‘All Will Fall’ Is a Serious, Goofy, and Stressful City Builder in the Middle of the Ocean, and I Want More (Hands-On Preview)

While I would consider myself to be a rather seasoned player, City Builders are one of the few genres that never sank their hooks into me fully. Games like SimCity and Cities: Skylines have always had their audiences, but I’ve never found the proper means to get into them. That’s why I figured I should give All Will Fall a try. Its premise was interesting enough to set it apart from the rest, and the physics-based gameplay sounded like a treat. After getting hands-on with this one, I guess I may have finally been converted to Team City Builder after all.

Ashes, Ashes, It All Fell Down, Oh God! What Am I Supposed To Do Next?!?!

All Will Fall follows the same basic rules of a standard city builder, but has some unique takes on the genre. It’s all physics-based, so not only did I have to manage trying to create a city floating in the middle of the ocean, but I also needed to make sure that structures could be supported properly. If the proper support wasn’t used, something that I put literal sweat and tears into could topple to the ground. Thankfully, the crew that surrounded me was always in good faith. I can’t guarantee that I’d be all sunshine and rainbows after getting stranded in the middle of the ocean, but these folks were ready to start moving and grooving.

Witty writing helps keep things interesting. Small events and big decisions are always popping up. For example, my crew was getting attacked by a band of rogue seagulls, hovering above our collapsing city. I chose to have my misfit warriors fight, sharpening sticks and trying to get a quick bite to eat. But, as the game so delicately put it, someone slipped on seagull shit and broke their leg. I could be a Merciful God and give them a chance to heal, or tell them to grow up and get over it. Shit happens, as they say. I decided to be nice, because I needed all the help I could get out here.

Throughout my playtime, many new additions came to my hodunk town. Buildings were built, research facilities were filled, and I started creating a new city for these lost souls. Until I got sick of it and wanted to see what would happen if I took away some major structure points on a building, just for funsies. Don’t worry, I saved my game first.

this Asks the Question of ”What if You Could Stop When It Was Hammer Time?”

Thankfully, while I may not be as skilled as some of my contemporaries when it comes to City Builder games, All Will Fall gave me enough confidence to start building big. If something went wrong, I could turn back time like I was a Cast Away version of Cher. Hitting Undo would let me reverse the flow of time, and try to fix my mistake. If I didn’t want to do that, though? I could just keep building and trying to fix things as they all went downhill.

The physics gimmick is extremely well implemented here. I never felt like the game was screwing me over for something I had no control over. Rather, if something went wrong? That was all on me and my inability to properly build a structure. Did I spend too much time and too many resources over-building some of these structures? You’re damn right I did, and I would do it again. Plus, it makes it more fun when things go wrong; watching big boxes flip away into the ocean is more satisfying than little planks, after all.

Now that it’s all said and done, I’m rather excited to see what All Will Fall will bring to the table in its full release. Even this small segment of the game offers plenty of variety and excitement, and that’s not something I expected out of a game like this. If you want to get hands-on with this one yourself, the Open Playtest is available now until January 31, 2025. I would suggest giving it a try. Maybe it’ll convert you the same way it did me.