Falling Out Review

FALLING OUT is a fast-paced platformer title in which you'll take control of either Giorgio or Felicie on an innocent vacation that quickly turns into a hopeless quest of recovering artefacts scattered throughout pyramids to restrain an almighty and evil entity. Yeah!

The story in FALLING OUT is relatively simple and, frankly, non-existent. That said, that isn't a bad thing! The game takes no time to get you straight into the action, which is where all of the fun lies — taking control of Giorgio or Felicie, you'll set out in a world of procedurally-generated areas with numerous objectives and a door to progress to the next level. 

You can enjoy FALLING OUT in four different modes, which was a staggering amount from what I expected and surprisingly, they all play drastically differently! You can embark on a quest either alone (without an A.I. partner), with Giorgio and Felicie at the same time, co-op where each of you takes control of one of the characters, and a PvP mode where you play against an opponent that controls both characters as well. The main focus of FALLING OUT is its procedural generation with fast-paced platforming, so I primarily focused on the three PvE modes.

I embarked on my quest with Giorgio and Felicie alongside my wife in co-op, where she and I worked together to get through the pyramid, and it was... catastrophic. She got me killed, I got her killed, we killed each other in real life... It was a messy adventure that didn't feel all too smooth, but it was still something that I want to revisit in the future with her at some point. Being able to grab each other and fling one another to foes is fun to handle when the other irks you, but it was too often that we both went for the same item and ended up grabbing the other person by accident. 

Co-op with a partner, I feel, is best experienced when you have already gotten used to the controls and understand the game better. Both of you share lives (of which you have three), but each one of you has different health bars, so you'll need to work together to ensure that the resources are evenly split. That said, a constant timer on FALLING OUT before the pyramid starts flooding (which you can change from three minutes in the easiest mode to 2:15 in the hardest) makes the experience too hard for inexperienced players.

So, I spent most of my time in both co-op with an A.I. and solo, and the more I learned about FALLING OUT, the more I fell in love with it. Playing with an A.I. partner isn't necessarily "playing" with a machine; instead, you can change between two characters and call for the other or carry them through the pyramid. This mode has its pros and cons, as you'll have double the life (thanks to being able to change between the characters) and be able to position one of them in strategic ways. Although it was difficult keeping Giorgio alive all of the time (I mostly played Felicie), having him ready to take action or steal an item meant I could always rely on an alternate character. That said, time quickly runs short, so controlling both can be difficult.

Solo, without the A.I., felt like both the most accessible mode and the hardest... somehow. Having to control only one character means that it's way easier to jump into the game, reach the pyramid, and get to the end of the level. Without having to worry about a second partner, where you left them, or if you're putting them in the line of fire, it felt more straightforward but not necessarily easier — I'd gotten used to having two lives, more inventory, and easy access to a different part of the pyramid. The difference in both modes was a massive plus for me in FALLING OUT, as it gave me a reason to try and complete the game in both, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing them.

Every time you complete a level, you'll reach a small area where you'll be able to catch your breath and use your hard-earned (pillaged) gold to sell to a hilarious vendor... the first couple of times you meet him. Repeated dialogue is something prevalent and evident in the game; the vendor makes the same jokes every single time you see him, and although it isn't a bother, it does manage to break immersion every once in a while. Seeing as Azar (the vendor) says a quote every time you meet him, the fact that he only had a few lines felt off-putting.

Purchasing items is easy, but it did pose a minor issue in FALLING OUT once again: they felt useless. Although you get a selection from a wide array of armaments, from slingshots to bows and even magical idols that kill enemies around you, the scarcity of gold meant I used most of it on much-needed healing items. The rest? I ignored them and jumped into battle with two rocks that I'd aggressively throw at my adversaries with varying levels of success. Polar bears? It takes three. Tribesmen? Two. Bats? They'll die to one. I was a regular girl running through foe-infested pyramids with an omnipotent pebble (or two) killing anything from wasps to deities... and I loved it.

The lack of balancing on weapons is a design error, absolutely, but it wasn't something that hindered the experience. Instead of having to learn whether I wanted to take magical totems or primitive weaponry to fight supernatural entities, I could safely pick my pebbles, drop everything else on the floor, and run rampant through the pyramid. It made FALLING OUT far simpler, and it was all the better for it. Although I could craft these items without cost from the vendor, it felt more like a hindrance to change my inventory to go to my weapons to fight back, accidentally throwing quest items and having to pick them up (or silently weep when they accidentally broke) was more trouble than the slingshot was worth. I opted not to use any of the additional weapons except for whenever I'd failed to get my pebbles back or Azar pilfered them from me in exchange for gold — it allowed me to focus on what Falling Out excelled at the most: its platforming.

Although there are definitely some design choices that felt off, and some areas felt more like content bloat than not, FALLING OUT is a great title. Whilst you might enjoy using the various weapons, others might enjoy the platforming more, and these decisions don't hurt the game, which is a crucial point to this all. Despite complaining about these mechanics, I genuinely enjoyed FALLING OUT because it doesn't step over itself — the mechanics are there for the willing, and I just wasn't one of them.