Fallen Leaf

This game had been sitting in my Steam library for months, and for some reason it called out to me as next out of my backlog. I'm so glad it did. Fallen Leaf is a creative, smooth-controlling, level-based platformer in pixel art style. It is NOT a Metroidvania; if anything, it acts like a pre-SotN Castlevania game, with short levels, a mostly linear game structure, and story moments peppered throughout. Its main unique mechanic (relative to other games in the genre) is the ability to switch between a large cast of characters on the fly at any time with the shoulder buttons. It's clear the developers took this mechanic very seriously, because it's well done and the characters are well-tuned in comparison to one another. Any level can be beaten with any character, but their abilities vary enough that levels will be easier or harder, or require different approaches, depending on who you play as. You'll find some favorites, I'm sure, but you'll also experiment and switch around a bit -- say, by switching to the character with a slightly higher jump when a platforming challenge comes around. What really made this game enjoyable, though, was the expert craftsmanship on display in terms of art, writing, and game mechanics. The visuals are fantastic, which you can see this from the screenshots. The writing was a real surprise and delight, showcasing a truly interesting story, told through compelling and readable prose (and it's funny!). And the mechanics and levels are very, very well designed. Difficulty is "just hard enough" without getting into "punishing" territory, and level layouts and secrets are in a sweet spot of presenting new material at just the right pace. The best comparison I can make is to Shovel Knight. In an alternate world where today's retro games had been real NES games, I would not have been surprised to learn that Fallen Leaf was the follow up project for Shovel Knight's developers, which is very high praise. Pick this one up! P.S. One tip I wish I would have known: when you meet the frogs that can upgrade your abilities, go ahead and buy those upgrades for your couple of most-used characters, but do NOT buy them for everyone. You'll want the money for more upgrades later, and if you don't spend too heavily on those upgrades, you should be able to 100% everything else in the game (or nearly so) on one playthrough without grinding.

Very nice 2D platformer that most reminds me of [b]Super Mario Land 3[/b] ([b]Wario Land[/b]) and the [b]Donkey Kong Land[/b] versions of the Donkey Kong Country series. Really nice to see a retro platformer of such quality emulating this particular set of games. One main difference is that most of your characters have ranged attacks like [b]Megaman[/b], though the level structure and way it plays is far more like the aforementioned titles. Like those games, there are collectables hidden in most of the levels and the world map acts the same way as those games too, where you unlock stages as you make a path through the overworld. Your ranged attacks have a somewhat short range. There was a bit more dialogue than I would have preferred. It's a little goofy and I'm sure will be a selling point for some people, but the chatter didn't do do much for me. It wasn't "terrible" and you can button mash through it and skip cutscenes which is appreciated, though you will frequently find treasures and it is helpful to know which NPC to take them too (I had to just collect them all and then revisit a couple hundred NPCs with them because I wasn't reading the dialogue anymore to keep track). The music is fitting enough. No real bangers for me, but that's possibly just a taste thing. This aspect of the game was mostly fine, though the first tracks really didn't jibe with me in particular. Game is quite challenging in places, though you can buy potions to heal cheese the boss fights, some of which may pose a little challenge. I got this game for like $6 in a Steam sale which is very cheap given the amount of levels and attention to details. I think [b]Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair[/b] / [b]Tiny Barbarian DX[/b] and [b]Volgarr the Viking[/b] remain my favourite 2D sidescroller throwbacks of recent decades, but this is up there somewhere as well, it's one of the better ones, particularly if you enjoy those gameboy games I brought up at the start. We've had some nice throwbacks to that gameboy/gameboy advance period with games like this, [b]Pipistrello and the Cursed Yo-yo[/b] and [b]Master Key[/b] (the latter being a really good throwback to [b]Links Awakening[/b]) and [b]Coromon[/b] (a throwback to the early [b]Pokemon[/b] games).

Boring. Repetative. In most places is casual, so it looks like for children, but on the other hand some places will be difficult for children, so I don't get to whom this game addressed is.

What do you get when you combine the Super Mario Bros. 3 overworld map with Mega Man/Duck Tails platforming along with Bucky O' Hare's character switching mechanic garnished with some Clash at Demonhead item collecting and then frosted with comedic writing? Something pretty darn swell called Fallen Leaf. If this was released back in the NES days it would be an instant classic. Lots of old school inspiration without feeling dated.

Very enjoyable Retro Platformer with 10 playable characters, and a lot of fun dialogue. The artstyle and music was all very fitting and retro, but also expressive and hilarious at times. Definitely recommend talking to all the characters. Was very fun to play through, and has a lot content. Most of the boss fights was also really fun and not too hard to figure out. Not too difficult to 100% either, just by being thorough in your exploration. There is a couple very hidden things that are super obsure to find though to be warned. Definitely recommend everyone who enjoys Retro Platformers tries this out, it's a gem <3

Wears its inspirations on its sleeves, much like Shovel Knight did years ago, and wears them with pride! Amazing game feel, great writing, fun characters, great music, with lots of secrets and collectables. Highly recommend doing everything in this game, as you'll never want it to end. If images/videos of this game leave you remotely interested, definitely pick it up! More retro-styled game fans should be talking about and playing Fallen Leaf!

This game is amazing. It's like that one with the blue guy with the dog what doesn't like the other 8 automatons

I can't figure out - for the life of me - why this game is so unsung and relatively obscure. This is an immensely charming, special little game. Although it's anything but "little". My hour count isn't accurate but trust me, there's a lot to bite your chompers onto here. I'm just smitten with Fallen Leaf, and you will be too. If you're a fan of platformers, codecies, wit, actual humor in games, charm, tight controls, secrets, a range of challenge levels, or just pure *fun*, Fallen Leaf should be the next game you play.

I'll try to update this review after a more fair amount of playtime but this has kinda been intensely boring to the point I don't want to turn it on again. The most comparable platformers to this, Mega Man and Shovel Knight, are substantially more enjoyable and games I had fun playing from the start instead of eventually after the first two hours.