Human: Fall Flat Review (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch & PC)

Human: Fall Flat is like a slapstick comedy with a bad punchline—a Dad joke that you want to laugh at, but one that you gradually learn to hate as it prods you for a proper reaction. Oh, it isn’t a bad game, but, like all things, it grates on your mind the longer you think about it. The rag doll physics; the stupidly complex nature of the puzzles; and the simple fact that every bone in your body is as equally incompetent as the objects in your palm. It’s something that you can force a laugh out of. But after a while, the joke, well, falls flat.

Conceptually, Human: Fall Flat is a shoddy game — but that’s sort of the point. It doesn’t hold your hand, nor does it tell you how to flex your fingers to tackle even the smallest problems. It just hands you a sack of gloop with little to no human emotion whatsoever, and it scoots you into a world where everything is made to feel unnecessarily difficult. Take the puzzles, for example. In most cases, you would have a logical explanation for the problem at hand. In Human: Fall Flat, however, you don’t have the answers; you have a frail body and a floppy pair of arms that struggle to grasp even the smallest things. But, again, that’s part of its “charm”—its joke that you both love to hate and hate to love. It’s tedious, and yet, sadly, something that you just learn to deal with.

Like any rag doll puzzler, Human: Fall Flat is all about learning to cope with your shortcomings, as in, a vessel that can’t grasp the concept of putting one foot in front of the other, and a world that refuses to give you a helping hand. As a, well, human, you don’t have the basic skills needed to juggle monolithic tasks or even accomplish them in a timely fashion. Instead, you have a vague sense of what needs to be done, and a number of solutions to explore, some of which are comprehendible, some of which are downright stupid. Moving blocks, for example, isn’t an easy task. No, because if it was, then Human: Fall Flat wouldn’t be the game that it is — a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And the same applies to most of the obstacles that you find yourself dealing with over the course of its journey.

With incompetence being its middle name, Human: Fall Flat bathes in frequent failures. As a human, you not only need to figure out how to reach a location on the board, but also how to manipulate a flimsy body in order to achieve your desired outcome. The only good thing about this is that, unlike your casual one-track puzzler, Human: Fall Flat allows you to explore a number of different possibilities. The goal might be the same, but the journey, however, is more or less open to interpretation. And by that I mean, you can approach the world in any manner that you deem fit.

Behind its tedious mechanics and its unreliable white label meat sacks is a good and oftentimes enjoyable experience. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pain in the neck to carve through, especially if you’re unfamiliar with rag doll physics and trial and error gameplay. But, for what it’s worth, Human: Fall Flat does feature some creative ideas and annoyingly addictive puzzles, and not to mention a good variety of open-ended layouts that can really get the cogs turning in your head. It’s still a burden I’ll admit, but when the gears begin to grind, the act of pulling your weight and overcoming the challenge at hand can feel awfully rewarding. That is, of course, until you bury your head in the next stage, at which point the clock rewinds and the pain and torment merrily resurface to greet you with a clenched fist.

It’s best not to expect a visually striking game here, because Human: Fall Flat is about as barebones and as bleach blonde-soaked as rag doll puzzlers come. Granted, there is an option to customize your avatar with various cosmetics and personal items. But, let’s be clear: Fall Flat isn’t exactly rich in abstract detail or flamboyant effects. But, again, maybe that’s a small part of its charm. It might be a tad lazy and repetitive, but it isn’t the least bit forgettable — so there’s that.

Frankly, it’s best to take a game like Fall Flat at face value, as well as with a huge grain of salt. It isn’t great at holding your hand or rewarding your patience, but it is capable of stealing your time as you frequent its obnoxious puzzles and scrape its whitewashed world for whatever little joy you can find. Is it perfect? Not at all, no. But, if you’re one for the idea of flopping, flailing, and fumbling for answers in a world that simply hates you, then you might just find your money’s worth here.

Verdict

Human: Fall Flat brings just the right amount of ridiculousness to an otherwise great and mostly coherent physics-based game. It’s nonsensical, but it’s also annoyingly more-ish and bursting with all of the pointless antics that make you want to flop and flail around for hours. Like any good sandbox with rag doll physics, it’s frustrating to keep a handle on, but it’s also captivating enough to bring out a chuckle when you least expect it. Similar to Just Die Already, you know that there isn’t much of a point to it. Yet you often find yourself venturing back to the same routine to experience it all over again, if only to find a well-overdue punchline to that all-important Dad joke.

If you have the time to spare and the patience to set your ego alight for a handful of hours, then I would recommend taking the plunge to see what Human: Fall Flat is all about. It might not make you happy, but it’ll definitely make you thankful for the limbs that you have. I’d say that makes it worth the investment. Right?