The Fall Part 2: Unbound is an interesting sci-fi sequel from indie developers Over The Moon. And it’s also a welcome addition to the release schedule for the Nintendo Switch, which isn’t exactly brimming with new games.
It’s a timely switch from games like Portal, which put you as a human protagonist against an artificial intelligence. In this game, you’re an abandoned and broken AI, names A.R.I.D, which is struggling to re-establish herself before a mysterious process shuts her down for good.
“There’s a growing debate about the looming threat of artificial intelligence. Can we build an AI that serves us? One that we can control? Or at the very least, one that is psychologically healthy and isn’t a threat to us? For that matter, what is ‘health’? Can it be defined for the sake of building an AI, and do humans even have a good definition for that? How do you know that you’re healthy?” says The Fall’s director, John Warner.
So as ARID, you’ll need to invade robots to get their help, and work within each of their operating parameters by solving challenges and puzzles. And then use the perceptual mechanics from one robot to start to use others, in a game which mixes side scrolling and point-and-click.
One of the big joys of the rise of indie games has been that they can tackle a variety of different subjects. So it’s interesting to see that The Fall is “a pretty good starting point to talk about psychological health… without being overly cerebral or choking the game with philosophical dialogue”
Sounds interesting to us. The Fall Part 2: Unbound will be released in 2017 across the PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and the aforementioned Nintendo Switch. So pretty much every format aside from an internet-enabled fridge.
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