Light Fall Review

Light Fall from Bishop Games has all the makings of a classic. It’s fast-paced, fun and has high production values. Most platformers don’t bother with a story beyond getting from point a to b, but Light Fall really makes an effort.

Set in the eternally dark land of Numbra, you are tasked with saving the land and freeing the captured inhabitants. The story is typical fantasy fare, but it’s cutely presented and brilliantly narrated by Styx, the last of the owls.

Central to Light Fall’s gameplay is the Shadow Core. Given to you early in the game, the Shadow Core allows you to create a cube from thin air. The cube can be used as a platform to stand on. As a wall to bounce off. A motor to propel vehicles and much, much more. 

Let the Light Fall

The Shadow Core is what makes Light Fall unique and special. There have been other platformers that allow you to create objects in the game world, but none like Light Fall. The creation of the cubes by the Shadow Core is so fluid and fast, you’re able to do it on the fly and keep speeding through the levels.

Oh, sorry, did I not mention that Light Fall has a focus on speed? Well, it does. Obviously, you don’t need to go as fast as possible, but if you do it’s wild. Levels are designed for speed in Light Fall, but they’re also riddled with hidden paths, secrets and more. After you finish a level, you’d be astonished to see how many secrets you missed, even when looking for them.

Gameplay in Light Fall isn’t intuitive at first, but as you play, you’ll learn the tricks and it all becomes second nature. And when it does and you pull off a flawless run you’ll feel amazing. 

The visuals reflect the nature of Numbra, dark and shadowy. Numbra was plunged into eternal darkness and the inhabitants moved there to go away from the other warring nations. Sadly, a new threat found Numbra and if unchecked, could destroy everything.

Create the Cube, run the Cube, climb the Cube

The colours are all muted, deep tones. Dark purples and blues, highlighted by occasional flickers of light. The world has a consistency to it, one that spreads through every area, like Numbra’s darkness, even when the overall aesthetic of the different areas is wildly different. 

Animation in Light Fall is absolutely exquisite and looks more like a well-animated cartoon than a video game. Your character moves fluidly through the world, which in turn flows behind him without a hitch. Light Fall looks great with moves to match it. 

Finally, Bishop Games knows that players will want to compete for the best speed-runs in Light Fall, so it has provided full speed-run, leaderboard and ghost support right from the main menu. This makes it so much easier to challenge your friends (and the world) to set the best possible time. It’s super addictive.

Overall, Light Fall is one of the best platforming experiences available at the moment and that includes Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. It’s highly recommended no matter what platform, but it’s best on Switch. Especially in handheld mode.

It’s simple, if you like platforming, you should play Light Fall.

Light Fall was reviewed on Switch using a digital download provided by the developer.