Downfall (2009) - now FREE

[Angel Dust]

I finished this game the other week and overall my feelings are quite mixed.
Graphically the game is a real mixed bag. The backgrounds are stunning, not just in pure drawing skill but in composition and framing too. Each shot is perfectly chosen and shaded and a real eiree atmosphere is created. However this is shattered but the awful walking animations (the special animations are generally better and sometimes quite good) and shoddy character designs. I don't want to sound harsh but I expected a little more from a commercial AGS game, especially since a siginificant amount of the free AGS games are far superior in this department. My suggestion is to get someone else to do the character sprites next time so that your gorgeous backgrounds can really work their magic.
The story was intially intriguing but quickly descended into cliche and potentially interesting themes and developments were not given the focus they deserved. The game felt more like a explotative horror film rather than frightening story with deep issues. Some of the writing was overly versbose in particular the Psycho-esque (which actually puts you in very good company  ) pyscho-analysis between the

Spoiler

two cops at the change over point. That cops about-face for some of the endings was completely and utterly ridiculous too.

[close]

I will say however that the character of Agnes was an absolute masterstroke and she was a charming companion. The way she was used to provide comic relief in a serious story was brilliant and felt very natural and unforced.
The puzzles were uniformly bland and sometimes terrible, I cannot believe the old 'newspaper/key/under door' puzzle was used without even a trace of irony, and were merely obstacles rather than being part of the fun too. Music was generally good, if nothing spectacular, although there were some odd choices here and there (I remember one part sounded vaguely like 'porn music' and I'm not sure what was going on with that Porcupine Tree sample, which was actually 'Shallow' not 'Open Car').
I know some of these criticisms may sound harsh but I believe in being honest. Despite my overall luke-warm response to the game I am still very interested in seeing what you do next. You certainly have talent and I know it's hard work doing a game all on your own so it would be great if you could get another team member or two for your next game.

[LordJerus]

If I had  the computer or the money i'd dl it. I love scary games. The pics look awesome. Cant wait to eventually be abler to afford it

[Grim]

I finished this game the other week and overall my feelings are quite mixed.
Graphically the game is a real mixed bag. The backgrounds are stunning, not just in pure drawing skill but in composition and framing too. Each shot is perfectly chosen and shaded and a real eiree atmosphere is created. However this is shattered but the awful walking animations (the special animations are generally better and sometimes quite good) and shoddy character designs. I don't want to sound harsh but I expected a little more from a commercial AGS game, especially since a siginificant amount of the free AGS games are far superior in this department. My suggestion is to get someone else to do the character sprites next time so that your gorgeous backgrounds can really work their magic.
The story was intially intriguing but quickly descended into cliche and potentially interesting themes and developments were not given the focus they deserved. The game felt more like a explotative horror film rather than frightening story with deep issues. Some of the writing was overly versbose in particular the Psycho-esque (which actually puts you in very good company  ) pyscho-analysis between the

Spoiler

two cops at the change over point. That cops about-face for some of the endings was completely and utterly ridiculous too.

[close]

I will say however that the character of Agnes was an absolute masterstroke and she was a charming companion. The way she was used to provide comic relief in a serious story was brilliant and felt very natural and unforced.
The puzzles were uniformly bland and sometimes terrible, I cannot believe the old 'newspaper/key/under door' puzzle was used without even a trace of irony, and were merely obstacles rather than being part of the fun too. Music was generally good, if nothing spectacular, although there were some odd choices here and there (I remember one part sounded vaguely like 'porn music' and I'm not sure what was going on with that Porcupine Tree sample, which was actually 'Shallow' not 'Open Car').
I know some of these criticisms may sound harsh but I believe in being honest. Despite my overall luke-warm response to the game I am still very interested in seeing what you do next. You certainly have talent and I know it's hard work doing a game all on your own so it would be great if you could get another team member or two for your next game.

Hmmm... I don't quite know what to say. I suppose I could've done some of the things you mention a bit better, but I'm still learning and I can only promise that my new project will be better:) Still, I've not done that bad, have I?
I can't understand this porn music comment, though. This is the second time someone's said it. Is all smooth jazz music a porn music? If so, Dave Gilbert's  Blackwell games must be an endless orgy of explicit eroticisim:) And of course you're right about "Shallow".
  And yes, I could've explored some of the themes a bit more, but remember that this is still quite a novelty to touch these topics in games. How often do you see anorexia being discussed in this medium, presented in its four stages of development as four different stages of  a person's life?
I appreciate your honest feedback and will keep it in mind, especially now that I'm starting work on my new game:)

[Dualnames]

Grim, shhh...you promised!!

[Angel Dust]

Hmmm... I don't quite know what to say. I suppose I could've done some of the things you mention a bit better, but I'm still learning and I can only promise that my new project will be better:) Still, I've not done that bad, have I?
I can't understand this porn music comment, though. This is the second time someone's said it. Is all smooth jazz music a porn music? If so, Dave Gilbert's  Blackwell games must be an endless orgy of explicit eroticisim:) And of course you're right about "Shallow".
  And yes, I could've explored some of the themes a bit more, but remember that this is still quite a novelty to touch these topics in games. How often do you see anorexia being discussed in this medium, presented in its four stages of development as four different stages of  a person's life?
I appreciate your honest feedback and will keep it in mind, especially now that I'm starting work on my new game:)

The problem was the lack of depth meant that these topics remained a novelty. Of course I give you kudos for trying to explore different issues but I'm still going to say that I felt you were not successful in the execution.
I think my main issues all stem from the fact that was a commercial AGS game, albiet one that only cost $10, and I didn't expect to encounter some of the issues that I did. Perhaps it would have been better to have gotten a few free games under your belt before doing a commercial one. I am forgiving of first time games but less so if the maker has deemed it worthy of $10.
I know how hard it is to create something and put it out there, I'm an aspiring musician, and have people pass judgement on it but try not to let my opinion bring you down. Remember I am interested in what you do next!

[Igor Hardy]

I think my main issues all stem from the fact that was a commercial AGS game, albiet one that only cost $10, and I didn't expect to encounter some of the issues that I did. Perhaps it would have been better to have gotten a few free games under your belt before doing a commercial one. I am forgiving of first time games but less so if the maker has deemed it worthy of $10.

In what sense it is better to have a few free games under one's belt before doing a commercial one? It's only natural for a client to always have gripes about a product no matter how good (or bad) it is. In this case you have a demo and reviews to judge by if this game is worth spending 10$ for you - that's as fair as it ever gets.

[Dave Gilbert]

I can't understand this porn music comment, though. This is the second time someone's said it. Is all smooth jazz music a porn music? If so, Dave Gilbert's  Blackwell games must be an endless orgy of explicit eroticisim:)

Dude!  Just because you're a beta tester doesn't mean you can give away plot elements of Blackwell Convergence!

[Angel Dust]

In what sense it is better to have a few free games under one's belt before doing a commercial one? It's only natural for a client to always have gripes about a product no matter how good (or bad) it is. In this case you have a demo and reviews to judge by if this game is worth spending 10$ for you - that's as fair as it ever gets.

Making a game is a skill and like every other skill , practice makes perfect. Many things could have better, notably the puzzle design, if he had gotten feedback on smaller projects first. I played the very first demo, I gave feedback on it here, but I did not want to play the newer one so I could encounter the game fresh and most of my problems with the game would not have come through in a demo any way. There are also not many reviews and most are done by adventure game focused sites and as such, like most of the feedback here, are understandably biased and more forgiving of adventure games. I am not saying I was unfairly 'tricked' into buying the game in any way, because that's just stupid, but I am going to talk about what I thought about the game and the fact it cost $10 is a factor in how I approach my criticism.

Let us not drag this any further. I was simply giving feedback on what I thought of the game and unfortunately it wasn't all good but I would think that Grim Reaper, as an aspiring developer, what want to know what people think, good or bad, and remember it's only one man's opinion

[Grim]

I can't understand this porn music comment, though. This is the second time someone's said it. Is all smooth jazz music a porn music? If so, Dave Gilbert's  Blackwell games must be an endless orgy of explicit eroticisim:)

Dude!  Just because you're a beta tester doesn't mean you can give away plot elements of Blackwell Convergence!

I wasn't even a very good one- I could not find a single bug in Convergence ( and I really tried!) Maybe I just enjoyed it too much?

I appreciate your feedback Angel Dust and I'm aware the areas you mention are the ones I need to improve on, and I'm in no way claiming that Downfall is a perfect game. But saying that it had warm reception by game blogs and forums only would do my game injustice- it had actually scored 8 out of 10 both in French and Russian game magazines ( this particular one sells 80.000 copies monthly). The demo is out on Total PC Gaming magazine in UK this month. Also, almost daily I receive emails from gamers across the world saying that they enjoyed playing Downfall. But let the game itself be the testimony of its quality and it would be silly of us to argue here:) From the moment I started making Downfall I knew it wouldn't be to everyone's taste... And I wasn't too bothered about it. Just made a game I wanted to make. End of.

[Angel Dust]

That's cool but, I assume you are talking about the subject matter/violence etc here, I would like to make it clear that my problems with Downfall were not due to it not being to my taste. I do not want my critcisms to be marginalised in this way.

Anyway to reiterate what I said earlier: I'm goin' to be keepin' an eye on you and your future projects  

And you lucky bastard, getting to play Convergence early!

[Grim]

Awww..... The Russian company Akella is interested in translating Downfall into Russian and distributing it on the territory of their country on a bloody DISK! That'd be amazing! Anyone know if you can import Russian alphabet into AGS?

[Dualnames]

Awww..... The Russian company Akella is interested in translating Downfall into Russian and distributing it on the territory of their country on a bloody DISK! That'd be amazing! Anyone know if you can import Russian alphabet into AGS?

There's a topic around the forums somewhere I recall an image of roger speaking Russian..

[blueskirt]

I finally got around to finish the game, great game, I liked how

Spoiler

in the end, most of the weird events that happened in the hotel actually made sense. A thing that bother me in those horror stories where things suddently get weird and you start to wonder if it's an hallucination or a nightmare is when all the weird scares and stuff are completly random and make no sense at all, like in that 1408 movie. Your game didn't fall into this trap and I liked that.

[close]

The atmosphere was great, I found myself hiding under blankets most of the game and for the first time in my life, I found myself more nervous than happy everytime I was no longer stuck on a puzzle, in fear of what would happen next.

What could have been better:

Spoiler

When Dr Nazi ask you to find the receptionist, it was pure luck if I found her, the room she was waiting in had absolutly nothing interesting so I kinda marked that room as useless, it's only after being stuck for a long time that I entered that room again only to find the receptionist in it. Having the receptionist waiting at her desk or having a note there saying she would be in room 401 would have been better, IMO.

One of the scare's timing was off, when you fall down from the roof and witness the doctor getting killed by his frankenstein killer, the timing between the lightning was too long, I had already guessed that something horrible would look at me from the window by the time the second lightning arrived which ruined the moment.

[close]

What I didn't like:
I don't know if it's the game or my computer, but everytime I launch or quit the game, I have to go through these super long delay, nearly a whole minute, before the game launch or shut down, I've never had this sort of problem with other AGS games, only this one. It's even worst when you want to watch the multiple endings since you got to go through the very long credits sequence and relaunch the game after each endings.

Also,

Spoiler

The blender scene. The game already had lot of gore but that scene was just pointless over the top, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that music.

[close]

I encountered only one bug (I played the old version, I don't know if it has been corrected in the more recent versions):

Spoiler

After you explode the second Sophie, if you go straight to the broken mirror room rather than the room where the second Sophie was, there will be a cutscene showing the mirror breaking and when you will regain control, you'll be stuck in a wall in the previous room and you won't be able to move anymore. Loading the last savegame is the only way out of this situation.

[close]

That's pretty much it, I'll play the game a second time to try different choices and see the remaining endings, I'll email you in the following days to get the latest version.

[Grim]

I finally got around to finish the game, great game, I liked how

Spoiler

in the end, most of the weird events that happened in the hotel actually made sense. A thing that bother me in those horror stories where things suddently get weird and you start to wonder if it's an hallucination or a nightmare is when all the weird scares and stuff are completly random and make no sense at all, like in that 1408 movie. Your game didn't fall into this trap and I liked that.

[close]

The atmosphere was great, I found myself hiding under blankets most of the game and for the first time in my life, I found myself more nervous than happy everytime I was no longer stuck on a puzzle, in fear of what would happen next.

What could have been better:

Spoiler

When Dr Nazi ask you to find the receptionist, it was pure luck if I found her, the room she was waiting in had absolutly nothing interesting so I kinda marked that room as useless, it's only after being stuck for a long time that I entered that room again only to find the receptionist in it. Having the receptionist waiting at her desk or having a note there saying she would be in room 401 would have been better, IMO.

One of the scare's timing was off, when you fall down from the roof and witness the doctor getting killed by his frankenstein killer, the timing between the lightning was too long, I had already guessed that something horrible would look at me from the window by the time the second lightning arrived which ruined the moment.

[close]

What I didn't like:
I don't know if it's the game or my computer, but everytime I launch or quit the game, I have to go through these super long delay, nearly a whole minute, before the game launch or shut down, I've never had this sort of problem with other AGS games, only this one. It's even worst when you want to watch the multiple endings since you got to go through the very long credits sequence and relaunch the game after each endings.

Also,

Spoiler

The blender scene. The game already had lot of gore but that scene was just pointless over the top, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that music.

[close]

I encountered only one bug (I played the old version, I don't know if it has been corrected in the more recent versions):

Spoiler

After you explode the second Sophie, if you go straight to the broken mirror room rather than the room where the second Sophie was, there will be a cutscene showing the mirror breaking and when you will regain control, you'll be stuck in a wall in the previous room and you won't be able to move anymore. Loading the last savegame is the only way out of this situation.

[close]

That's pretty much it, I'll play the game a second time to try different choices and see the remaining endings, I'll email you in the following days to get the latest version.

Thanks for the feedback! As to things you mention,

Spoiler

you're right about the receptionist; she was hiding rather well, wasn't she? A thought of leaving a note at the desk has actually crossed my mind at some point but against my better judgement I decided to make her stay in that room. It's funny that while a lot of people got a bit stuck there, there was some players who instantly knew she'd be in that very room, a hanging body resembling her being a clue. Ghosts ( if she was a ghost, that is) seem to hang out near their bodies for some reason and so was the case here.

The lightning scene... Yeah, you are absolutely right. I just didn't think they'd be able to move that quickly towards the window, that's it. Made a mistake there trying to make it realistic, while Downfall for the bigger part of the game throws realistic out of the window completely, so I guess that could've been avoided. I had so much fun making that scene, though!

And, of course, the blender scene... Gratuitous violence aside ( although I don't quite believe in such thing) the music is what it is, but it's barely a 2 seconds long guitar riff... I hope S. Wilson won't hold it against me ( although I've seen his videos on Youtube smashing iPods so I guess he must be pretty hot on copywriting...)My only explanation for this is that as a big fan of the band I had been really inspired by their music while making the game. I still am to this day. Without their weird morbid poetry there would not be Downfall! I nearly changed it a million times... but then thought- fuck it, I'm gonna keep it. It's a little thing that will make everyone who likes their music smile and think for a second.

Finally, the bugs. There is no excuse, I know. I'm glad you've only encountered one, but then again it was a biggie. In your new version that I've sent you this should be fixed ( hopefully). I apologize for this; the only explanation being that I made this game so damn complicated in terms of choices and timed events that sometimes what happens in the hotel seems to take a life of its own and refuses to be controlled. Even by me.

[close]

[Grim]

If  you'd like to read some more about the game and its genesis here's the link to the interview with me on Adventure Classic Gaming, which also contains some previously unpublished artwork:

http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/510/

[Dave Gilbert]

Hey everyone!  Just thought I'd chime in to announce that this game is also available on the Wadjet Eye Games store.  Why should Direct 2 Drive have all the fun?

Go and nab it HERE.

[Igor Hardy]

A new interview with Grim is up at HardyDev and it's better (and different) than all the others! I especially like the part about presenting the player with choices and the more in-depth explanations of what thing went into building the storyline. There is some exclusive art as well.

[CosmoQueen]

I haven't seen the demo but just by seeing the screenies and the description, I'm sold! I'm totally buying this the first chance I get!

[Stee]

Just got this the other day from the labour day sale over at Wadjet Eye. I don't want any spoilers from the game, but can anyone tell me if I'm safe to place this on my laptop (ie theres no awkward/silly death points or time challenges), or would I be better on my main rig, with a mouse?

[Crimson Wizard]

Owww... a bloody horror  : Just something to play during lone nights...
A pity I missed this game before, thanks for the guy(s) who bumped the topic up.

Awww..... The Russian company Akella is interested in translating Downfall into Russian and distributing it on the territory of their country on a bloody DISK

Ha! So did they actually released it?
I'm downloading demo now, let's see if its worth buying