One of the things I love most about video games is their ability to completely take you by surprise. CleanFall was a game I went into completely blind after receiving a press release from the devs, and after having spent some time with it, I can say that I’ve never played anything like it.
The game is a creepy survival roguelite that features ship building and fully destructible environments, a very unique combination when coupled with its more traditional 2D platforming.
With the game launching in Early Access yesterday, I jumped in early and spent about an hour tunnelling through the depths of its nightmarish, hand-drawn world.
Before I come to my impressions, it’s worth pointing out that the game has a demo available on Steam, and I’d strongly encourage you to give it a download.
What is CleanFall?
Normally, this part of the preview is the most straightforward, but it’s pretty difficult to quickly summarise the genre-blending chaos that is CleanFall. It’s part 2D platformer, part ship builder, and part sandbox exploration game. Inspired by titles like Terraria, Noita, Spelunky, Dome Keeper, and Dig or Die, it sees players take on the role of a disgruntled cleaning robot on a mission to fix a broken world.
Early on, I was tasked with venturing deep into the game’s procedurally generated environment to unlock some vital meta upgrades in its hub world. Using a drill, a powerful laser, and a gun that can catapult you into the air, you can completely reshape the environment around you, forging your own path towards the bottom of the map. Due to this and its alternating biomes, each run feels like its own separate journey.
The temptation is to just jump off a cliff and quickly plummet as far as you can, but the game’s disturbing insect enemies become more challenging the deeper you go. Instead, defeating foes for new materials, using mysterious vending machines, and interacting with NPCs is the way to go if you want to build a solid arsenal for the challenges ahead.
Fear of the Dark
As well as the scaling difficulty from progressing deeper, the game also features an interesting day/night cycle. At night, hordes of monsters appear from the shadows and swarm you, so if you haven’t invested in any turrets then you are absolutely toast. I’ve found myself constantly watching the sun in the sky to prevent getting caught by an ambush.
Luckily, the game features a very extensive and creative selection of weapons for you to defend yourself with in intense moments like these. They include different forms of powerful turrets, drones, landmines, and throwables that demand precise aiming. You can have dozens of different items in your inventory at once, and switching is very simple, as you can simply scroll your mouse wheel to move between your arsenal.
The ship building is introduced in the game’s second chapter, and it’s an extension that adds even more player freedom. Many of the weapons you can wield when exploring can be equipped to your vessel, which is a clever way of connecting the two separate gameplay elements together.
Buy or Sell?
It’s too early for me to give CleanFall a firm recommendation, but I’d encourage you to check out the demo and see if the game leaves the same impression on you as it did on me.
The freedom to carve your own path, its tense survival mechanics, and the sheer variety of its weapons made for an experience like nothing else I’ve experienced in the genre.
I’m looking forward to diving back in when CleanFall is a little later along its Early Access journey. I want to see how the project evolves and how dev Humanyoyo builds upon this already solid foundation.
