Angels Fall First

This is 2016's jank in 2026 and I am here for it.

A reminder that raw gameplay doesn't need to adjust to technological advancement. [b]Angels Fall First[/b] originates from the crop of old conversion mods for [b]Unreal Tournament 2004[/b] that later became realized as genuine game projects ([b]Killing Floor[/b] was also amongst this crop). It had released in Early Access back in 2016, and has since been worked on for about a decade with a majority of its updates done in radio silence. Fast forward 10 years, and it's a release that genuinely gives me hope for modern gaming. It's a team-based, wargame FPS with elements of aerial combat, tank combat and tactical simulation. It is team-based in the most definitive way, that any menial role contributes to the team's progress and support, rather than just which team has the most ruthless offence. If being a killing machine is not your thing, you can toss out ammo and medic bags, you can solely contribute by repairing air and land vehicles, you can contribute by delivering dropships or providing air support, you can play as a commander and task your squads if you want to narrate a scenario. If this sounds a lot like the foundation for an older [b]Battlefield[/b] game, that's the point, but it's done here isolated from that comparison, refined to allow even more gameplay and technical loadout customizations, with a more authentic "boots-on-ground" feeling than most modern AAA FPS games pressed as "grounded" and "realistic" just for being set in the current day can deliver, despite being palpably sci-fi. Scenarios progress depending on which team is the offensive front, while the other defends and outlasts the timer. There's also territory control scenarios based on which team can fill their percentage bar up first. It's not perfect however. While it's actively being hotfixed as I write this review, the game does have its kinks to work out, particularly in the optimization department (larger team battles typically come with frame drops and stuttering). [b]Angels Fall First[/b] still runs on Unreal Engine 3: a 20-year-old engine. It can run on any machine made in the past 10 years, has absolutely no microtransactions, no AI-generated features or assets, and delivers an experience on par with Pandemic Software's work on [b]Star Wars: Battlefront (2004)[/b]. It's an achievement in persistence, and an alarm for modern gaming audiences to realize that games don't need the most detailed visual fidelity, most ornate, orchestrated set pieces, the highest production budget, or even need to compete for the most cutting-edge hardware and the freshest, most system-taxing modern game development tools to deliver on a larger scope that modern gaming curators and networks have claimed as a standard.

Good ♥♥♥♥, play it while it still has players and even when it doesn't you still will be able to do it with bots. felt like I was playing the og battlefront for the first time again

Wonderful game, though I'd say it's not exactly full release material just yet... - Briefings at the start of missions are really really cool, hope we see more maps with them. - Vehicle combat is a little meh, feels half-baked but hopefully we'll see more updates to it. Not much else to say really, not a big fan of this type of sci-fi design but for this game I make a major exception, just very cool in general and you can tell it has a lot of soul behind it.

It's really fun to play, even if you don't have friends to play with you can play with the AI or just hop in a game with other comrades and fight the good fight!

Good ol' janky fun. Reminds me of the golden age of modding, when Unreal wasn't some financial juggernaut and simply a modding platform for creative dorks.

Absolutely horrendous balancing, you can kill in about 4 hits with a knife, attack with them at the speed of light, lag is *horrible* so you barely hit them if they try even the most basic of maneuvers, and stamina is unlimited, so you can just continuously sprint and run up behind everyone. So the knife is incredibly strong, but your other weapons feel like hitting with a wet noodle. I love high TTK games, but the TTK is completely balanced around lagging around and hitting people with your knife, for some odd reason. Extremely bizarre choice to make your combined arms game have overly powerful melee. Can't recommend this game until the devs fix this. I highly doubt they will, though, they likely have an entire discord full of sycophants yammering in their ear about how the game is perfect and changing it will lead to apocalypse, ruin, and them being kicked out of their mothers basements.

I don't often write reviews, so excuse any rough wording. Everything below comes from my own experience after hundreds of matches across nearly every map, along with a bit of research into the game's history. Angels Fall First is the kind of game that feels like it came from an era when developers weren't afraid to be ambitious. Originally starting life as a mod for "Homeworld" and later "Unreal Tournament 3", its roots are easy to see. The game is fast-paced, objective-focused, and built around large-scale combined-arms battles. You'll pilot fighters through massive space engagements, board enemy capital ships, fight through their interiors as infantry, or battle across dedicated ground maps. If you've ever wanted a modern game that scratches the same itch as the classic "Battlefront" title, Angels Fall First comes remarkably close. The tutorial is straightforward and does a good job of teaching the basics, although if you rush through it, you might feel a little lost at first. Fortunately, the game itself reinforces its mechanics quickly: attack objectives, defend objectives, and work with your team. The fundamentals are simple, but mastering them takes time. Progression is handled through three skill trees: Command (yellow), Support (blue), and Combat (red). These skills level passively as you perform related actions during matches, unlocking more loadout points to customize your equipment. Higher levels don't necessarily make you stronger—they simply give you more flexibility in how you build your character. For example, as of writing this, my Command level is 11, despite the fact that I've never actually played as the Commander. Leveling happens naturally just by playing. Two criticisms I occasionally see are that the game lacks maps or has a cheating problem. Personally, I don't agree with either. After hundreds of matches, I've played on nearly every map in the rotation, and there are around 33 of them. Some maps are dedicated space battles, while others focus entirely on infantry combat. Since lobby hosts can choose which maps stay in rotation, it's entirely possible for newer players to see the same handful repeatedly and assume there isn't much variety. As for cheating, I've never personally encountered anyone I believed was cheating. Angels Fall First has a relatively long time-to-kill (TTK), and understanding the armor system makes a huge difference. Your survivability depends on both your character's armor class and the armor plates you equip, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Weapons also deal different damage types—some physical, some elemental—so using the wrong weapon against the wrong target can make it feel like you're losing every firefight, even when the mechanics are working exactly as intended. Once you understand how those systems interact, the combat feels much more consistent. What I appreciate most is the game's balance. Headshots are rewarded with double damage, but survivability always comes with trade-offs. Heavier armor lets you absorb more punishment at the cost of speed and equipment options, while lighter builds sacrifice durability for mobility. After spending so much time with the game, I don't think there's a single "best" build. Every loadout has strengths and weaknesses, and success comes from playing your role well and working with your team rather than chasing a meta. All in all, I think Angels Fall First is a brilliant game. It feels like a love letter to a style of multiplayer shooter that isn't made very often anymore—large-scale, objective-driven, and rewarding teamwork over individual stat padding. If you're willing to learn its systems and embrace its scale, you'll find one of the most unique multiplayer experiences available today. For the Empire!

Decent game, not the best community.

this game is what this game advertises it looks jank it is jank but jank is in the love of the game you like action? you like flying? you like ground barased vehicle based and flying based combat? you like space? you like getting prison shanked by an unemployed mouth breather coming at you from across the map at mach 10? then stop reading the reviews and spend your mcdonalds lunch order and play this damn game it has so much love and depth that youll be drowning for hours see you in space cowboy