Black the Fall

Nintendo World ReportDavid Lloyd

7.5/10

The whole experience ended up being a few hours long. The likelihood is that this is a one--and-done playthrough, as once you’ve figured out the puzzles there really isn’t a reason to play again unless you’d like to go back and look for clues to figure out the back story. I wouldn’t say it’s the best puzzle-platform title available, but it’s unique and was worth the short time investment.

TechRaptorMark Jansen

7/10

Black The Fall is a decent way to spend a few hours, with good puzzles, fun world-building, and great design that's all let down by a lack of any real depth.

Sirus GamingJonathan

7/10

We tell you, it’s a good game! It’s not average! It might have some problems here and there, but you have to admit it is a “Good” game.

Metro GameCentralGameCentral

7/10

The similarities to Inside are unfortunate, but this is still a gripping and inventive action puzzler with a grim, if unsubtle, message about authoritarianism.

COGConnectedMatthew Gallagher

65/100

Black The Fall is a puzzle platformer which wears its influences on its sleeve. Many have been quick to point out its similarities to games like Inside and dismissed as being too similar to be relevant. However, much of the indie platformer scene is nipping at Playdead’s heals, so borrowing aesthetics from them isn’t enough in itself to write a game off if it is genuinely engaging. Sadly, Black The Fall doesn’t bring enough to the table to stand out in the competitive indie market.

IGNRyan McCaffrey

6.5/10

Though Black deserves credit for adding new puzzle mechanics along the way, it could’ve easily seen its 6-8 hour runtime chopped in half and still gotten its message across. That entire time I found myself wondering if, like Inside, Black would have anything to say. When I finally discovered its message at the end of the campaign, it did inspire me to look up the real-life issue it was drawing attention to and learn more about it. I applaud it for that. Sure, it could’ve done so with a bit more subtlety – it's a bit heavy-handed at the very end – but at least Black does have a point to make. I...

Playstation LifestyleBlake Grundman

6/10

Puzzles and communists and monochrome, oh my! Find out if it all comes together in our Black the Fall Review.

Xbox AchievementsRichard Walker

60/100

Taking on some heavy subject matter, Black The Fall has moments that will live in the memory once it's all over. And while Sand Sailor's game might be on the brief side and occasionally frustrating, it's also perfectly fine. But that's about the long and short of it.

Game InformerJavy Gwaltney

6/10

Black The Fall begins quietly with your unnamed protagonist, a humanoid worker with a giant antenna sticking out of his back, stealthily trying to escape some industrial factory. How did our protagonist get here? Is he a slave? Are he and his comrades human, or some combination of man and machine? The opening introduces a lot of questions that Black The Fall never bothers to answer, and that mystery is the high point of this puzzle-platformer. Unfortunately, the intrigue is soon swallowed by frustrating puzzles and a dull world.

VideogamerAlice Bell

5/10

Listen, as dystopian and mostly monochrome platform puzzlers go, Black the Fall isn't bad. But I can't tell you it's great either.

Checkpoint GamingJimmy Twin

Unscored

Take Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee and place it in a dystopian communist world and you have Black the Fall.

Rock Paper ShotgunJohn Walker

Unscored

I feel pretty certain that I'm going to be bemused by other people's enjoyment of the game's fuck-you death traps, just as I was after Inside. And frankly, when so many endorsed Inside's ending, which I found utterly moronic, I feel like I may as well be clucking in the wind. So I don't doubt that Black The Fall will find its fans. I actively hated Inside, but I didn't hate this at all. For me it felt far too derivative of Inside (it was of course in development before Inside's release, but looked awfully different), which was itself derivative of Limbo, and without the precision of either. Ut...