Black the Fall

Lore & Background

Black the Fall is a puzzle platformer in which the player controls an unnamed machinist who escapes a surreal, mostly monochromatic 2.5D environment. The machinist walks, climbs, and uses objects to overcome obstacles, and gains the ability to mind control other workers and later a robot to complete puzzles. The machinist can die in various ways, including being shot, ensnared, crushed, burned, or drowned.

The plot follows the machinist in a dystopic communist Romania, where he pedals a bicycle to power a machine in a large factory. He escapes past propaganda TV, cheering crowds listening to a speech by Nicolae Ceaușescu, and a depot with armored two-legged mechas used for repression. Outside, he finds a wasteland with dead trees and polluted soil, then a robot for puzzles. After passing an abandoned theme park, he goes through a wall to a destroyed city where people pray in a church soon to be demolished. He takes an overcrowded bus, is arrested, and imprisoned. Escaping his cell, the injured machinist wanders an abandoned prison, hides in a mass grave, and emerges during a revolution. He uses a semi-broken mecha to breach the city wall, and the game ends with the machinist walking in front of images of the Romanian Revolution.

Reader's Guide

Black the Fall holds significance as a puzzle-platformer that directly draws thematic and visual inspiration from the Romanian Revolution, a historical event rarely depicted in video games. Its dystopic setting, featuring propaganda, mechas, and a polluted wasteland, reflects the oppressive atmosphere of the Ceaușescu regime. The game's use of environmental puzzles and mind-control mechanics ties gameplay to its narrative of escape and resistance. Released via Steam early access and a Kickstarter campaign in 2014, it was published by Square Enix, a major publisher, which helped it reach multiple platforms. Critical reception, as aggregated on Metacritic, was mixed or average, indicating that while the game's thematic ambition was noted, its execution received varied responses. Its legacy lies in its attempt to merge historical political commentary with platforming gameplay, offering a unique perspective on a pivotal 20th-century event within the medium.

Did You Know?

• The game is stylized as BLAƆK THE FALL.
• The player can mind control other workers and a robot to solve puzzles.
• The game's setting is inspired by the Romanian Revolution.
• The machinist can die by being shot, ensnared, crushed, burned, or drowned.