Vertical ascent isn’t what you would typically associate with a platformer. But if the past several years have proven anything, it’s that skill-based climbing, where you need to carefully judge obstacles before surmounting them, can be incredibly fun. So it’s only fitting that someone creates a game where the objective is to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Downwards being the only way forward, if you will.
Where the Seeds Fall, developed by CygamesEdge, offers just that. The parent company is known for its free-to-play properties, and Osaka has the more epic Granblue Fantasy: Relink. A smaller, focused effort with this premise thus feels unique. While promising three hours of playtime, it was a little more than two hours for me, including the Challenge Stages. There are certainly worse ways to spend $10, even with its hang-ups and caveats, but the opposite also applies.
The set-up of Where the Seeds Fall is a tale as old as bloody time and even less exciting this go-around. Humanity goes to war and destroys itself over land, resources, etc. At some point, everyone sets aside their differences to live in a big ol’ World Tree. It’s good times until human instinct does its thing and burns it all to the ground. From the remains emerges something called the Blight, which corrodes anyone within it.
“When the Fell Child is on board, you can glide as long as its energy remains. However, it can also create leaf platforms, with more materializing as you jump further down (and earlier branches rotting away, so you’ll need to be quick).”
If that wasn’t enough, mysterious individuals known as Fell Children abound. Very bad and to be eliminated, no questions asked. Because if humanity can seemingly unite on one thing, it’s a boogie monster who, you guessed it, is completely misunderstood.
The player starts as a nameless soldier who’s pursuing one such Fell Child. Before he can deliver a killing blow, he sees his daughter. So, in his best Joel Miller impression, he makes off with the child, moving from one branch of the massive tree to the next while a mysterious earthquake causes walkways to crumble. After briefly separating, they’re travel buddies, the Fell Child getting on the protagonist’s back in the most excited way possible, even with imminent death around every corner.
Despite the length, Where the Seeds Fall deserves credit for its unique set-up. It isn’t explained immediately, but the Fell Children serve a much greater purpose (if their appearance, the game’s title and general common sense didn’t give it away). However, neither lead gets much character development. Yes, our nameless soldier turns over a new leaf, but the meat of his story is in flashbacks.
While he forms a connection with the Fell Child, it feels inherently surface-level and, later, more about the greater good than anything else. I won’t begrudge other aspects of the storytelling too much (including some plot holes) because of the length. But this tale would benefit from a more fleshed-out bond, better world-building and, well, a longer run-time.
Still, it’s serviceable enough, leaving the gameplay to carry your interest. At first, things felt fairly straightforward. Besides jumping, you can sprint to cross larger distances and climb ledges. Sometimes you’ll need to hang from those ledges and execute wall-jumps. When the Fell Child is on board, you can glide as long as its energy remains. However, it can also create leaf platforms, with more materializing as you jump further down (and earlier branches rotting away, so you’ll need to be quick). Finally, it can create a gust of wind to reach higher places. A double-jump, if you will.
“Maybe this works better as the conclusion to a children’s fable, because after a nearly two-hour descent past monstrosities, corrosion, and the Fell Child randomly stopping for high fives because I smashed some amber, it felt unsatisfying.”
The World Tree’s make-up strikes a decent balance between careful, slower traversal and quicker but riskier jumps. For example, you could inch across narrow arches to make your way down, or throw caution to the literal wind and leap onto the lowest possible platform. I say “possible” because at a certain distance, neither gliding nor double-jumping will save you from fall damage.
Limit-testing is highly encouraged and, to its credit, Where the Seeds Fall mixes things up with different kinds of obstacles, including heavy winds that can mess up your positioning (or allow for last-second edge grabs), corruption that slows you down, and even slides that you really shouldn’t be waiting until the end to jump off of. You’ll even run into some corroded humans that are either easily dispatched with a death from above assassination (which sadly feels very canned and QTE-ish) or by simply running past.
Unfortunately, the fundamental movement can put a damper on things. The nameless runs around like his shoes are made of vaseline, slipping and sliding like a figure-skating duck. It looks funny, but when that momentum sends him careening off ledges or overshooting platforms, it becomes frustrating.
It also doesn’t help that some sections feel significantly weaker than others. Having to rescue the Fell Child from some unusually intelligent corroded humans? That’s fine. Bopping around as the Fell Child, trying to find food for the nameless to eat when they’re incapacitated? Not so much.
And so help me, the seed mechanic, where you pick one up, slowly move to the right spot and toss it below to create a platform to land on, isn’t one of the most annoying I’ve seen in any platforming game. Whether you’re sending it in the wrong direction or relying on trial and error to find the perfect spot, it feels inherently unfun whether you’re going fast or slow.
Of course, the last few platforming sections will also leave you reeling, then redoing them from the very start, knowing what to do. They’re not the worst, but their set-up means you’ll likely fail and be forced to repeat the whole thing, though they’re not inherently difficult.
I won’t spoil the ending, but it leaves so many questions unanswered. Maybe this works better as the conclusion to a children’s fable, because after a nearly two-hour descent past monstrosities, corrosion, and the Fell Child randomly stopping for high fives because I smashed some amber, it felt unsatisfying.
“Ten bucks is ten bucks, though, and for some, that’s enough. Its setting and overall premise are acceptable enough on their own, but compared to so many other top-notch 3D platformers, speed-run-focused or otherwise? Not quite.”
After completing the story, Challenge Stages open up. All two of them. They’re long enough and feel like they properly test your understanding of all the mechanics, but I could have done without the seed platforms. You can also replay the Story Stages in a speedrun mode of sorts, but from the beginning. Suffice it to say that one playthrough was enough for me.
Presentation-wise, Where the Seeds Fall doesn’t look too shabby, even if the character models and animation might convince you otherwise. Aside from some iffy lighting, the minimalist art direction, combined with the watercolor backdrops, is easy on the eyes. A scene where the nameless lays out the plot and his own past against a stunning sunset would have been better if the clouds had improved aliasing, but I digress. As for the music, I struggle to recall anything noteworthy.
Ten bucks is ten bucks, though, and for some, that’s enough. Its setting and overall premise are acceptable enough on their own, but compared to so many other top-notch 3D platformers, speed-run-focused or otherwise? Not quite. Where the Seeds Fall is a notable effort from CygamesEdge. I only hope their next effort either uses its runtime to tell a more entertaining self-contained story with better movement. A longer adventure with room to stretch its legs would be even better. For now, as much as it sticks the landing (no pun intended), it may simply remain rooted in your wishlist forevermore.
This game was reviewed on PS5.
