When Winter Crew Studios launched the Kickstarter campaign forFallen Tear: The Ascension, it happened to include a playable demo that was initially backer-exclusive but then quickly made public once the title had soared past its crowdfunding goals. It’s been almost a year since then, and hot on the heels ofFallen Tear’s resurfacing at some summer indie gaming showcases, there’s another public demo set to go live, ready to show off all the work that’s gone into the title in the intervening months. After going hands-on with that new demo, I can’t help but shake the feeling thatFallen Tearis onto something special.
Ahead ofFallen Tear: The Ascension’s newest playable slice becoming publicly available, Game Rant had the chance to give it a hands-on preview, and the difference between its initial showing and now feels like a quantum leap.Fallen Tear: The Ascensiondoesn’t even have a set release date yet outside a vague “coming soon”, but the newest build of the game is so polished and packed with features that it feels like it could launch next week and tick all the right boxes forMetroidvaniafans. The Metroidvania genre is almost oversaturated at this point, but every so often, a game with that certain “it” factor will show up —Hollow Knight,Ender Lilies,Nine Sols— andFallen Tearis shaping up to be just that kind of title.
Fallen Tear: The Ascension Has Grown Leaps and Bounds Since Its Last Demo
The most obvious difference betweenFallen Tear’s first public demo and its newest preview build is the amount of content and context that’s on offer. This newest vertical slice of gameplay contains what amounts to the game’s prologue section and tutorial, along with letting players cut loose in the first major biome once the story begins in earnest. The tutorial section is fairly linear and mostly serves to acclimate players to the controls and characters that inhabitFallen Tear’s world, but it quickly gives way to the addictive non-linear exploration and combat that form the twin pillars of the Metroidvania genre once you clear the first major narrative hurdle.
Surprisingly, all the game’s different progression elements (of which there are many) are front and center, and the UI and menus have each undergone a major overhaul. Visuals and music have been vastly improved as well, with the hand-drawn characters and environments exhibiting an impressive level of detail and showcasing some extra care and attention in their animations and movements. That same fluidity applies to combat as well, which already feels smoother and more responsive in this latest build than it did in the initial public preview and boss rush demo.
The Mix Between Combat, Progression, and Exploration Elevates Fallen Tear
The success ofHollow Knighthelped inspire a wave of similarly-mindedindie Metroidvaniasto follow in its wake, but the ones that stand out are those titles that tap into the essentials of the genre. In particular, a good Metroidvania should strike a comfortable balance between exploration and combat, all while providing consistently rewarding progression that serves to support those two elements and make them feel worthwhile. If a Metroidvania can successfully nail that foundational mix, it’s already well on its way to becoming a standout among its contemporaries. It’s something thatFallen Tear: The Ascensionis well on its way towards, just judging from this latest demo.
Fallen Tear’s protagonist, Hira, has what amounts to three main pillars of progression at play, none of which were really explored in the game’s initial demo but are on full display in its latest preview build. Combat prowess and abilities fall under unlockable Masteries, objectives related to exploration and combat challenges are Fated Goals, and the connections that the player forms with a surprisingly large number of NPCs and recruitable allies constitute the Bonds system. In the 2 hours it took to complete what was on offer inFallen Tear’s demo, each of these progression elements was front and center, and everything that I did helped contribute to their growth in one way or another.
Combat inFallen Tearis both fluid and satisfying, with most attacks boiling down to a standard three-hit combo that looks great and features some punchy sound effects to heighten the sense of feedback. But that the combat feels good is just half of the battle, as it also needs to be consistently rewarding in a way that incentivizes the player to regularly dispatch respawning foes. Thankfully, this is yet another area whereFallen Tearalready succeeds, as every enemy defeated, every portion of the map explored, and every resource collected all contribute to the Fated Goals, which can be cashed in for the currency used for unlocking new abilities and enhancing stats via Masteries.
Bonds are whereFallen Tear’sRPG influencecomes to light, with the different allies that Hira can recruit each bringing something different to the table via both passive and active abilities. One ally might have an attack that procs burn on enemies, making them easier to kill, while another makes exploring easier by pinpointing the location of secrets or displaying statistical data like enemy health bars. Everything inFallen Tearsynergizes with a related system, and that cross-functional merging of gameplay elements gives off the impression thatFallen Tear: The Ascensionis a game with painstaking attention to detail that values the player’s time.
The Two Boss Fights on Offer in the New Demo Are The Same as Before, Only With Added Context
Most of what’s playable inFallen Tear’s newest demo is, in fact, new content never before seen, but the boss fights are the same two enemies that players fought in the initial public demo. That said, both of the fights are generally better balanced and feel better to execute, with the design of these encounters having undergone the same degree of polish as the rest ofFallen Tear. You’ll still just be fighting the Apex Minikin and the Crystal Goat, but the fights themselves feel and look better, and offer more interesting rewards (including the first real ability unlock).
If Fallen Tear’s New Demo Is Any Indication, Metroidvania Fans Are In For Something Special
In addition to its gameplay having undergone some major transformations in the time between its first and latest demos,Fallen Tear’s presentation has reached an entirely new level of polish. Hand-drawn visuals are enhanced by fluid animations, environments are lush and interesting to look at, and little details like scrolling backgrounds and subtle animations in the foliage makeFallen Tear’s world feel alive. We get a glimpse of the full world map in the demo, and it’s quite large. Extrapolate that with the size of the first major biome that’s on offer, andFallen Tearis shaping up to be quite the content-rich experience.
This year has already been another banner one for the Metroidvania genre, with some excellent games released and more on the way. If recent rumors are to be believed, we might even be gettingHollow Knight: Silksongat some point before the end of 2025. But like some of the other genre highlights released betweenHollow Knightand the eventuallaunch ofSilksong,Fallen Tear’s latest demo proves that there’s still plenty of room at the table, and it could very well be the next great Metroidvania.
Fallen Tear: The Ascensionis currently in development. Game Rant was provided a PC code for this hands-on preview.
