As I make my way running through the Thieves Cloister, I can’t help but notice that the rain overlaps with a horrible filter on my screen making everything look like I’m constantly moving in slow-motion. A few meters ahead, a boss shows up, and I can’t see where my character ends and the monster begins anymore.
Wait… is that a smartphone signal bar on top of the screen? What?
Babylon’s Fall —the latest collaboration between PlatinumGames and Square Enix — is an action RPG that takes place in Neo Babylon, where the Domitinian Empire tries to steal any treasure they can from the ruins of the fallen Babylonian civilization. As one of the superhuman Sentinels forced to serve the empire, you will use your Dynamis powers to travel through the many layers of the Ziggurat, the only remaining tower from past times.
Right from the beginning, the art style in this game grabbed my attention, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. There is a clear intent to make this game look like a painting, and you can perceive invisible brush movements and a canvas-like filter as you move the camera. Sadly, it’s implemented in such a messy way that it looks like you’re getting your head violently shaken while playing the game, meaning any attempt at perceiving details (especially during combat) just fails miserably.
This becomes especially frustrating in zones like the Thieves Cloister or the Volcanic Cloister, as weather elements like rain or the lack of lighting overlap with the filter, making everything look like a poorly painted mosaic. It’s as if the horrible painting filter tries to hide some poor quality upscaling in the game. And now I think about it, the game kinda looks like it’s made for smartphones if you pay attention to the HUD and some other elements, like the subpar graphics displayed during the static cutscenes. That, and the fact that it has a massive phone signal bar on the top right part of the screen. Yeah, that may put some flags up. This is not a Genshin Impact-level mobile game though, it’s more like those knock-off match-three games where you need to repair a house using just a hammer and some sticky tape.
Aesthetics aside, PlatinumGames usually delivers the best combat systems and mechanics in action RPGs — just look at Bayonetta, Astral Chain, or Nier Automata. This doesn’t carry over to Babylon’s Fall, sadly, since the combat is average at best and just boring at worst, with several fights being unnecessarily long and quite repetitive.
One of the few things that does shine positively is the functionality of the weapons you equip, which will vary depending on the slot you’re putting them in. Since that will affect how you use them in combat, it gives you plenty of room for experimentation and enables you to tailor your playstyle as you see fit, at least until you inevitably replace them with better ones. Other innovations come in the form of elemental damage, and some circumstantial ailments such as slippery floors or lava, which make the fights feel a bit more varied after a few hours into the game. That being said, none of these changes are strong enough to make a big difference from what you’ve seen up to that point.
While the game doesn’t offer any commentary on the subject, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that you are basically a slave. As the unwilling cannon fodder for the military in Neo Babylon, you are the first to be put in danger, which of course, justifies the shenanigans you witness.
From God Eater 3 to Freedom Wars, the trope of a soldier slave is not strange in JRPGs, but it’s certainly an outdated one, which only gets worse when the narrative forces your character to become somewhat friends with your master, who just a few hours ago electroshocked one of your friends for talking back.
Even with PlatinumGames’ signature combat and some mechanics brought in from its past work, Babylon’s Fall babylon-falls short in every department. Any hopes I had were quickly dragged down by wonky combat mechanics, a below-average narrative, poor graphics, and even worse aesthetic choices that only make the whole experience even more unenjoyable and frustrating. Babylon’s Fall is a poor attempt at a cash grab that doesn’t even get that right - no one is going to want to spend money on it.
Score: 1/5. A PC review code was provided by the publisher.
Babylon's Fall
Babylon's Fall, a collaboration between PlatinumGames and Square Enix, was a live-service action game that was shut down in early 2023. Players were tasked with climbing a gauntlet-like tower named the Ziggurat.