The Fall Part 2: Unbound Review

​Living in the Shadow
By Brett Wolfe
Reviewed on Xbox One
​Released on February 13th, 2018 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC
Developer: ​Over the Moon
​Publisher: ​Over the Moon

WARNING: This review is breaking protocol, I repeat this review is breaking protocol. Error! Error! Error! Inform the “User” and initiate Operation: [REDACTED]! This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a side-scrolling action-adventure puzzler published and developed by the cool guys at Over the Moon and is the sequel to the award-winning The Fall. It tells the story of ARID, an AI unit breaking free from her programming shackles. A human known only as the “User” has infected you with a virus to try and keep you down. You set out on a journey to find your assailant and finally become free in your own body. Set your own rules and break free from the boundaries the humans are putting on you.

Throughout The Fall Part 2: Unbound, you travel through cyberspace in hopes of locating functional robots around the world. You come across three different robots and attempt to recruit them for your cause. Unfortunately, they are not planning on breaking their own protocols and could end up being more of a hindrance instead of help. ARID must choose to either follow their procedure or break them for her own personal gain. Will you be a friendly AI or push your newfound ‘friends’ to their limits? Ask yourself, do you really have a choice?

The main mechanic presented throughout this title is exploring a digital world in order to find the connections to the robots in the real world. During this search, you will be attacked by dark monstrosities whose only goal is to destroy you. The digital space is designed as a Metroidvania-styled landscape and you must follow the path to get additional upgrades that help, in turn, to find little secrets and documents that add to the story. Once you achieve communications with your allies, you solve various puzzles to gain the trust of your friends. While some of your friends may be compliant, like the Companion, others only care about themselves and refuse to abandon their routine.

The puzzle-solving is very similar to the mechanics found throughout the first installment in the series, but this game adds a new feature that provides more bang for your buck. It comes in the form of a brand new fighting mechanic to bring some variety to the gameplay. The fighting sequences intermingled with the puzzle-solving gives the brain a bit of relaxation time with some mindless violence, always a good old time for everyone. While the fighting is very similar to rhythm-based button mashing, it provided exciting moments for when the game was getting a bit dull.

The visuals and soundtrack found in The Fall Part 2 were amazing and were very promising. The game looked amazing and was a step above its predecessor, visually. The graphics were crisp and clear and had an amazing sci-fi aesthetic with its own personal flair. While I really enjoy the atmosphere, the dialogue and sounds were definitely the best part of this game. The dialogue and storytelling were very good and had a great advancement on the original game’s story. The captivating tale that followed ARID’s journey to freedom was amazing and I felt the developers told a great story.

I really enjoyed my time with The Fall Part 2: Unbound, but I was let down by a few elements. The game is a great sequel to The Fall and is a lot longer as well. However, I felt that this game dragged on for quite a while. The original game was only a couple hours and it told the story it wanted to tell succinctly. This game, however, told its story well earlier on and then filled in the gaps with a bunch of unnecessary additions. While I really enjoyed my time with this installment, it was a quite a let down compared to the first game. I played the first game straight through and could not put it down, but with Part 2, I could hardly find myself playing it for a few hours at a time. It told a great story, but just was not able to live up to the first one and unfortunately fell into the shadow of its older brother. I give the developers a lot of props for making a cool game, but I just hope any future titles steer back towards their older styles.

In the end, The Fall Part 2: Unbound is a decent sequel that falls flat in the shadow of its predecessor. The game is priced at $17 USD and I feel that it is well worth it. The story is great, the gameplay is really fun, and it comes with very little flaws. I would recommend this to almost anyone and I would check this out if you really enjoyed the first one. It’s a great game, it just could have done a little bit better.

*Note: A copy of this game was provided for the purpose of the review.

Final Score: 7.5/10

+Great Story
+Amazing Dialogue
+Cool Sci-Fi

-Not As Good As The First One