What does it take to make a great game? Amazing and super fancy graphics? A complicated story? The answer is no. A great game is made by a great idea and that feeling you get when you beat a hard part or realize something that has had you stuck. And Freedom Fall is just that game.

Freedom Fall has you take on the role of Marsh, a prisoner of the tower that was designed by the Princess. Yes in this platformer you’re not out to save the Princess, but to save yourself from her. The Princess has taken over the tower and has left heaps of art and scribbles to help explain why she did it, and what she expects of you. Of course in between all that are giant spinning blades, fire pits, spikes and more.

As far as stories go, this one is easy to get and makes sense for the content of the game. It’s just a shame that it’s not expanded more throughout. As Marsh makes his way down, you will learn more about the world of Freedom Fall, including other members of the Royal family, even if they never make an appearance. In fact there are only 4 characters in the game, and one of them is a shark.

Sadly there is a downside to the game, at least on PC and that’s the default controls. Using a keyboard for a game that requires a higher level of control than most platformers is just not possible. Even if the standard navigation was ok, adding in item throwing elements makes this impossible. Thankfully the game supports gamepad and once I hooked it up I was jumping blades and dodging bursts of fire like a pro. 

Freedom Fall takes a good look at platformers and adds a whole new experience to it, by switching it from a top to bottom look rather than left to right. It adds some Super Meat Boy style elements, but thankfully does not take the difficulty as well. It does run a little on the short side, but thankfully there is enough replay to keep you coming back again and again.