If you have played this game and have not finished the sealed door/red squares areas, DO IT. They feel like Fallow's Hand in Killer7 - dubiously canon, but still painting a clearer picture of the world. There's a guide on Steam if you don't know how to access them. On that note, the first bit of this review will be free from major spoilers for Fallow and its hidden areas.
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When you enter the hulking door to Fallow's hidden areas, the text onscreen tells you that these areas are outside the boundaries of the story. Although they may be literally "out of bounds", I think they are 100% necessary to the full experience of Fallow. I don't know what I was expecting from cut content, but it certainly wasn't something this thorough.
You find yourself dropped onto a small island, a misty refuge from the crushing depression that's built up by the third day of Fallow. There are no objectives (at least, not at first). There are no directions. You just... walk, and the game opens up around you. Fallow is a game that often relishes in its quietness, which makes its busier moments (like Alburn Manor) stand out sharply. Outside of its boundaries, Fallow gives way a mesh of jarring textures and abrasion. We delve deeper into Isa's mind, the lines starting to blur, seemingly disconnected set of spaces bleeding into my perception of the world they surround.
OK SPOILER TIME DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED PAST THE SEALED DOOR PLEASE
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I won't pretend I fully understand every scrap thrown at me by the (surprisingly cohesive) cut content in Fallow, though I understand the story more than when I went in.
This is gonna be kinda all over the place because I have about 200 thoughts in my head right now.
It's so strange when you're exploring and you find yourself on the other side of the barriers of the main game. Little paths of trees or rocks that I assumed were just normal video game boundaries. The map Ada created for Fallow is far larger (and more complicated) than you think. What a wonderful surprise! I LOVE when developers put effort into shit even if most people will never even know it's there. There's a whole world crumbling and abstracting around what you can see in the main game, which is a hella meta way to play on the themes of the main story.
Speaking of surprises, the dancing ghost room. It's the only time in Fallow that you hear a voice. That alone makes for an unforgettable moment, nevermind that song. AND IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO MISS IT, EVEN IF YOU GET ALL THE RED SQUARES.
The very, very blunt final note to mother that you find in the Abandoned House feels like a real message to someone's mother. I wonder if it is.
So much of this area exhibits a mastery of subtextual storytelling. Each vignette is littered with evocative things, from NPC dialogue to the notes, or just rooms with eerie atmospheres. Don't even get me started on the music. These unused tracks get me in my feels.
Can we talk about Angel for a second? The brief interactions you have with them and Paige in the city (which I am confident is part of the city where Isa used to live) are so true to the uneasiness of revisiting people from a place where you were traumatized. Confiding in and yearning for Angel for only a moment to have her disappear like that, it's horrifying. Real-life horror. No scares, no monsters, only the unrelenting fear of a world without someone who loves you. My stomach hurts.
Listen to The Tower of the Furnace II from the soundtrack. You can find it on Bandcamp, along with all of Ada's other tunes. Let it soak in. Maybe listen to it twice.
The dialogue between the Fallow sisters found in the red squares is some of my favorite in the game. It hits on a few themes and leitmotifs that reminded me of Ada's lyrics. I can't help wondering why they were left out, along with Vivianna's message to Isa before the final day.
These were the couple hours I needed to fall all the way in love with the world of Fallow. When I finished up, I exited to the main game with as many answers about the ambiguous fate of Isa and her sisters as I went in with. Hell, there's hardly even a "finish", only a final room that unlocks when you collect all the seven red squares. That final room is a VERY Fallow conclusion: a contextless mysterious machine with faint ghosts of the Dynen spinning overhead. It hit me weirdly hard. I want to play through the game again with a new perspective from the cut content. Yeesh. The only thing this content is cutting is my heart, wide open.
I'm going to break down crying if I talk about this game more, so I'm gonna end this here lol
________________
When you enter the hulking door to Fallow's hidden areas, the text onscreen tells you that these areas are outside the boundaries of the story. Although they may be literally "out of bounds", I think they are 100% necessary to the full experience of Fallow. I don't know what I was expecting from cut content, but it certainly wasn't something this thorough.
You find yourself dropped onto a small island, a misty refuge from the crushing depression that's built up by the third day of Fallow. There are no objectives (at least, not at first). There are no directions. You just... walk, and the game opens up around you. Fallow is a game that often relishes in its quietness, which makes its busier moments (like Alburn Manor) stand out sharply. Outside of its boundaries, Fallow gives way a mesh of jarring textures and abrasion. We delve deeper into Isa's mind, the lines starting to blur, seemingly disconnected set of spaces bleeding into my perception of the world they surround.
OK SPOILER TIME DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED PAST THE SEALED DOOR PLEASE
____________
I won't pretend I fully understand every scrap thrown at me by the (surprisingly cohesive) cut content in Fallow, though I understand the story more than when I went in.
This is gonna be kinda all over the place because I have about 200 thoughts in my head right now.
It's so strange when you're exploring and you find yourself on the other side of the barriers of the main game. Little paths of trees or rocks that I assumed were just normal video game boundaries. The map Ada created for Fallow is far larger (and more complicated) than you think. What a wonderful surprise! I LOVE when developers put effort into shit even if most people will never even know it's there. There's a whole world crumbling and abstracting around what you can see in the main game, which is a hella meta way to play on the themes of the main story.
Speaking of surprises, the dancing ghost room. It's the only time in Fallow that you hear a voice. That alone makes for an unforgettable moment, nevermind that song. AND IT'S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE TO MISS IT, EVEN IF YOU GET ALL THE RED SQUARES.
The very, very blunt final note to mother that you find in the Abandoned House feels like a real message to someone's mother. I wonder if it is.
So much of this area exhibits a mastery of subtextual storytelling. Each vignette is littered with evocative things, from NPC dialogue to the notes, or just rooms with eerie atmospheres. Don't even get me started on the music. These unused tracks get me in my feels.
Can we talk about Angel for a second? The brief interactions you have with them and Paige in the city (which I am confident is part of the city where Isa used to live) are so true to the uneasiness of revisiting people from a place where you were traumatized. Confiding in and yearning for Angel for only a moment to have her disappear like that, it's horrifying. Real-life horror. No scares, no monsters, only the unrelenting fear of a world without someone who loves you. My stomach hurts.
Listen to The Tower of the Furnace II from the soundtrack. You can find it on Bandcamp, along with all of Ada's other tunes. Let it soak in. Maybe listen to it twice.
The dialogue between the Fallow sisters found in the red squares is some of my favorite in the game. It hits on a few themes and leitmotifs that reminded me of Ada's lyrics. I can't help wondering why they were left out, along with Vivianna's message to Isa before the final day.
These were the couple hours I needed to fall all the way in love with the world of Fallow. When I finished up, I exited to the main game with as many answers about the ambiguous fate of Isa and her sisters as I went in with. Hell, there's hardly even a "finish", only a final room that unlocks when you collect all the seven red squares. That final room is a VERY Fallow conclusion: a contextless mysterious machine with faint ghosts of the Dynen spinning overhead. It hit me weirdly hard. I want to play through the game again with a new perspective from the cut content. Yeesh. The only thing this content is cutting is my heart, wide open.
I'm going to break down crying if I talk about this game more, so I'm gonna end this here lol