Pixel art graphics have been a mainstay of the indie gaming scene for decades now but the aesthetics of other eras, where that was still the prominent art style, are seeing quite the resurgence of late. We’re seeing a bunch of games going for the PS1/PS2 demake vibe, other’s channeling their best Frutiger Aero impression and finally, the muted/retro-computing-future tones of the newly minted Windows 95 core. Freefall ’95 clearly takes inspiration from this era and some of the classic games from that time like SkiFree. That, dear reader, is what got me interested in the first place and whilst I didn’t end up spending a ton of time with Freefall ’95 I certainly appreciate it for what it is. A whacky, out of left field game that doesn’t try to do more than what it needs to.
Another plane trip, another number of hours stuck with countless strangers in a metal tube hurtling through the sky. So you try to find some way to keep yourself entertained, slapping your headphones on and jamming your favorite mixtape into your walkman to start passing the time. It’s at that moment something terrible happens: your plane explodes into countless pieces and you find yourself hurtling towards the ground at terminal velocity. Figuring you’ll make the most of it you do some sick tricks, raiding the falling drink cart and doing your best to avoid the falling limbs and other debris. The sweet embrace of the long sleep eludes you however as, upon hitting the ground, you find yourself back in the plane, headphones in hand.
The nostalgia is strong in Freefall ’95, the mid-90s inspired pixel-art taking me back to all those games I spent countless hours on as a youth. Unlike other games which would usually slap on a number of other, more modern graphical flairs on top of that Freefall ’95 keeps it true to form, never straying too far away from its roots with additional visual flair. This isn’t without some downsides though as, given the large number of items on screen at any one time, it’s easy for visual confusion to set in and everything just meld into a bunch of noise. Still the game gives you enough moments to recenter yourself and appreciate the art style for what it is.
The core game loop is a kind of Roguelite time loop adventure centered on busting out the sickest moves to get the biggest combos before you finally hit the ground at terminal velocity. You do this by well, doing tricks but also stacking numerous modifiers that you can get from items that are falling to the ground along with you. Get bitten by a snake, set on fire, chug some booze from the drinks cart, all of these things will up your multiplier so you can reach the higher score. This then feeds into the progress system that gives you access to new abilities, improvements to certain modifiers and drives the narrative forward by keeping additional levels locked until you reach a certain threshold. It’s a tight, well balanced package of mechanics that all serve the core game perfectly.
It’s one of those games that I feel would be amazing to play with friends, sitting on a couch as you each take turns trying to beat the last score. To be sure there’s a leaderboard which you can pit yourself against but honestly the numbers people are pulling in there are of the order that I can’t even understand. It’s also because the core loop does get repetitive pretty quickly and the game’s story, whilst cool, is pretty thin on the ground and didn’t provide me enough drive to play it for any longer than I did.
The narrative has me in two minds honestly. I do like the core premise of it, and each of the characters were certainly given enough personality for me to like them more than your usual run of the mill background NPC. However the story beats that you unlock are a mere handful of lines each and there’s not enough outside of that to want me to keep going. Sure, there’s the upgrades and the various story related challenges, but they just weren’t enough for me. That being said though that doesn’t mean it wont be enough for others as the core game play loop is solid enough that I feel that more…completionist orientated people would get numerous hours out of it.
Freefall ’95 is a competent if repetitive roguelike arcade game. The art work, setting and core game play loop are all great and not something I’d usually expect for a first time release. However there wasn’t enough there to glue me to my seat for long. The elements are there I just feel like there isn’t enough of them. To that end though I still feel like there’s a place for this in every 90s kid’s heart even if it is only for a short while.
Rating: 7/10
Freefall ’95 is available on PC right now for $15.95. Total playtime was 1.2 hours with 28% of the achievements unlocked.
