise decent technical foundation.

Sound design is one of the game’s weaker aspects. The limited soundtrack becomes repetitive during exploration, with tracks looping too obviously. Combat audio lacks weight and impact, diminishing the satisfaction of gunfights. While the absence of voice acting isn’t unexpected for this scale of project, it does make the storytelling feel slightly compelling compared to fully voiced contemporaries.

Real Talk

Despite its numerous shortcomings in polish, Survive the Fall ends up being a decent attempt at post-apocalyptic survival. For players who connect with its systems, it offers a surprisingly competent 50-100 hour experience. With some targeted polish – addressing performance inconsistencies, refining the UI, and injecting more life into its audio design – Survive the Fall could genuinely compete with established survival titles.

FINAL SCORE: 72/100