Sometimes I love to blow off some steam and jump into something silly, just for funsies, you know?! The latest game to scratch that itch for me is Freefall ’95, a new arcade roguelite by S-Bend Games.
This isn’t a review because I’ve only played for a couple of hours so far, but I’ve already had such a blast with Freefall ’95 that I wanted to make sure that it’s on as many radars as possible. Here are my initial thoughts, for your consideration.
What is Freefall ’95 all about, then?
The lo-fi pixel-art visuals evoke the classic indies of yesteryear. I was instantly reminded of games such as the original OlliOlli, which has a similarly stripped-back visual style and a matching focus on skill-based combo-driven hyphen-heavy gameplay.
You start the game in Freefall ’95 listening to music aboard your flight on your old Walkman. However, things go horribly wrong, and you wake up to see the cockpit and forward fuselage of the plane floating in front of you. The next thing you know, you’re falling to your inevitable death with plane parts and more – including frickin’ snakes – flying around you.
Doesn’t sound like fun to you? We hear you – but don’t worry, as it’s not all doom and gloom. That’s because between opening your eyes and getting splatted on the floor, you have the chance to interact with a host of falling objects and perform some cool actions.
Laugh-out-loud funny
I quickly realised I was having a surprising amount of fun for someone repeatedly plummeting planet-wards. When so many games make you work for your supper, it’s refreshing to find a game that is happy to quite literally throw you straight into the good stuff.
In this case, the “good stuff” is falling debris to kick, ride, and otherwise manipulate as you’re falling through the sky. On top of that, there are items to grab, and skydiving tricks to pull as you plummet to your impending doom and the short, sharp splat that precedes your final score.
All the while, you’re building your score, aiming for personal bests, trying to achieve Tony Hawk-esque mini-objectives, and working to unlock the additional four stages that wait beyond the first.
It’s clean and simple, but there’s clearly a bunch of depth in the combo-system, and that encourages some extreme risk-taking. It reminded me of those moments in Downwell when you’re dropping at speed and reacting as quickly as you can to try and string together a combo of hits.
I look forward to diving back in for more quick bursts of intense free-falling gameplay, big tricks, and ridiculous animations, as there seems to be quite a lot of depth here for a modestly priced indie game.
Something strange is in the air
It doesn’t take long before the challenge scales, and you’re stringing together big fat combos and reacting to increasing waves of chaos. If you’re a sucker for a good arcade experience, I think you’ll probably like this one, and at the very least I’d encourage you to take a look at the demo.
In the full game, there’s a weird meta-layer that involves you meeting the passengers on the plane between attempts. On top of that, you can pop into the toilets to change your look, if you’d like to wear some snazzy trousers and have blue hair as you spiral to your death.
There’s a strange atmosphere as you interact with people between runs, but it’s these interactions that house the game’s roguelite systems. Characters will give you permanent upgrades to enhance your character, from new tech to health boosts. It’s all very offbeat and mysterious, though.
From top to bottom, Freefall ’95 is a very silly game, but it absolutely knows it and refuses to take itself too seriously, which I appreciated. It’s also a lot of fun, and a good option for any thrill-seekers out there looking for some arcade action. That’s my first impression, at least, but I will surely play more as I consider it for inclusion in my top-lists because I’m having a bunch of fun with it so far.
Freefall ’95 is out now on PC (Mac, Win), and I played the game via access kindly provided by the developer and their PR buds.
