Babylon's Fall

Our expectations for Babylon's fall were sky high. A collaboration between legendary publisher Square Enix and developer PlatinumGames, a few years ago responsible for the masterful 'NieR: automata', that could only produce fireworks, right? Unfortunately, fireworks that end with a whimper.

Babylon's Fall is a baffling game that lacks any distinct vision, both in terms of gameplay and artistic design.

Babylon Fall is a game that can entertain you for a couple of hours but quickly becomes quite monotonous. It has a history that is not very inspired with combat that lacks depth.

This is the fall of a giant. PlatinumGames, the masters of their craft, stumble and crash in this poor attempt at a live service game with passable combat and awful everything else.

Babylon’s Fall is not an awful game, its just not a very good one and while I would never tell anyone what to do with their money, I will strongly suggest you avoid this one as it’s fate will surely be the same as the tower for which its named.

Babylon's Fall flat out needed more time. The graphics make the experience just horrible at times, with the filter even giving me headaches. The combat can be enjoyable, though there is a grind to it, it's something I still enjoy along with the music. Beyond that however, there are still just too many aspects of this game that can make your time with it headache-inducing more often than not.

Babylon's Fall isn't a broken action RPG, but it isn't a good one, either – and it's one of the ugliest games in several console generations.

The murky visuals, bland dungeon design, boring gameplay overshadow the excellent boss design and a killer soundtrack, making this more of a chore to play and dampening the experience tremendously. There is no way in good faith that this could be recommended as a full-priced title, however in the future, if they improve upon the many mistakes that are currently in the game, it could be made into what it originally looked to be.

The true problem of Babylon’s Fall is that it has no sense of identity. There’s nothing that sets it apart from games like it, and it only shows itself as a poor comparison to other, free, games. Babylon’s Fall feels like it was made to check a box, because it is just so empty and slapped together. The cookie-cutter levels only serve to wear you down as you just want to make it through main missions that are just about your only way to play the game.

Babylon's Fall is a game that impresses by the fact that nothing in it works as it should. It's a boring title and marked by a series of problems. It ends up standing out as one of the worst games in a year full of great releases.

I hate to be this negative and scolding in this review, but in its current state, Babylon's Fall should not exist, especially not with such a hefty price tag. It's a live service game that's hell-bent on monetizing everything, but it's uninterested in being engaging, rewarding, or nice to look at. There are plenty of glimpses of the familiar Platinum Games talent involved, teasing the game that could have been, but it ultimately fails to make an effort except for microtransactions. Even hardcore fans of the genre or Platinum Games should likely avoid this title.

From a dismal effort on the front of graphics, user interface, player onboarding, sound design, and essentially every other aspect of game design, Babylon’s Fall is a failure. Games have bounced back from disastrous launches in the past, but in this case, I feel like it may be best to let sleeping dogs lie. The game’s one and only saving grace is that Platinum Games truly are the kings of combat, and while Babylon’s Fall is nowhere near the top of their collection of works, hacking and slashing your way through the Tower of Babel is at least, occasionally, kind of fun. It is just a crying shame that there is very little else to enjoy from the game; there isn’t anything pretty to look at, nice to listen to, or easy to engage with.

It may have a few interesting mechanics up its sleeve, but Babylon’s Fall manages to be one of the least interesting titles we have played as of late. And if you add astoundingly bad visual presentation on top of bland gameplay, you get a mixture that is hard to believe came from such a renowned developer and publisher. Not many will enjoy this one.

Given the nature of live service titles it's possible that Babylon's Fall could see a phoenix-style resurrection with some rebalancing, but somehow, we doubt it. Hopefully this absolute misfire doesn't signal a profound change in direction for Platinum Games; this title had a troubled conception and it shows, but rather than iterate on things, we'd rather see a return to single player dominance. There's just nothing about Babylon's Fall that warrants going back to the drawing board. Except for that fantastic boss battle in which you race the Batmobile against those jorts-clad pink elephants. Oh wait, that was just a dream we had when the game put us to sleep.

I can in no way recommend Babylon’s Fall. It’s the most disappointing experience I’ve played in years, a combination of poorly defined ideas and a lacklustre sense of visual identity that does nothing to feel like a PlatinumGames experience. That’s the most frustrating thing of all, that a studio with such a strong back catalogue could release such a basic, uninspiring title in this modern era, as if they just handed the project to the interns and forgot about it until it was too late. Whatever positives there might be are few and far between in a title that likely won’t get a chance to fix itself before Square Enix eventually pulls the plug.

Babylon's Fall offers many interesting ideas, but Platinum Games fails to deliver anything polished and fun, seemingly more interested in its cash shop. Another game as service gone wrong.

Babylon's Fall is just dull, repetitive and ultimately forgettable. The combat at the game's core so simple and lacking in challenge, especially if you have a full team. We all know that PlatinumGames are capable of games so much more than this, and Square Enix should probably step back from their live service efforts, because they simply haven't cracked it.

That Babylon's Fall comes from Platinum Games is perhaps the biggest surprise here. A banal, uninspired hack 'n' slasher with no imagination or personality.

The first full-fledged 3D adventure of Kirby is immediately a hit. The visual style is to be enjoyed, the gameplay is delightful and the many hours of fun you can put into it make it worthwhile for any Switch owner. There is almost nothing to complain about and with that Nintendo delivers another top seller for their console. Kirby fan or not, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is highly recommended and a game you must have played.

An utter disaster. A studio responsible for developing some of the best action games in recent years can now claim to have made one of the worst. [Issue#13, p.90]

Not only the worst game Platinum has ever made but one of the worst live service titles of any kind, with an especially disgusting attitude towards microtransactions.

Babylon’s Fall is an early contender for the worst game of 2022.

We’re sad to say that after years of waiting Babylon’s Fall is easy to skip. While other attempts at a game as a service had their moments, its combat is barebones and clunky, while it feels determined to pull players through with meager rewards and muddy graphics. Even playing with friends isn’t enough to bring this game back from the brink, and as a full-priced title, it’s absolutely impossible to recommend.