Quick Review: Light Fall

It’s dark, but light is peeking through.

Mere minutes in and I was already wowed.

A creation of Bishop Games (a Quebec indie studio) released on April 26th, 2018, Light Fall is the tale of an amnesiac boy in the land of Numbra, perpetually shrouded in darkness. The boy soon meets an elderly owl named Stryx who, at first, reluctantly joins the quest, only to show interest when the little guy unlocks a powerful ability, tied to this world and its lore. A magical cube, the Shadow Core, which the mysterious kid is capable of summoning at will and use for a large number of situations. And he’ll need that power, as great forces from the opposing kingdom of Eternium, symbolized by deadly pink crystals, seek to take over…

I’ve played a lot of platformers, both regular and of the puzzle variety, and this one brings to the table an idea that I don’t recall seeing elsewhere. The basic controls involve moving with WASD, jumping with the Spacebar and running by holding down the left Shift key. The little hero can jump, but he can also jump on walls. In the first acts, our protagonist gains access to four abilities, all of which involve the Shadow Core, which you manipulate in different ways… using the arrow keys.

This cube is the best shield I've ever seen!

Left key attack: Destroy the poisonous wasps!

-Down key: The most frequent use, in which the square will appear as a platform right under the player character’s feet, thus allowing to keep a running/jumping stride;

-Up key: Summon the block, and then place it somewhere in order to use as a stationary platform or to shield from a few hazards, such as lasers. Later, it can even be used to make invisible platforms appear;

-Left key: The only mode of attack, the square is hurled forward in the direction the character is facing. Necessary to kill enemies and destroy or temporarily stop other hazards;

-Right key: The final ability you learn, the block will stay in place in front of the character, and it can thus be used either as a shield against hazards or as a temporary wall to wall-jump off of. Of note, the Down and Right key skills are limited to four uses in midair, after which you must land on solid ground to reset the count.

With the blocks, you can cross most gaps,
and jump repeatedly without breaking stride.

Per these mechanics, it’s not just possible to achieve some pretty impressive platforming feats, it’s encouraged! To the point where the game comes with a bonus speedrun mode. The base game’s difficulty ramps up considerably in the last levels, so you’ll need a lot of practice to pull through.

Not challenged enough? You can look for all of the villagers imprisoned in crystals, and set them free with a blast using the Left key. You can also look for golden stones, grab them, and carry them back to a checkpoint to get bonus lore about the game. The checkpoints in a level will helpfully indicate how many of each you can find. Be prepared, though; many of them are hidden behind tough trials.

Then again, some of the imprisoned people
are just tricky to find, period. At least they're
easy to rescue.

The game does get really hard later on. These
energy spheres? The red ones spin around
and keep growing and shrinking. It's not even
close to the final levels.

Visually, the game’s pretty unique; most of the platforms and characters are made of complete darkness, only showing minimal white details, like eyes or the owl’s “mustache”; hazards, noteworthy items, and backgrounds are colored, but the actual focus of gameplay is pretty much shrouded in darkness. And every single screen is beautiful. Music’s great as well. I can’t say the story is its most memorable aspect, but it’s fine and presented by gorgeous cutscenes. Gameplay is solid; on top of the kid’s regular abilities, the Shadow Core as a mechanic opens a lot of possibilities, all of which are taken advantage of by the devs. It takes a moment to adapt to using the arrow keys for effects, but one can manage pretty well. Add some collection side-quests, several levels that tweak the formula for new challenges and some stunning moments and scenes, and what we’ve got is a pretty great platformer overall, that I recommend, though I feel the game may be a bit on the short side.

Light Fall is available on Steam for 14.99 USD.