Video Game Review: After The Fall

Developer / Publisher: Vertigo Games

Genre: First Person Shooter

Reviewed On: PlayStation 4

Also Available On: PC

After the success of Vertigo Games’ Arizona Sunshine, the expectations were high for the studio’s next VR First Person Shooter. After The Fall has been highly anticipated all year as the next big cooperative VR game. The post-apocalyptic adventure allows for up to four buddies to work together across all VR platforms. Unfortunately, a rocky launch is holding this adventure back from being great.

After The Fall is set in 1980’s LA after the apocalypse occurred 20 years earlier. Up to four players will go through LA and its neighboring regions with tons of guns as they mow down hordes of undead monsters. It doesn’t really put too much into its story, but we all know that this game is all about shooting stuff with friends.

The gameplay loop of After The Fall is rather simple. Teams will walk through the various levels while shooting hordes of enemies along the way. Some enemies are standard, while some have some cliché quirks (Like exploding when close to players or blinding their field of vision). It’s a simple loop but it works well, much like classics like Left 4 Dead. Cooperating with friends is a blast, and when a team clicks together After The Fall truly shines.

If this review was written at After The Fall‘s launch, it would be scathing. The launch build was full of bugs, connectivity issues, and crashes. Fortunately, as of 1.03, the game runs much better. There are still a decent amount of bugs throughout but After The Fall on PSVR is finally playable. It’s not too inferior to the PC version, so PSVR is a viable way to enjoy this thrilling game.

Another issue that plagued the launch build were the controls. Without sticks on the PlayStation moves, developers need to find creative ways for smooth locomotion. While there are a few exceptions, there is a mostly universal control scheme for moving forward and backwards. For some reason, After The Fall doesn’t adapt this at all. The controls felt awful and even if players figured out the control scheme, it still felt unnatural. Fortunately, 1.03 introduced some changes, giving a much more enjoyable experience when it comes to locomotion.

Outside of the improvements in the game’s performance and controls, there are also promises of more levels post-game. This is great since After The Fall can be completed in just a few hours with the right group. After The Fall has the foundation it needs to be one of the best games on PSVR, but it will need to continue to make improvements to performance and post-game to reach that status. The gunplay and gameplay loop is enough to keep players coming back for more and more if this is their thing. For now, just expect a few hiccups along the way.