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Steve Robinson is not a happy chappie. His wife, Carol, has left him, his mum has recently died, and his novels aren\u2019t selling like they used to. He\u2019s spiralling, and his solution is to return to the cottage he inherited and see if he can find something, anything to hold onto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a premise for a game, it\u2019s a rather gloomy one. One Step After Fall has graduated from the Dear Esther<\/strong> School for Maudlin and Mildly Spooky Walking Simulators. That\u2019s immediately going to fold it up several times over and tuck it into the smallest of niches, but there is still an audience for this kind of narrative adventure. And the concept allows for some \u2013 hopefully \u2013 adult conversations about mental health and clawing yourself out of depression.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
One Step After Fall<\/strong> is probably best considered as a short story. The homestead that you are returning to could be crossed in less than a couple of minutes (faster if you find the LB run button), and there\u2019s no more than ten buildings to explore. You are rung around by mountains, so this is a narrative crucible that you will be exploring for no more than an hour, perhaps two if you are hunting for the slightly obtuse achievements.\u00a0<\/p>\nAs you start, a path wends towards the cottage that you shared with your mum and then your estranged wife, Carol. It\u2019s locked, so you\u2019re hunting for a key, but a helpful note points to a nearby windmill. We stopped questioning the odd layout of the grounds: they manage to have both a windmill and a lighthouse, even though the area\u2019s landlocked and neither of the buildings have the inner-workings that you\u2019d expect. Let\u2019s chalk it up to being a dream.<\/p>\n
One Step After Fall doesn\u2019t really abide by things like goals or objectives. There\u2019s the odd hint of what you might want to do \u2013 a chest is locked; a gun needs bullets \u2013 so most of your time spent will be rambling, and moving from landmark to landmark as they crest over the horizon. It\u2019s a tried and tested model for a walking simulator \u2013 very few have things like scores or objectives to achieve \u2013 and it duly works here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most of One Step After Fall\u2019s storytelling is done through notes. You find them pinned to walls and left on desks, and they begin to paint a picture. Steve Robinson may be depressed, but the people who have died or abandoned him \u2013 as he believes them to have \u2013 have done so for good reason, and Steve is more loved than he initially makes out. Steve recognises this, and begins to heal. Over the course of the notes, the depression lifts.<\/p>\n
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Or, at least, we think that\u2019s the intention. Because One Step After Fall \u2013 at least in our eyes \u2013 makes a couple of truly heinous mistakes. The first is that the notes need to be picked up in a specific order. <\/em>Should you travel to Note #3 before Note #2, then Note #3 simply won\u2019t be there. You have to explore your little open world in the order that One Step After Fall wants you to explore it, and that\u2019s ignoring Gaming 101. You simply don\u2019t do that in explorative games. If you are expecting the player to retread ground and explore an empty cabin again, having exhausted it previously, then you\u2019re doing something wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe other problem is one of taste. One Step After Fall isn\u2019t a stupendously written game \u2013 there are too many typos, wooden dialogue (read by RoboVoice) and cliched phrasing to make it anything more than \u2018pulpy\u2019 \u2013 but its biggest crime is how it handles mental health and suicide. A public service announcement:\u00a0 One Step After Fall deals with these topics, and there\u2019s no trigger warning. But, worst of all, it deals with them \u2013 at least in our view \u2013 insensitively, handing you guns and perilous falls, tempting you to commit suicide with glibly named achievements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the critical path of the game is so hard to follow, thanks to the precise order in which you\u2019re meant to follow the notes, it\u2019s all too easy to find yourself at the bad endings. A flaming scarecrow screams at you incessantly, telling you how worthless you are, while the suicides are dangled in front of your nose, presented as if they are the true ending. Which, to be fair, One Step After Fall makes clear (after the fact) that they are not. But we can\u2019t help emerging with the feeling that One Step After Fall is treating serious, endemic issues with a goofy grin.<\/p>\n
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Otherwise, One Step After Fall has a few collectibles to find in the form of zombie action figures (no explanation given, and wildly out of tone with the rest of the game), and a smattering of other things to find. There\u2019s no combat, although the flaming scarecrow is a pest that keeps appearing when you turn your camera, screaming into your headphones. It\u2019s best to avoid him if you spot him on the fringes of the game area, as he will quickly ruin your game experience \u2013 if it hasn\u2019t been ruined already.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re an open-minded bunch. We are open to short experiences, as we\u2019ve got lives to get on with. A one-hour experience, sitting snugly into our evening is welcome. Whisper it, but we love walking simulators<\/strong> too. Some of our favourite games are nothing more than exploring pretty environments and letting the narrative light the way.<\/p>\nA short walking simulator was absolutely what we fancied as we arrived at One Step After Fall. But as pretty as it is, it\u2019s a particularly poor example of one. It penalises you for exploring, and too often it resorts to an insensitive approach to mental health. As a one-hour stroll goes, One Step After Fall is a painful one. It\u2019s more like walking over LEGO than a relaxing amble.<\/p>\n
You can buy One Step After Fall\u00a0 from the <\/em>Xbox Store<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Steve Robinson is not a happy chappie. His wife, Carol, has left him, his mum has recently died, and his novels aren\u2019t selling like they used to. He\u2019s spiralling, and his solution is to return to the cottage he inherited and see if he can find something, anything to hold onto.\u00a0 As a premise for a game, it\u2019s a rather gloomy one. One Step After Fall has graduated from the Dear Esther School for Maudlin and Mildly Spooky Walking Simulators. That\u2019s immediately going to fold it up several times over and tuck it into the smallest of niches, but there\u2026<\/p>\n
One Step After Fall Review<\/p>\n
One Step After Fall Review<\/span><\/p>\n2023-01-07<\/p>\n
Dave Ozzy<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t
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<\/p>\nPros:<\/h4>\n
Gorgeous environments<\/li>\n
When you\u2019re left alone to explore, it\u2019s got charm<\/li>\n
Cons:<\/h4>\n
Linear exploration removes the joy<\/li>\n
Fumbles the mental health topics<\/li>\n
Bloody annoying scarecrow<\/li>\n
Barely an hour long<\/li>\n
Info:<\/h4>\n
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