Black the Fall
Black the Fall (stylized as BLAƆK THE FALL) is an puzzle-platform video game developed by Sand Sailor Studio and published by Square Enix for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The player controls a machinist in a dystopic world inspired by the Romanian Revolution, solving environmental puzzles and avoiding death.
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Developer(s) | Sand Sailor Studio |
Publisher(s) | Square Enix |
Platform(s) | Linux Microsoft Windows OS X PlayStation 4 Xbox One Nintendo Switch |
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Genre(s) | Puzzle-platform |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
Black the Fall is a puzzle platformer. The player character is an unnamed machinist who escapes a surreal and mostly monochromatic environment presented as a 2.5D platform game. The player controls the machinist who walks, climbs, and uses objects to overcome obstacles and progress in the game. The machinist gains the ability to mind control other workers and later a robot to complete certain puzzles.
The machinist can die in various ways, such as being shot with machineguns, ensnared by guards, crushed by machines, burned by fire or drowned.
Plot
In a dystopic communist Romania a machinist goes to work pedaling a bicycle to power a machine. He decides to escape the large factory where he encounters a TV filming propaganda, groups of people chearing on a speech of Nicolae Ceaușescu and a depot with armored two-legged mechas used for repression.
The machinist makes it outside, a wasteland where all trees are dead and soil is polluted by heavy factories. Here he finds a robot used complete puzzles. After passing by an abandoned theme park the machinist goes through a wall to a destroyed city where people are still praying in a church soon to be demolished. In a drecrepit city he takes an overcrowded bus, is soon arrested and taken to prison.
After escaping his cell the machinist now injured wanders through an abandoned prison. He hides in a mass grave to avoid capture before making it outside, where a revolution is taking place with people revolting against the government. The machinist uses a semi broken mecha to open a hole in the city wall. The game ends with the machinist walking in front of images of the Romanian Revolution.
Release
The game was released on Steam's early access in 2014.[1][2] It also had a Kickstarter campaign in 2014.[3]
Reception
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Black the Fall received "mixed to average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[4][5][6]
References
- "The Mac build is now LIVE!". Steam. July 17, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- Barrett, Ben (October 4, 2014). "Looks Familiar But Has Robots: Black The Fall". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- "Black The Fall by Sand Sailor Studio". Kickstarter. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
- "Black The Fall for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Black The Fall for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
- "Black The Fall for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
- "Black The Fall for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- "Black the Fall". Edge. September 2017. p. 116.
- Gwaltney, Javy (July 12, 2017). "Drowning In Inspiration - Black The Fall - PlayStation 4". Game Informer. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
- McCaffrey, Ryan (July 20, 2017). "Black: The Fall Review". IGN. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
- Bell, Alice (July 13, 2017). "Black the Fall review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.