Forget your fixed platforms. Drop your double-jumps. Put away your portals. There’s a new action star in town, and he carries everything he needs right in a neat box of tricks called the Shadow Core. His name is Nox, and he’s the star of Light Fall, the innovative platformer from indie developer Bishop Games.
The story of Light Fall takes place in the sunless continent of Numbra, where something terrible has happened to the Kamloops, the people who settled in this dangerous land. Playing as Nox, players must traverse a variety of 2D environments to solve the mystery of what has happened, rescue trapped villagers, and piece together the history of the Kamloops in Numbra. Accompanying Nox on this quest is Strix, a wise (and frequently snarky) old owl who pulls multiple roles as the game’s chief narrator, guide, and voice of reason.
The primary mechanic that sets Light Fall apart from most other platformers is Nox’s Shadow Core box. The Shadow Core functions as a mobile platform, a shield, a environmental control device, and a weapon, all in one convenient package. The game has its share of structural geometry, of course, but puzzle solutions generally come from clever manipulations of the Shadow Core. Nox also has run and wall climb abilities, both of which get used in conjunction with the Shadow Core.
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The environment itself has some great visual storytelling and characterization. Because Numbra is in perpetual darkness, the levels themselves are largely dark, with glowing purple representing anything dangerous. Hidden areas are usually subtly called out by white moths. The contrasting shades in the environment make for a beautiful, minimalist art style. Music, too, provides a haunting set of melodies that perfectly matches the somber mood of each dark level.
Light Fall seems to have been crafted with an eye towards replayibility and streamer-friendly speed runs. Multiple levels of difficulty allow the game and story to be experienced without being too frustrating, and individual level segments can be replayed to find secrets that may have been missed in an initial playthrough. The speed run mode eliminates randomized elements and allows for direct high-score competitions. The game also supports integrated leaderboards. Depending on a player’s individual skill, the main storyline for the game can be completed in around three to six hours. Reaching 100% on collectibles may take significantly longer.
In Light Fall, if it’s shiny, it’s probably dangerous.
One thing to note is that on initial launch, the game’s final boss received significant criticism for its steep difficulty spike and mechanics that abruptly shifted to the tough for tough’s sake side of the equation. Developer Bishop Games publicly addressed this issue, announcing a major patch with a completely new final boss. The original boss will remain as an optional challenge level for anyone craving that extra bit of challenge. An additional issue to be fixed is with the Memory Shards, optional bits of lore scattered throughout the levels. In their current form, many players find them difficult to read through (and in at least a couple of cases I found the text impossible to read due to the position of the save point) because of the text speed. The developer has also announced that they are working on a fix for that issue.
Played on a gaming PC with an Xbox 360 controller, Light Fall was a smooth, easily controlled experience. While pixel-perfect jumping isn’t usually a requirement in this game, accuracy is always appreciated. Minimum system requirements specify an Intel Core 2 Duo E5200, 2gb of RAM, and a GeForce 9800GTX+ (1gb) graphics card on Windows 7. Recommended specifications call for a Core i5 processor, 4gb RAM, and a GeForce GTX 560. The game is also available for purchase and download on the Nintendo Switch.
The varying shades of gray between the background and foreground environments provide good contrast.
For just $14.99 (USD), Light Fall represents a solid value proposition for platformer fans. For this reviewer, the minimalist art style has a lot of appeal, and the Shadow Core makes each level a nice blend of reflex-based jumping and careful puzzle solving based on available abilities. Bishop Games addressing of early issues also looks promising. Despite the dark visuals of the game, the future looks bright for both Light Fall and Bishop Games.
A review copy of Light Fall was provided by the developer for this review. Follow Bishop Games on Twitter.
