One of the reasons I adore the presence of interactive media so much isn’t for it’s entertainment, but more or less for it’s possible leisure. Certain games like Fez, Picross, and Monument Valley can feel challenging, yet relaxing. But when a developer attempts to use these ideas on top of something that’s already been implemented successfully, will it succeed? I’m talking about Piecefall, a UK locally developed puzzle game that takes heavy inspiration from such franchises as Tetris, but in a 3D landscape. So does a shift in perspective revolutionize or fall flat? (No pun intended) Here’s the verdict.

Gameplay:

The world is your playground!

I always appreciate when a game has passion poured into it, and this is unequivocally the case in Piecefall. Many trophies and small Easter eggs hint at this, showing the potential at hand. However, as promising as the premise may be, the gameplay is really halfway there. While it doesn’t feel stale, it can be challenging for all the wrong reasons, letting players complete levels based off of luckily combos. While this may bring a sense of accomplishment to some, I don’t appreciate how you can just get through levels in this rather un-intuitive way.

Design:

Controls are simple, lacking all but the bare necessities

Piecefall could have easily been a mobile game (not like this is a bad thing) and by porting it to console, Steel Minions have done very little new in the realm of control conventionality. Unlike other games like Klaus, there isn’t a use of the touchpad, or any other essential controller feature. I understand that this game was a student project, but it would have been nice to see something along the lines of this for the sake of variety.

Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:

The constantly converging terrain makes increases the strong presentation

Perhaps Piecefall’s shining aspect is it’s presentation. While the music and visuals aren’t mind-blowing (with the latter reminding me of Boom Blox) the menu layout is impressive in action. It shows you what areas you’ve completed and what’s next, without being distracting from the task at hand. I also feel that this works really elegantly with the ideas the game is trying to provide, but it’s still a shame that this was the only instance where it happened to excel.

Conclusion:

Piecefall isn’t a bad game, and for less than $5 you could certainly do worse. However, anyone craving the next great indie puzzler should calm their expectations. There are a couple glaring flaws at hand, and anyone wanting something more extensive should pass this one. But whoever’s left is set for some simple action.

Piecefall gets a 6/10 (Limited Appeal)

We’d like to thank Steel Minions for sending us a code!

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