Babylon's Fall

By focusing on both action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing and combat sequences, the title proves to be too generic and gets lost along the way. Technically dated and visually unremarkable, despite an original “brushstroke” effect, Babylon’s Fall is aimed at a niche that will appreciate its particularities. Fans of challenge and online experiences could find their way there, but most players are likely to find the difficulty poorly regulated and the endless battles.

BABYLON'S FALL is a huge disappointment. The initial charm of the combat system fades off very quickly and the level design feed that feeling of monotony of boredom. This is a shame, as the combat and the narrative concepts have so much potential.

Once again, Square Enix fails miserably with another one of these infamous games as a service. Babylon's Fall feels like it was just made as a quick and easy cash grab, and even PlatinumGames's incredible talent isn't enough to save this train-wreck.

Babylon’s Fall falters with its implementation of a live-service model. While it contains a compelling, multi-faceted combat system, its brilliance is lost in a crowd of unnecessary features. The art direction, although interesting, doesn’t capture the notion of an oil painting. Instead, it looks bland and at times, downright ugly. Unfortunately, it seems that a troubled development period has marred the game, resulting in a directionless, cluttered and convoluted adventure.

I don’t think we should completely give up on it, though. Games have been turned around from disastrous launches to become quite well-loved things, and I do think there is room for Babylon’s Fall to grow, while also being a decent time (in the right conditions) right now. It’s certainly content rich in its current state already, and while it’s probably a bit of a gamble throwing money into something that might not be around for too long, I can still see this developing a community.

Babylon’s Fall is the first console GaaS developed by Platinum Games and it shows. Technically anchored to the past and artistically uninspired, the action game developed by the creators of Bayonetta hides its best features behind an abysmal story mode that lets the gameplay breath only after more than 10 hours of mandatory tutorials. Post-game content is interesting and the gameplay loop might be engaging after a good amount of updates to fix the rough edges, but will players keep faith in the developers after being welcomed in that way?

In its current state after a few updates, Babylon’s Fall is worth trying through the demo before you should consider picking it up on a discount. Until the team can overhaul the progression system to ensure most things aren't unlocked after a dozen hours of playing, Babylon's Fall likely will continue to lose players early on. There is definitely potential here and a lot of the bosses and areas are worth experiencing, but it is hard to recommend at even half price right now unless you click with the combat in the demo and want to see more.

Babylon's Fall immediately went from a highly anticipated exclusive to a memorable disappointment: a shame, because it had good ideas.

Babylon’s Fall seems like it needed a lot more development time. The core combat feels stiffer than my left wrist, which is currently recovering from a broken bone. Combining that with lackluster graphics and limited multiplayer options would be bad enough, but locking out key features of the game behind ten or so hours of gameplay makes Babylon’s Fall a very tough sell. Stacking microtransactions on top of it all leaves a nasty aftertaste that Platinum Games is going to have to wash out for a long time to come. Babylon’s Fall is good for some mindless, repetitive dungeon crawling, but certainly not for the launch MSRP of $59.99.

Babylon’s Fall is a free-to-play action sold at premium price, devoid of any quality and technically dated.

Babylon's Fall does nothing to be, if not remarkable, memorable: at least not in a positive way.

Babylon’s Fall feels like a game that came out a decade ago, both visually and in its gameplay. Combat is clunky and boring most of the time, outside of a few highlights here and there. There’s nothing that encourages players to engage with the live-service elements, despite it being a core tenet of the experience. It’s like someone fed a computer a bunch of information and had it generate an action RPG. Babylon's Fall’s biggest credit is that it’s technically competent; the game isn’t broken or held back by major bugs or issues. It’s a shame, because PlatinumGames has proven itself to be an impressive talented studio. Unfortunately, Babylon's Fall manages to disappoint on just about every front.

Oh my. Platinum Games is one of Japan’s finest developers when it comes to action games, but this one is a real stinker and not worthy of the studio’s name. Babylon’s Fall? More like Babylon’s fail.

Babylon's Fall is a huge wasted opportunity. Backed by ingenious mechanics like Gideon Arms or Dynamis Skills, the combat system had the potential to shine in a new and intense light, but the questionable choice of postponing the unlocking of crafting and skills related to the three races to the endgame slows down. the progression enormously, placing the player in front of an unbearable monotony and encouraging him to abandon the product within a few hours. If we add to this an almost non-existent history and an obsolete technical plant of at least two generations, there is no reason why you might want to climb the Tower of Babel.

If you love loot-based games and like the idea of wielding four weapons at once, you can get some enjoyment out of Babylon’s Fall. You’ve got to look past the drab visuals though, and have plenty of patience to get through its opening hours and lack of direction. Ultimately, there are some good ideas here, and some fun moments to be had, but they’re wrapped up in a package that feels rough around the edges and not up to the usual standard that you’d expect from PlatinumGames.