Home > A Lull in the Middle - The Fall Part 2: Unbound Review
Originally published on Nintendo Castle.
The first entry in this trilogy, The Fall, was one of the first Wii U games we reviewed on Nintendo Castle back in 2014. I enjoyed that game quite a lot and had been looking forward to the sequel, which came to Switch and other platforms earlier this year. If you've yet to play the first game, you shouldn't bother with the second yet. Check out our review of the first and see if you're interested (the first game is now out on Switch) in playing the sequel.
Platforms: PC, Switch [Reviewed], PS4, Xbox One
Developer: Over The Moon
Release: February 13, 2018
MSRP: $16.99
Press Copy provided by Over The Moon
Just like the first game, most of The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a point-and-click adventure set in a rustic sci-fi world. It's very atmospheric and story-driven, which is why playing the first part of the game is so necessary to understand and enjoy the second. Unbound introduces a new combat system with more combat in general, but you should go into this game expecting a laid-back, dialogue-heavy, point-and-click puzzle game.
Unbound takes place immediately following the events of the first game. You're back in control of A.R.I.D., but actually spend more time inhabiting three other bots, known as The Companion, The Butler, and The One. The characters are developed well and have interesting backgrounds that you'll learn as you switch between each perspective. A.R.I.D. feels a bit less developed this time around, but she still shines a little while helping the other three bots find identity. All three bots are likeable, but I found The Butler to be the most interesting.
We praised the first part of this trilogy for an engaging story that left us wanting more. Now that I have more, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. There's some interesting plot points and character development, but it does seem to be missing the sense of mystery and dramatic twist that the first game had. It was fine overall, but doesn't leave me dying to play part 3.
Gameplay itself can best be described as solid, but flawed. Point-and-click segments are rather slow, but that's not atypical of the genre. I found the returning "use your flashlight to observe" function to be a little bit buggy as well (this is the central action in the game). It sometimes wouldn't pick up or respond to objects at distances that it seems like it should. Not much has changed from the first game here.
There are essentially two types of combat in this game, and both are kind of boring to be honest. The first, when using A.R.I.D., plays a bit like a platformer. Enemies are defeated by shooting your gun (ammo is time-restricted) and jumping around to dodge. Some enemies can only be destroyed when they are certain colors. There's only one type of enemy you ever battle like this, which makes sense with the story but isn't very exciting.
The other type of combat is even more simple. Enemies (once again, all the same type) approach from the left and the right and you'll need to time left or right button presses to defeat them. Some enemies take multiple hits to defeat and some will dodge some of your attacks. It takes a minute or to to get the timing down, but is incredibly easy afterwards. It feels as though combat is once again pointless (a complaint I had from the first game) and it would make no difference if it was left out of the game entirely.
Puzzle solving, which boils down to figuring out what to click on next, is what moves the game along. There's some fun and creative puzzles with interesting solutions, but there's also a lot of rather unintuitive puzzles. A decent portion of the game will leave you clicking on everything in the area until the puzzle is solved. If you want that process streamlined a little, be sure to check out our Walkthrough.
There doesn't seem to be any Switch particular features of the game that are noteworthy, besides the occasional use of rumble. The game runs well in docked and portable mode, but it's rather slow moving and not visually intesive, so nothing less should be expected. We'll of course recommend the Switch version for portability's sake (and the nature of our content focus), but the game can be equally enjoyed on any platform. Waiting for a sale on PC might not be a bad idea for this one.
If you enjoyed the first entry in the series, definitely pick this one up as well. It isn't some legendary sequel that fixes all of the problems in the first game, but it does continue the story in an interesting way that is worth checking out. The three robots idea is rather fun and executed well. The voice acting and sci-fi atmosphere are once again solid. If you didn't love the first game or haven't enjoyed point-and-click games in the past, you might want to skip out on The Fall Part 2: Unbound.
Pros:
- Clean and fitting atmosphere
- Lots of story to discover
- Fun and well developed characters
Cons:
- No replayability
- Combat is boring
- Some unintuitive puzzles
Verdict
Good
Good games are simply that: good. They are generally fun to play but might be lacking in longevity, replay value, or presentation. These games might be good buying decisions for some people, but not for others. Some otherwise great games may fall into this category if they are priced unreasonably high. The devil is in the details.
Want to know what this score means? Check out our Scoring Guidelines page.
