Light Fall is a fairly difficult adventure platformer that adds its own unique twist to the platformer genre.

Set in the dying world of Numbra, you play as a mysterious boy with no past (if he had a name, I seriously can’t remember), set out on a journey to save the world from destruction by finding the lost gods.

The lore in Numbra just wasn’t interesting enough to grab my attention and the overall plot is just forgettable. I wasn’t a big fan of the narration and it did get more tiresome as the game progressed, a speechless adventure would have suited the atmosphere better.

Visually speaking, Light Fall goes for a minimalist art style. It looks great with a unique  and fitting colour pallete for each level. It’s a shame some of these locations just don’t look interesting and the few enemies you do fight aren’t threatening at all. The soundtrack complements this nicely with atmospheric background music when not much is going on to something much more epic and upfront during tense sections.

Being a platformer, it’s important that the platforming is actually good, and thankfully,  that’s the case with Light Fall. Controls are tight and responsive, most of my deaths before the finale felt fair and were totally my fault. Tt’s usually clear where you are supposed to go thanks to the mostly solid level design. Light Fall brings a few new mechanics to the table: as you progress you gain access to a few powers. Some of them involve placing a block near you, for example: the A button places one directly under you whereas Y allows you to freely place the platform anywhere. The powers are used to keep momentum going, close larger gaps or block traps such as lasers. You can only use your powers 4 times before having to touch solid ground to reset. It’s important to know which situations require the right power.

Depending on your skill (and a bit of luck), Light Fall can take anywhere between 3 to 5 hours to complete. Split into 4 acts, each one ends in a epic final encounter. These encounters typically employ what you have learnt throughout said act in a unique and interesting way. Difficulty balance stumbles a bit in the late game, especially with an infuriating final boss encounter. The boss relies on way too many random attacks which can end up in tons of cheap deaths, sending you back to the start of the long and boring battle. While the rest of the game is full of mostly well designed situations, it’s a bizarre design choice to throw that annoying fight out the window right at the end of the game.

There are a few other random moments with some weird checkpoint placements either being too far between or a bit too generous. Suffice to say, the game is a bit inconsistent when it comes to its difficulty.

(Note: The developers are completly reworking the final boss so it should provide a much more fair and rewarding experience)

There’s a bunch of collectibles for you to collect. Those items unlock story elements which you can read through. Sadly though, as previously mentioned, since the story isn’t very interesting, nor are those unlockables. Beyond that, there is also a harder difficulty option and a speed run mode to delve into.

Overall, Light Fall is a great platformer that doesn’t reach its full potential. Maybe if the game was just a bit longer and had a more interesting world, as well as a better story, it could have been something special. Don’t even get me started on that final boss…

 

 

Graphics: 8.5 Great looking world with a lovely minimalist art style.	Gameplay: 8.0 Great platforming challenges test skill, reflexes and some light puzzle elements.
Sound: 7.5 Whilst the soundtrack is great the rest is completely forgettable	Fun Factor: 7.0 Some great platforming let down by a bland story and an infuriating final act.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Reviewed on PC.
Light Fall is available now on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
A copy of Light Fall was provided by the publisher.