![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bonusstage.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Until-You-Fall-Review-Screenshot-1-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ever since the hugely unexpected, but well deserved success of Dark Souls way back in 2011, games that market themselves on the fact that they will kick your behind (a lot) have gathered huge fan bases all over the world. With this thought in mind it seemed only a matter of time before someone unveiled a game that simply gave you the chance to fight Until You Fall.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we have right here in the shape of Until You Fall, developed by Schell Games, the people who brought us the highly acclaimed I Expect You To Die.<\/p>\n
As I said in my intro, the premise of Until You Fall is fiendishly simple; this is an arcade inspired hack and slash adventure with the endless replayability of a dungeon crawler thrown into the mix.\u00a0 In Until You Fall you fight, die, respawn, upgrade and fight again. Wash and repeat ad infinitum.\u00a0 As this is a PSVR offering, you\u2019ll be using both of your motion controllers as swords and shields and can either choose to walk around the virtual world or teleport. Coincidentally, Schell Games chose to give players the option to play Until You Fall standing or while sitting down. An inexplicable decision that brought a smile to my face.\u00a0 The fact that you\u2019ll be spending most of your time swinging your sword, dagger or mace and, with the other hand blocking with your shield as you duck and weave, would make the game only harder to play while sitting.\u00a0 I, however, am happy to be corrected on this point.<\/p>\n
Despite my earlier reference to Dark Souls, Until You Fall is just slightly more forgiving.\u00a0 When in combat you\u2019ll be given a quick sword graphic that will tell you which direction a blow is coming from and how to hold your controller to block it.\u00a0 This is essential as, while you progress through Until You Fall, you\u2019ll often find yourself being ganged up against by several enemies at a time.\u00a0 Speaking of progression, Until You Fall sees you wading a blood soaked path through several tiers of enemies.\u00a0 Initially they start off as zombie-like fiends that are no more than target practice for your sword.\u00a0 Eventually you\u2019ll progress through to huge, hulking great demons with shields the size of a car and then, in the last levels you\u2019ll be facing off against fast and powerful demon knights and wraiths. \u00a0All in all, each tier has around ten areas to fight through and many of them have anywhere between four to eight different types of enemies.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bonusstage.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Until-You-Fall-Review-Screenshot-2-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Should you survive the wave of enemies, you\u2019ll be rewarded with a boss battle which will test every skill and ability you\u2019ve learnt along the way.\u00a0 After the boss battle \u2013 and that\u2019s assuming you\u2019re still standing \u2013 you\u2019ll be able to upgrade your weapons and abilities or even hoard some cash (in the game it\u2019s called Aether) for buying future upgrades.<\/p>\n
Graphically, Until You Fall is nothing short of a visual feast.\u00a0 Each tier has its own distinctive colour palette \u2013 from green all the way to the ominous crimson of the last tier.\u00a0 Enemies are incredibly well detailed and each is instantly recognisable at a distance.\u00a0 And, despite the PSVR\u2019s humble processing power, Until You Fall plays smoothly without any noticeable drop in frame rate, no matter how many enemies are on screen at a time.<\/p>\n
Oh, and the fact that each enemy has its own unique fighting style means you\u2019ll always have an idea of what to expect at every encounter. \u00a0Knowing what to expect and beating the challenge, however, are two totally different things. Until You Fall will beat you so bad that your name will bleed.\u00a0 Nope, there\u2019s no avoiding the fact that you will die a lot in Until You Fall.\u00a0 But each time you respawn you\u2019ll have the chance to try out new strategies and tactics.\u00a0 The emphasis of Until You Fall is to fight hard, fast and smart. That is Until You Fall.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s worth noting that Until You Fall gives you the option to choose your difficulty level and weapon types to suit your fighting style.\u00a0 And if you master the game\u2019s hardest settings you\u2019ll unlock a fourth difficulty level.\u00a0 Sadly, I\u2019m yet to test this level out as Until You Fall is so damned tough.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bonusstage.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Until-You-Fall-Review-Screenshot-3-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Schell Games have also managed to integrate positional audio into the game which does a great job of immersing you in the combat.\u00a0 With a good set of headphones on, you\u2019ll be able to hear enemies coming at you from different directions well before you seen them. A huge bonus when facing off against multiple fiends.\u00a0 Until You Fall also boasts an exhilarating synth wave soundtrack that pumps throughout the game as you hack and slash, thrust and parry your way to the exit of each tier. \u00a0Excellent.<\/p>\n
If I had any quibbles with the game its with the very noticeable absence of a leader board of sorts.\u00a0 Some way of tracking your performance against your mates, checking who cleared a level the fastest and got the best scores would have been the icing on a blood drenched cake.\u00a0 This is something we hope the developers will consider in future patches.<\/p>\n
This minor gripe aside, it has to be said that for anyone familiar with visceral combat games, Until You Fall is a no brainer.\u00a0 For gamers new to the genre, there can be no better introduction.\u00a0 Highly recommended.<\/p>\n