Don’t be fooled by the vibrantly-colored screenshots, because Do Not Fall is a very challenging experience. Brought to you by XPEC Entertainment, Do Not Fall is an action-platformer where the title pretty much explains it all. In this quirky and complicated 3D platformer, you’ll find yourself running through stages collecting keys to unlock the final gate, all while trying to not fall into the infinite abyss below each stage. While initially I found the Do Not Fall very frustrating, overall I got a feeling of accomplishment as I made my way through the difficult stages of the game, making for an often rough, but enjoyable, experience.
You are on a mission to fill a variety of different drinks inside a vending machine, and each drink has its own world that is filled with matching tile sets for that particular drink. For instance, the world for the milk bottle is appropriately farm-themed. However, if you’re looking for a story direction to be linked to each drink there is none to be found. To be honest, there doesn’t seem to be any actual story to the game at all, meaning that Do Not Fall is really no more than a platformer with various themed stages. Heck, I don’t even know why you are filling each drink.
Each world in Do Not Fall is played through a series of separate stages that are composed of individual square platforms. The platforms have a particular curse upon them, causing most of them to crack and fall into an abyss shortly after you step on them. This requires you to use some caution while running through each stage if you don’t want to plummet to your ultimate doom. You’ll want to keep the behavior of the tiles in mind as you move through each stage because you’ll not only be running from start to finish and dodging obstacles, you’ll also have items you’ll need to collect to complete the stages. For example, there are keys you need to collect in order to unlock the stage exit. In order to get to that key you may have to run all the way to the stage’s end, then return along the same path to the beginning of the stage to find the exit — all while the platforms are disappearing and re-materializing.
It may seem extremely intimidating as you get used to the world and keeping in mind where you have been and where you need to go. After playing some stages you’ll hopefully be able to adapt, but if you can’t then just let it intimidate you. Some of my best playthroughs occurred when I was terrified of falling. There were a number of times where I had to run through some complicated stages, and while I was approaching the end the tension would build up. Just knowing that at any moment I could accidentally run in the path of an enemy and get flung off the map had me pretty stressed. That’s when things would get real, and I would find myself planning out routes more intelligently rather than try to run through as fast as possible. However, the only real time I was able to do this was when I found a block that wasn’t going to fall seconds after I stood on it. When I was finally safe for a moment I would find myself miraculously dodging something that would have messed me up during stressful times.
Besides, you won’t only have the eight standard directions of movement at your disposal, as you have the ability to jump and dash. Jumping is self-explanatory, and dashing allows you to destroy a number of obstacles that you aren’t able to jump over. If you use the dash while you’re jumping you jump farther while also destroying obstacles. However, you won’t be able to just rely on the dash all willy-nilly, since dashing depletes a meter that refills over time. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, and yeah, they do use that handicap to their advantage when designing the levels.
Speaking of handicaps, let’s talk about the fixed camera angle. When jumping from left to right this wasn’t much of a problem, but when jumping toward or away from the screen, it can sometimes be hard to judge the distance. As you get used to the movements you’ll get a feel for the simple jumps from front to back, but moving diagonally can be quite a feat to accomplish successfully. This may seem trivial, but once you add in the upcoming dangers that Do Not Fall has in store for its players, this can grow a tad bit annoying.
As if dodging and destroying obstacles while you try to run from crumbling foothold to crumbling foothold, collecting trinkets to complete stages, all while trying to not fall into the abyss below wasn’t enough, there’s a wide range of enemies that will cause you to fail… repeatedly. The introduction of various enemies will require you to keep a closer eye on the paths you run along and the platforms you jump to. There are essentially two different versions of enemies: nne type will move along a particular path in the stage, while other enemies will only appear when you’re touching a specific set of blocks. For example, jumping to any platforms that has hooves on them indicates that a bull will run along that path, or if you see another particular insignia, it means that if you stand on that platform you will be dive-bombed by a bird. Other odd enemies range from spiked balls rolling around, snowball-hurling snowmen, and to deadly ladybugs. The introduction of enemies really ratchets up the difficulty.
Since the camera angle is kind of poor and you’re already paying attention to so many other things, you may not even realize that an insignia is coming up until you’re already in a bird’s target zone. On the other hand, enemies that travel a path, like the bull who’s insignia is a pair of hooves, are a little easier to see thanks to visual clues in the environment (like a barn). These enemies are a little easier to plan ahead for, even if you haven’t played the stage yet. For example, bull paths are normally four to five blocks in length, and for the most part there is at least one safe block off to the side of the path, but you’ll have to run towards the charging bull and jump off to the side in time to dodge it. Then, you’ll have to hop back to the path after the bull passes, but before he respawns at the beginning of his path just moments later.
Once you complete a stage you’ll be graded on a variety of things such as your time of completion (as if everything explained above wasn’t enough to keep you moving). In some later levels you actually have a limited amount of time to complete the stage. You’ll also be graded on the amount of regular bolts and gold bolts you collect throughout the level and how many times you fall in a stage. There are also challenges in each stage to be completed, but you only have to be worry about these if you want to unlock and play through the often extremely difficult bonus stages that these challenges unlock. The challenges can range from tedious tasks like destroying all the objects in a level, including ones that are out of the way, to annoying tasks likes not collecting any bolts throughout the level.
Regular bolts and gold bolts are used in other ways than just to bolster your score. Regular bolts are the general currency of the game, and can be used in the shop to get upgrades that give you more lives per stage, or give you the ability to count one bolt as two or three. You can also unlock a variety of other characters if you tire of playing through Do Not Fall as the regular bunny, and each of these characters has their own limitations and changes to the gameplay. If you don’t want those, you can always buy things like concept art and cinematics. The gold bolts, on the other hand, are what unlock the next worlds and more stages to play. My personal advice is to collect as many of these as possible early on so you don’t have to worry about getting all three in the much more difficult later stages of the game.
When you get tired of the single-player, or if you just need a break from the constant anxiety, there is a multiplayer mode that you can play with up to three of your friends either locally or online. There are a few challenge-based modes that will pit you against your friends with objectives like stepping on the most tiles to mark your territory or by clearing the most gates. Besides the fact that there is almost no one playing the game online, I found the multiplayer completely bland and pointless. The objectives honestly feel just as tedious as the sub-challenges found in each stage throughout the main game, and there isn’t much challenge.
For example, you’ll be running from one end of a small area to the other to collect a soccer ball icon, then you have to run the ball back to the goal. You can also shoot the ball from a distance, but due to the holes you’ve created in the level shooting won’t be as effective to score points. So, all you end up doing is running back and forth for one hundred and twenty seconds. In an ideal situation where you’re playing with the right set of friends, one of the game modes, Mark the Territory, is a little more fun. In this game mode you fight against up to three other people to gain the most amount of territory and bring a key back to your base. Every block you step on becomes a part of your territory which adds to your score, keys continue to respawn further adding to your score, and your base is constantly changing spots which makes it challenging and more entertaining than the other multiplayer modes.
If you’re up for one of the most challenging 3D platformers available right now, then this may be a wise investment. On the other hand, if you’re not into being on the edge of your seat due to tension, or you’re looking for indie game with a narrative, then you may want to hold-off on purchasing Do Not Fall. The game is challenging and I’m sure many will find that entertaining for some portion of the game, but I do wonder how many people will see the game through to the end.
