After hearing so many positive things about Human: Fall Flat, a physics-based puzzle game from No Brakes Games, I was itching to get my hands on a review copy. From the start, it’s clear the game has a really enticing graphical style and an interesting world design. The first puzzles seem innocuously simple, but they build in intensity as you progress through the game.
Throughout Human: Fall Flat, you play as an amorphous, noodly character whose movements are hard to control, and he seems to be made more of jello than of skin and bone. He’s like the human equivalent of Octodad. Of course, this created some accessibility issues, but the game is actually decently accessible overall!
Although I was truly enthusiastic to play Human: Fall Flat, there were a number of flaws that detracted from the game for me. First, many of the puzzles revolve around simply getting your “oobleck” character to perform tasks in sequence or with proper timing. None of this requires mental acuity, and it’s more a test of your patience than anything else.
Another nagging issue for me is that while the game offers character customization (my featureless pasta monster rocked some bright green pants), the customizations are distinctly male. Given the theme of the game (Human: Fall Flat) and the narrator repeatedly making comments about humanity as a whole, it seems a bit ridiculous to overlook 50% of humanity. Or, if the point is to generalize humanity as a whole, keep the character genderless and stay with the theme of self-referentially mocking human beings.
Summary
I did love that the levels were designed as floating isles that even if you fell off, you’d land, smooshed, at the beginning of the level again. No matter what happened, your gloopy character could scrape himself up and forge ahead. If that isn’t a statement about humanity, I’m not sure what is.
Jess contributed 16 articles to ICXM in 2017, covering game reviews, and Xbox news with a focus on hands-on impressions and verified-source reporting. Their bylines on the site span the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @Enceladosaurus.