Fall of Porcupine

Fall of Porcupine has a lot of potential, but our diagnosis is that it's fallen short. The cute art style and evocative soundtrack are its main drawcards, and while the wide-eyed animals can mask the dark themes of an unhealthy system, they can't quite cover up the haphazard story or keep players engaged. We felt the game needed either a stronger narrative thread or more involved gameplay to improve its condition. Performance bugs can be treated with patches, but it'll take more than a band-aid solution to cure the ailments in Fall of Porcupine.

White it ends up stumbling in a few areas and can use a patch or two, Fall of Porcupine still succeeds when it comes to delivering an enjoyable story that sheds light on all sorts of struggles that health care workers face, while still providing several doses of fun gameplay and a nice town filled with interesting and unique characters to interact with.

Fall of Porcupine seems to have an interesting message and attempts to portray a certain issue in modern society through a playable story. Although it has several positive aspects, such as its visual style and emotional scenes, it also has significant technical shortcomings. The gameplay sometimes feels monotonous and lacks interaction or any effort to engage the player. Thanks to its unusual theme, the game could be interesting, but for now, my recommendation is to wait for a few updates and further improvements from the developers.

If it gets patched and put on sale, I'd say go for Fall of Porcupine, as it's informative and memorable. But this charming, albeit short game with a lot of heart put into it deserves better than the bugs it has. I don't think I can recommend it in its current state. The worse patient Fall of Porcupine needs to cure is itself!

Fall of Porcupine is a delightful narrative adventure game on the Nintendo Switch that takes players on an odd little journey through the town of Porcupine. With anthropomorphic animal characters, charming graphics, and immersive gameplay it fits snugly into the ‘cozy’ game category and feels so at home on the Switch. Despite this, Fall of Porcupine is a thought-provoking exploration of themes such as loss and the challenges of modern healthcare. It never shy’s away from heavy conversation topics.

Fall of Porcupine does capture a small part of the experience of working in healthcare, and it does feel relatable in some respects. The game also explores the complexity of the relationship between people and the healthcare system, as well as the issues that are faced. The story and characters are well portrayed, with the music and artwork also being a highlight. However, there are some bugs that need medicating, along with some more concrete conclusions on some plot threads.

I’m sure the story probably gets pretty good as the game goes on, but the gameplay is so poor that I can’t be patient enough to find out. I don’t understand why some other critics have been giving this a 90. Clearly their tolerance for the mundane is a lot higher than mine.

Fall of Porcupine takes you on an emotional journey and touches on some real issues found in the health care system. Not everything is perfect as the story can get a bit messy and rushed in places and there are some technical issues as well that will hopefully be ironed out.

With time and with patches, it’s easy to imagine it becoming a game worth playing, but it’s definitely not at that stage yet.

An entertaining, emotional journey through the health care system that hides some darker edges within its brightly-colored style. Fall of Porcupine doesn't ride the wave of good feeling it generates early on for the entire length of its playtime, but it does have enough heart and good intentions to make its issues feel smaller than they are.