Fall of Light

Thanks to the developers at RuneHeads and the publisher 1C Company(who knew they were still around?) for creating and distributing a good game for me to escape, explore and enjoy.
*Note There is a demo for Fall of Light. I would recommend go and try as it is an excellent representation of the game. I do not know if it receives patches.
A few years ago i reviewed  a game, Aarklash Legacy(2013), that at the time ignored everything that was expected to be in an rpg by stripping itself down to nothing more than the basic needs for the player and successfully focused more on the combat. I think Fall of Light has done the same. Its strips away everything you expect you need in today’s rpg world to the core and keeps the focus more importantly on an engaging story and brutal combat.
Fall of Light is a third person action game that is a story about a father and daughter and their journey to see the last reminisce of sunlight in a world that has been plunged into darkness by the evil Pain. As a child of light, Aether(your daughter) can destroy the evil and return the world back to light by finding three artifacts. It's a successful journey to undertake as it has rewarding exploration, combat and storytelling. The ending boss fight is a highlight and the story conclusion is somber depending on which ending you achieve(i only got the bad one).
As you begin the journey you are given a tutorial of most of the basics. Your daughter who glows with an aura of sunlight is the main light source on your quest and she will add some passive abilities during combat if she is in close vicinity. Combat is pretty basic with heavy, light attack, block and roll and is also tied to a stamina meter. There is a good variety of one handed/two handed weapons to cater to your style though i felt two handed were almost impossible to use. There is also a good roster of enemies and most have different moves to learn in order to survive. For the most part enemies are aggressive, so much so they will chase you clear across a map. I beat the game prior to the first patch and all i can say is the game is way easier and more forgiving now.
My favorite part of Fall of Light, besides the story, is the exploration and unknown. Level design is key as the world is full of secrets, shortcuts and rewards. I've played through the game almost twice now and still have yet to find two upgrades for Aether. The game also looks amazing(i don't know what the style is called) and it ran flawless at 1080P Ultra Wide. There is a good variety of locations and all with their own unique identity and enemies to encounter. As you explore you will come upon pillars/monuments that are used as checkpoints. Anytime they are used or you perish it will reanimate all fallen enemies. These monuments are also used for upgrading which is limited to additional health. There is no deep skill tree of weapons, armor, health, etc. and there are no potions, crafting, or spells. There is also limited inventory of 4 slots(2 handed takes up 2 slots) so no overweight or huge inventory to maintain.
Fall of light does two things a lot of games are afraid to do, it strips what you think you need in an RPG and then adds an easy, emotional story to follow. The simple mechanic of holding your daughter's hand as you explore for some reason made it more meaningful to reach the end than i ever spent wondering if I was almost ready to level. I wish more developers would focus as Fall of Light on presenting a solid game experience rather than flood my inventory and lose focus with meaningless objectives.
Positives
Emotional ending
Exploring is rewarding and satisfying
Good level and sound design
Challenging and fair combat
Learning the unknown
NG+ makes the world darker
Negatives
Too many shards to collect
AI needs tweaked- kamikazes that will chase you across the map
Level limit
Checkpoint locations
Some weapons felt impossible to use
Really bad puzzle at the end
No impact or feel on a deathblow like when hitting shields

I just finished the demo, and wow, I love it. Here are my notes:
1. People say this is like Dark Souls, BUT...
I want to clarify this. Fall of Light is its own game. Yes, you die a lot like Dark Souls and the number crunching is minimal. You have squares that represent HP, you start with 5, so it's very simple, but not in a bad way. I like number crunching a lot, but I was not detered by this system. But this game is very much different. I love the camera (it does not jack with you), I love how it feels like an isometric ARPG in its presentation, but it is not an ARPG.
2. The comabt is really well done. There was a game called "Examina" that tried to do very physical-based combat, and this has strains of similarities, but Examina failed miserably. The targeting makes this game awesome, but even without, it was far far better than Examina. I liken this to the combat from Gothic 1 and 2 (LOL Gothic 3 was terrible). You have to learn enemies and time your attacks and defensive moves. Once you learn an enemy, you can dominate him.
3. There are fresh ideas in this game and they are good ideas. The companion you bring with you adds some really cool elements. The aesthetics are fantastic.
Really well done devs, well done. I immediately bought this game upon completing the demo, and the price is right!!

"Inspired by" is lightly used here, this is pretty much Dark Souls from a diablo perspective.
Controls and combat feel wonky at first but once you get a hang of it, its not too bad.
+Environments are interesting and feel lived-in
+Challenging
+Dark Souls-esque
-Hitboxes could use some work
-Wonky controls feel a bi sluggish
-Could use more bosses

Fall of Light
was one of my more anticipated games of 2017. So, I was pretty thrilled when a copy slid across the ethereal surface of my existential desk. I have a particular love and fascination with Soulsborne games, and this seemed like it might fill the void between Dark Souls 3 and whatever new IP FromSoft is working on. That said, I also was careful to temper my expectations. I loved Darkmaus, but it wasn’t without flaws, and I figured this Indie might be similar given its isometric approach to gameplay. So, how does Fall of Light stack up to the Soulsborne genre of which it is a part?
Story
The story in Fall of Light is pretty interesting, such as I was able to experience. The world has been cast in shadow and darkness and civilizations crumbled. The remaining people by and large have succumbed to madness. You are a knight, whose daughter radiates light which helps repel the darkness, both literally and figuratively. However, she is frail and creatures of darkness would love nothing more than to separate her from you and kill the light before it grows and dispels the darkness throughout the land. Your goal is take your daughter on a quest to see sunlight one last time. There is more to it, and that is definitely an oversimplification, but the lore that was written into this game was stellar in my estimation and the story was compelling.
8 out of 10
Gameplay
Fall of Light is an isometric action role playing game, and I found that to be a compelling medium for a Soulsborne game with Darkmaus, and no less so with Fall of Light. It makes for an interesting perspective and gives a little bit of a metroidvania type feel to the game despite being open world simply from a top down perspective.
Fall of Light forces you to adapt to the natural ebb and flo of Soulsborne combat while giving you a better overall vantage to plan out your next move. This is a very successful marriage between classic isometric ARPG cameras and Soulsborne combat/exploration.
As you would expect, proper timing, dodging, and parry/riposte are staples of the melee system. The type of weapon you use will determine your attack speed and the enemy types you face will largely determine which weapon you will be using, especially once you have found a pair of melee weapons that particularly suit at least two styles of melee (you can only retain two melee weapons at a time in your inventory). Shields are equally impactful. You can also find ranged weapons. The crossbow is my favorite. Like any Soulsborne game worth its salt, you will find better weapons as you go along. You’ll definitely need them.
Cautious exploration is the way to go until you’ve learned enemy placement, which doesn’t ever change. Either they are stationary or they follow a specific path. Once you’ve got that down, you can afford to be a bit more bold, but never forget that a Soulsborne game always punishes arrogance. Fall of Light is no different.
What really sets this game apart however is the escort mechanic. You will be escorting your daughter throughout the game. As long as she is near you, your power increases substantially. You can ask her to stay put though, sacrificing the buffs in favor of trying to clear paths so she doesn’t face danger. Both are viable and you’ll find yourself doing both alternately. Additionally, spirits will come and kidnap your daughter if you aren’t cautious. If that happens, you have to find where she is caged and free her. She will be quite vocal, so finding her isn’t too difficult, although the enemies guarding her cage might object.
In addition to weapons, you also have a lantern to help light the way. You gain a few special abilities as well that will have a big impact on your progress through the game. There are shrines found throughout that serve as this game’s version of a bonfire. It’s where you will spend souls to level up and just catch a breather. However, using them does come at the cost of respawning enemies. It’s worth it though to have the save points and such. Should you be killed, you can return to the scene of the crime to claim your lost souls, of course. You will often also have to find your daughter, who will stay where she was when you died (unless she is also killed).
While combat is pretty approachable, there are some notable issues with clipping, and more importantly, a giant difficulty spike. The enemy assassins with the shields in particular were far too difficult in my opinion. They never get stun locked and you can’t riposte because they will instantly duck behind a shield only to equally quickly stab you when you come out of your attack. They aren’t unbeatable, but I always felt like it was more luck and less skill when I did so. Issues like this definitely took their toll on my play through.
This is not a bug, but it was a comical aspect of gameplay that I thought I’d bring up. Once you aggro an opponent, it will literally follow you throughout the level until it finally catches up to you at some point or you enter a building, leave the map area, etc…this can lead to you having quite the entourage if you choose to try to run past enemies rather than engage them. Enemies can injure each other though, and so depending on how you handle things, a lot of work can be done for you at the cost of having to fight a large amount of enemies at the same time.
All in all however, despite some flaws in the system, this game handles pretty nicely overall and is fairly well what you could expect from an Indie Soulsborne experience.
7.5 out of 10
Graphics
The graphics in Fall of Light are at times breathtaking, but always interesting and beautiful in a haunting and corrupted way. This is a world of darkness, and gloom is ever present. However, it’s the splashes of color that show that bits of light remain, that really highlight the dichotomy of the world. The level designs are nice and the architecture and character designs are also top tier. This is a really beautiful game.
9.5 out of 10
Audio
I felt the audio in Fall of Light was ideal for what the game is attempting to achieve. Atmosphere was shaped immaculately and the world itself sounded eerie in its mostly darkened state. This is a game where the audio definitely added from the game while being unobtrusive.
8 out of 10
Verdict
At the end of the day, Fall of Light was a positive experience for me. The game itself is beautiful, the story engaging, and the gameplay fairly spot on, albeit with a few problems that set it back a little. For fans of Soulsborne games, I think you will find Fall of Light a solid entry in the genre. It can be a little unfair at times, but mostly preserves the integrity of the genre while presenting some new ideas, most notably the escort mechanic, which was handled brilliantly in my opinion. Expect a difficult but rewarding experience if you choose to leap in.
8.3 fragments of radiant light expressed through the purest of souls out of 10 possible. I think the light may have faded in the remaining 1.7….
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Fall of Light:
~~~~~~~~~~
It has been thirteen eras of peace and constant growth since Luce silenced the shadows. During that time of happiness and progress, a sorcerer under the name of Pain was working secretly on his dark powers and his goal was to defeat Luce and to launch the world into a new era . . . an era of Darkness!
Fall of Light is a hack and slash action / adventure game where you have control of a warrior who wants to bring his daughter to the last place on earth where the light shines.
As you launch the game, you’ll be entertained by an excellent intro with a great voice over. Then you’ll meet your character and his daughter, Aether. Aether is glowing with a subtle yellowish light, which gives your warrior further strength and enhances his ability when he stays close to her during battles. However, when you start the game you’ll have bare hands and you’ll be in desperate need of weapons. They can be occasionally found next to fallen soldiers, but primarily in chests which you can find across all levels. Each of the weapons has an additional active feature if you fight around Aether’s aura spectrum. For example, a dagger will inflict wounds that keep bleeding and a halberd might stun your enemies. Make sure to discover all your surroundings as you might find hidden caves and other secret places. They might even give Aether or your character additional abilities.
You’ll fight a number of different enemies. Some will be slower than others but it will be difficult and somehow frustrating, but mostly addictive. However, if you don’t have the right weapon combination in hand, you’ll probably die fairly quickly! True, it can be annoying and frustrating, but all you have to do is to make sure you and your daughter kneel at every single shrine you come across, so that if you die, you’ll spawn back to your latest pray. However, each time you save a game, all enemies will respawn and you’ll have to fight them all over again.
Once in a while, portals will appear within the levels and skeletons will try to grab Aether. If they’re successful, you’ll need to free her from her suspended cage somewhere within that level. Make sure to destroy all barrels and crates, as you might find collectable pieces of Luce, too (there are 100 to collect).
Fall of Light is pretty tough and hardcore gamers will love it. Saying that, if you are not used to dying a lot and being stuck in one location for a while, you might feel annoyed. Stick to it, though, as it’s a good game.
Graphically the game looks great and runs very well. You can use the mouse and keyboard or the gamepad and both are responsive. You’ll probably struggle for a while until you get the two-handed large sword and the game will ease for a while. Until . . . well, you’ll have to find out!
Positives:
~~~~~~~
- Great graphics and animations
- Good Story
- Variety of enemies
- Well-designed levels
- Achievements & trading cards
Negatives:
~~~~~~~~
- Can be frustrating as you’ll die a fair bit
Fall of light is one of the tougher games I have played in a while, but so damn addictive.
7/10
Key provided by developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!
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At first this game will frustrate you as it has a decently steep learning curve. However once you get the mechanics down it is a very fun game with a lot of variation between weapons and tactics. The story is intriguing and, while the plot moments are interesting and well thought out.
The response by the game authors when posting in forums is insanely good. I have never gone 24 hours without a post being answered or a problem addressed.

Isometric dark souls experience with sometimes a little clunky world but overall it was enjoyable experience. Bosses could use more variety but at least game is vast enough to explore. Helpful and responsive devs made me appreciate this title even more. So yes. Grab it on some sale and enjoy Osmosis Jones: Darkest Edition. Yes.