2 
0 Welcome to my review of After The Fall. This is a new VR game and was developed and published by Vertigo Games (creators of Arizona sunshine). This is a game full of potential, especially when it is like Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood.
A VR version of those games was definitely needed. Now I can actually feel like I’m there slaying the zombies in a snowy apocalypse.
Left 4… Oh Wait, After The Fall
As previously stated, the game structure is quite similar to Left 4 Dead and the likes. However, this is not a bad thing due to the increasing pressure of those games to come back. You know the ‘’old’’ go from A to B but have safe houses scattered in the middle.
This is not a bad plot either, the safe houses in the middle can be used to spend your harvest (the currency dropped from zombies when killed) on things like health boosters or pipe bombs.
It can become repetitive at stages, as all games can. However this is especially noticeable on the Quest 2 as you stand for a long time, fighting waves of zombies, trying not to knock anything over whilst you frantically try to kill them.
Gameplay
Where to start but at the beginning? Right off the bat, you’re asked to configure your way of playing, how high your gun belt is, sitting or standing and reload type. This is where, for the first time in my VR playing career, I chose the quick-reload type.
This started an event that led to me choosing the realistic type of reloading, to then spend 10 minutes figuring out how to reload and immediately switching this back to a one-button reload.
So after my initial commotion, the story started with the safehouse opening up to save a survivor. This then led to an endless wave of enemies swarming you until death. After which, a man bursts through them all in a truck to save you and bring you back to the ‘hub’. This, in essence, is the main menu, where you can choose your game mode. Customize your gun and meet with friends.
There are two game modes in the game, which can be played online with other people or offline with the AI. You can play the normal harvest run or the team battles. The only thing is that there are only 5 levels and they relatively don’t take that long to do (30-40 minutes). After that, all that is left to do is replay through at a harder difficulty or have a go at the PvP mode as the fun can only last so long.
There is also no real plot to this game, just simply drop into the game and play until the end. With only five levels to play this can be a bit boring as there is no sense of meaning behind what you’re doing apart from collecting harvest. Although chaotic, the weapon customisation is quite nice to play around with from stripping your weapon to the core, to then making it your own personal killing machine.
Graphics and Audio
This was my favourite part of the whole experience. The Quest 2 has its fair share of good and bad graphics, but in this case, it was good quality. I couldn’t help but feel as if I was in the snowy city fighting ‘’snowies’’. However, although sometimes vision becomes blurred due to the high-intensity fog, it truly makes you feel immersed in the game. If the fog was to be diminished, the city would look very different and to me, would look out of place from what the game intends.
The audio is also decent, you’re hearing everything from the gun to the reload, to the zombie behind you ready to attack. It also creeped me out when you could hear them shuffling around in the next room or even up above you. This is where the true scare factor came into place.
Longevity
As previously stated the game is just a mere 5 runs. As far as different difficulties and one other game mode, this falls a bit short of my expectations. That is this game’s main downfall (no pun intended), it is simply too short. Overall this experience is fun for a few hours but can get tedious really quickly. That’s a real shame because the gameplay you do get to experience is really enjoyable.
Final Thoughts
This game is loads of fun and reminded me of the Left 4 Dead days. Unfortunately, it is such a short game that it couldn’t get more fun than the first playthrough. Slaying zombies, brutes and the likes leave you wondering what to do next. The game itself has the potential to get so much better but the launch was, for me, disappointing.
That is why I’m giving After The Fall the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Discord | Podcast
About Author
