Survive The Fall Review

The genre of post-apocalyptic games has quite a range, from zombie shooters to city-builders and, finally, RPGs like Fallout. Among this wide array, you will sometimes find gems that cross genres and really sell you the whole post-apocalyptic spiel. 

Games like State of Decay 2 let us not only survive in the wasteland but also thrive. You get to build your base, recruit characters, and play them while scavenging through a zombie-infested map. Meanwhile, the Fallout series is a great standard for RPGs set in a post-apocalyptic world.

Now, if you mix in the first few Fallout games and State of Decay 2, you will get Survive The Fall. This post-apocalyptic open-world survival game might struggle to find an exact classification, but it does the good parts really well. Developed by Angry Bulls Studios, Survive The Fall sends you out into a devastated world. 

You guide a group of survivors in this post-apocalyptic adventure through the wilderness and wasteland of Middle America. Survive The Fall starts you off with a solid introduction cutscene, selling you to the world you now inhabit, the factions you will eventually encounter and make friends with, and your home. At the start, you get to explore around with three survivors as the intro melds into the game's tutorial. 

You can explore the map freely, at least parts of it. However, much of it is locked behind natural barriers, like high places that require ropes to reach and other terrain features that require certain equipment to traverse. The tutorial is rather long, as it covers both aspects of the game, but it still feels well-made. 

The story that goes along with it is also very neat. Survive The Fall is essentially split into two parts: an open-world RPG and base-building. Both are great, although the RPG parts are definitely a highlight. You start off with the exploration portion as you navigate through the map with three characters. 

Now, there are quite a few of them you'll eventually get access to, but you will always only be able to explore with three. This is an interesting part of the game, and a somewhat dynamic one at that, as even though you control one character at a time, you can do a few things with your 'companions'.

This includes switching between the three characters, and since some of them are better at certain things than others, you will probably switch between them often. You can also assign them to take action, as well as split up or regroup. 

This works really well, and when compared to other games, the companions are definitely more useful. Naturally, though, you have less of a connection with the character you control, and you cannot really personalize or customize them either. They do have their own personalities and sometimes interact with each other.

You go around exploring, collecting wood, and even fighting some enemies. This really gets you into the pacing and flow of exploration and combat. A lot of it is based around stealth, as you will avoid enemies, take them out slowly, and only occasionally go in guns blazing and kill everything on sight. The game gives a lot of tools to utilize in this regard, from throwing stones to distract them to hiding their bodies.

Now, once you explore a bit and deal with a bunch of crazy cultist-looking dudes, you have to go to your base since it's getting attacked. You come too late, only to find a single structure standing. Here, the game introduces you to the second aspect of the game, which is base building. You also find a few survivors from the raid, and you embark on fixing up the place.

This part of Survive The Fall is actually very detailed. You have to craft individual items, like turning logs into planks and so on. You can also repair weapons and craft other items via the workbench. Among other things, you clean up the rubble, collect whatever you can, and start rebuilding.

You first place a structure, watching it be built. Now, unlike some games, this part of the game also occurs in real-time, so you can spread out tasks and then go out on expeditions at the same time, which is really nifty.

As you build your structure, you can build specific rooms in the structure. Now, there are only a few kinds of structures you can make, but there's no real limit, and you can set up the interior as you wish. There are also a few other structures, along with their interior, that you can build. However, all of those are locked for now.

Survive The Fall has a deep resource management mechanic. You have food, water, materials, components, fuel, knowledge, and memories. All of these have their uses, and you'll have to scavenge them most of the time.

A lot of these resources are self-explanatory, but some are more in-depth than others. All of these have specific resources, and all of these are either consumed or used to create other things. You don't just build; you also have to maintain. This means dealing with attacks, keeping up morale, feeding and housing your people, and more.

All of this is slowly achieved and sustained, but at the start, that's a long way off. Luckily, the game allows you to automate certain actions, such as eating and sleeping. Certain structures will also have continuous actions attached to them. This includes things like collecting firewood, guarding the game, and more.

You'll eventually set off for more exploration or quests, and there, you'll meet other communities, some hostile and some friendly. You get to complete their quests, often coming into conflict with some of them and making decisions that sometimes decide the fate of your companions. 

That being said, your decisions ultimately don't shape the story itself, as much of it is very linear. Survive The Fall neatly features a varied cast of characters with differing and strong personalities. Unfortunately, they remain somewhat uninteresting in the end.

The story itself feels somewhat stale as well, although the decision-making aspect adds some light to it. As you explore, you will have more options and more tools to fight with, and honestly, combat doesn't feel stale or overwhelming at all. 

It's fun, it gives you a lot of options, and the existence of a pause feature lets you go around and do a lot of sync kills and generally makes combat much more bearable. However, the number of tools you need to carry can get annoying.

Item management is scary but effective and rewarding. There are a lot of items, like a lot. And with limited backpack space, you'll often find yourself coming back to gather things. The game does a nice job of making it feel less overwhelming.

A sad part is the lack of any real variety in items. As something feels a lot like an RPG game, it really doesn't have that many item slots or usable items, as well as armor or other such things. As you progress, you'll be able to unlock more things. You do this with the game's tech system. 

On your expeditions, you can find various pieces of intelligence and knowledge. Books, instructions, and similar things can be sorted by a character to turn them into knowledge, which is the main resource for tech. You use these knowledge points to research technologies.

The tech tree itself is pretty deep and expansive, something you see in many post-apocalyptic survival games. You have seven trees that progress through unlocking the structures themselves, individual rooms, items, and upgrades. You also have faction-specific tech that you can eventually unlock depending on how well you are doing with that faction.

The game does a good job of getting you invested and feeling responsible for both the base-building and exploration. It never really feels like a grind, although some parts are a bit repetitive. Your reasons for going back to exploration are valid, and the management aspects are never overwhelming. When compared to other city-builders set in a post-apocalyptic world, the game fits in.

Combat itself also works remarkably well. While the lock-on style aiming can be a little janky, it seems like the best decision given the game's calmer and chill nature. Speaking of which, the game isn't really that morbid or a pit of ruin and despair that is usually portrayed by the post-apocalyptic genre. It truly sets a different and unique atmosphere.

That being said, combat can also be deceptively easy, with some of it appearing to be issues in balance while others looking more like bugs. You'll have enemies that swing at you forever but never hit, and other times, a maniac with a flamethrower will shower your companions in fire and not take a speck of health off of them.

Speaking of atmosphere, Survive The Fall has a great atmosphere. You have good thematic music, although the visuals are sometimes lacking. The lack of animations while performing actions, for example, is annoying but not game-breaking. 

Another thing the game could really use is fresher dialogue. So far, the dialogue and voice acting leave much to be desired. The UI, in particular, feels very bland and more like a mobile game than anything else. The game has a surprising amount of story, but the aforementioned dialogue, animations, and graphics hold back much of it. 

That being said, the game seems really good at its current price point. Overall, Survive The Fall is a good game despite its many, many flaws. It definitely needs a lot of work, but its small team has created some really good foundations. While it is very innovative and tries to do a lot, it could still use a lot more.

Characters could be more varied and defined; they definitely could use more customization. Their skills feel very miniscule in their use and effectiveness, as they only really boost their speed when doing an action, and even then, it's done marginally. A skill tree, even a smaller one, would be nice.

All of that aside, Survive The Fall is still good and fun to play. With some good updates, a few balance changes and adjustments, and a healthy dose of bug fixes, the game could be a hidden gem for many, scratching the itch of post-apocalyptic survival. And, at $20, it feels like a good price for the whole thing. It definitely is one of the more unique post-apocalyptic games out there.