After The Fall

Developed By: Vertigo Games

Published By: Vertigo Games

Price: £29.99 / $39.99

FPS, VR, Horror, Action

Since virtual reality began, many have gone out to create this Left 4 Dead experience, most usually with zombies as the main enemy. It’s an easy way to go about it. Though while most just turn to wave fighters, others actually try to create stories from them, or a cooperative campaign that has you traverse the new apocalypse. After The Fall is one of those, made by the same devs as Arizona Sunshine. But does it succeed where others have only fallen into obscurity? 

LA Frozen Over

Taking place in a snow-covered post-apocalyptic Los Angeles trapped in the 80s, you play as a survivor who is found nearly killed by the mutants turned by the cold. Taken to a safe haven known as “The Line,” you are recruited to help accrue this material called Harvest. 

Now, to be fair, this game isn’t about the story; it’s mainly using it as an excuse for the context and mechanics that follow. There’s one character that’s fun, which is the old man that saves you, otherwise there’s not much. That, and the story is short. It can be done in a couple of hours, so this game needs more content than what is given, since the story surely is not delivering.

I never really expected it, to be fair. The most you’ll get is what some characters say to you as you’re passing through the areas in the game, talking of some backstory to the entire situation. Though it’s mostly forgettable, I did enjoy the bits of personality sprinkled in, even if there was very little of it. I would’ve loved some kind of connection between the characters you play, like in Left 4 Dead 2; that gave them the personality needed to be fun characters. 

Quality Shootbangs

However, the actual fun comes through the gameplay, obviously. What’s most important in a VR game is how good what you’re interacting with feels, and this game nails it pretty well. From using your gun to throwing bombs, there’s just this level of satisfaction you get. There’s nothing really complex about it; it just feels good, and for VR that’s all it needs to be. You can pick between easy and advanced reloading in case you want more complexity, like me. I think I’ve made it known how much I love just messing with (virtual) guns, and this game does a good job. 

Aside from that, the gameplay structure is fairly basic. Pick a mission, join some people, and get through the mission. Every mission entails going through an area, stopping at safehouses, and eventually getting to the harvester, all the while killing zombies. By killing the zombies, known as “Snowbreed,” and completing the missions, you will net yourself currency you can use to buy mods for your guns, or to purchase items mid-game.

Mod Your Guns

Yes, the game features full customization for your guns, and you gain mods through either finding floppy disks throughout the game areas or completing a mission. Then you go to the armory where you can customize your guns as much as you see fit. Specific gun compositions can be put up on the rack to save for later.

As for the items, there are only three: a health injection, a pipe bomb, and a rocket charge. The last one is the only one I’ll talk about, as at some point in the game you get a hand-mounted rocket launcher. It locks on to multiple enemies and blows them to bits in quite the satisfying spectacle. However it can only have one charge at a time. Once you use it, you have to find it again.

Exploring LA

However, these items can be found out there, so you don’t need to purchase them. Instead, by perusing the drawers or scouting out specific areas, you can find that as well as ammo, though you can just shoot ammo boxes to get ammo from that. Besides this, one thing to keep an eye out for is a keycard. If you find the corresponding keycard reader, you get access to a special room that has tons of items as well as a gun or two. Safe to say, exploration is rewarded, which does make going through them a lot more fun. One of my favorite things to do in games like Saints and Sinners is explore and rummage through junk just to find something cool.

And exploring the environments is fine. It’s not like the areas are particularly interesting, or amazingly designed, but they do a good job of making places look rundown, like people had to escape in a rush. They are well-detailed, and that’s really all it needs to be, even if I wish there could be a more interesting looking locale. But it is Los Angeles, so I can’t exactly wish for much. Exploring them also isn’t the best as it’s obviously just go this way, or take this extra way. 

As you explore, you will obviously come across many zombie enemies, but there isn’t a wide variety. There’s the exploding one, the strong, the charging one, and the tank. Some enemies will have ice protecting spots on their bodies, requiring you to either shoot those off or shoot another part. So, like I said, not exactly wide, but it was enough for what is rather a small amount of content. 

Good Bangs

Sound design is fairly good for what is a decent VR zombie shooter game. The guns sound good, the zombies make distinctive sounding noises that help you recognize which is which, and the ambience does a fine job, though I barely noticed it. 

What I did notice however is the soundtrack, which features nice synth that is put throughout the game, but gets heavy when special infected are introduced into the area. Hearing it can really put you in the mood of this perilous situation where the enemy you’re facing is tougher than what you’re used to facing. 

Like I said, my major issue with the game is the lack of content. There should be much more to play, but there isn’t, and further patches of content could fix that.  Other than that, I don’t have many other issues. I don’t like having to do calibration each time I entire the game, and I don’t like that I can’t change some of my calibration settings when I’m in the game. There’s some optimization issues, but they aren’t major. 

Frostbite Setting In

So, really, this is your average VR zombie shooter. It does feel the most like Left 4 Dead 2, but that’s not really saying much. I wish there was more to do, but what is there is fun, and I can see myself just going through it again and again to meet new people to play with. I’ve had some pretty fun experiences with the playerbase, which is one of my favorite aspects of playing in VR.

All I can do is sit and hope that eventually more content comes out, which I’ve heard there will be more, but I’m not exactly sure if that was confirmed or not. Otherwise, After the Fall is a decent VR game to get on a sale if you’re unsure, and a good game to get if you’re really itching to play a VR zombie shooter, just know that the content is lacking a bit. Hopefully we’ll get more confirmation on new stuff soon, as I’ve found myself wanting to play more. 

 

Verdict

Recommended

 

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Reviewed by Freelance7. Game provided by Vertigo Games.