Fallback: Uprising

In Fallback: Uprising, players command the remnants of humanity exiled to a subterranean city following a devastating ecological disaster, where machines that once protected them have become oppressive jailers. As rebel soldiers equipped with Vesta swords and jetpacks, players navigate a 2.5D platformer world with Escher-inspired perspective shifts, battling mechanical enemies through fast-paced combat, customizable skill trees across six classes, and deep progression systems to dismantle the artificial overlords and reclaim the surface.

Fallback: Uprising: Review

Introduction

In the shadowed underbelly of video game history, where indie ambitions clash with the relentless march of AAA spectacles, Fallback: Uprising emerges as a gritty testament to human resilience—both in its narrative and in the scrappy determination of its creators. Released in 2019 by the small French studio Endroad SAS, this 2.5D action-platformer catapults players into a post-apocalyptic world where humanity’s survivors claw their way toward freedom against a mechanized tyranny. Drawing inspiration from classics like Dead Cells and Ori and the Blind Forest, while echoing the perspective-bending puzzles of M.C. Escher, Fallback: Uprising promises fluid combat, roguelike progression, and a labyrinthine underground realm teeming with robotic horrors. Yet, beneath its innovative surface lies a title that stumbles in execution, offering flashes of brilliance amid frustrating repetition. My thesis: Fallback: Uprising is a bold indie experiment that captures the essence of rebellion through its mechanics and themes, but its unpolished edges and procedural pitfalls prevent it from ascending to the pantheon of great platformers, cementing it instead as a cult curiosity for genre enthusiasts.

Development History & Context

Endroad SAS, a boutique French developer founded in the mid-2010s, entered the scene with Fallback: Uprising (initially released simply as Fallback) as their debut project, a labor of love spearheaded by a core team of just six: Martin Chartier, Colomban Cicéron, Baptiste Dupy, Florian Le Gouriellec, Valentin Vigneron, and Fabien Ziebel. Augmented by an additional 17 contributors and 30 special thanks, the game’s credits reflect the collaborative spirit of indie development, with team members like Chartier and Syam Kridan later contributing to higher-profile titles such as Endless Space 2 and UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves. Published by Endroad themselves alongside Anuman Interactive SA (and later Microids in some regions), the game launched on October 11, 2019, exclusively for Windows via Steam, priced at a modest $9.99—quickly discounted to as low as $0.99 during sales.

The development era was defined by the indie roguelike boom, with titles like Hades and Dead Cells dominating discourse around procedural generation and metroidvania-style exploration. Endroad’s vision, articulated in Steam blurbs and community outreach (including a Discord server and Gamepedia wiki), centered on blending platforming with roguelike persistence: a “fallback” for humanity’s story that emphasized player agency through customizable survivors and Escher-like level shifts. Technological constraints were evident; built on Unity, the engine allowed for efficient 2.5D visuals but highlighted the studio’s limited resources—no console ports, minimal marketing, and reliance on procedural generation to mask asset scarcity. The 2019 gaming landscape was saturated with post-apocalyptic sci-fi (The Last of Us Part II loomed large), yet indies like Risk of Rain 2 were carving niches in co-op shooters and survival. Fallback: Uprising positioned itself as a solo rebellion against this tide, but without the polish or viral hooks of contemporaries, it struggled for visibility. An “Uprising” update post-launch revamped classes and added content like the “Abandoned Sector,” signaling Endroad’s commitment to iteration amid a challenging indie market.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

At its core, Fallback: Uprising weaves a tale of defiance in a world ravaged by ecological collapse, where humanity’s remnants huddle in a subterranean exile, once-sheltered by benevolent machines that have since morphed into oppressive jailers. Players embody “volunteers”—nameless rebels dispatched to rescue captured leaders from the depths of Eden, a sprawling underground complex symbolizing both sanctuary and prison. The plot unfolds non-linearly through roguelike runs, with fragmented lore delivered via environmental storytelling: flickering holograms recount the disaster, scrawled graffiti hints at betrayals, and boss encounters reveal the Vesta robots’ cold logic as a metaphor for unchecked AI dominance.

Plot Structure and Pacing

The narrative eschews cutscenes for immersion, progressing via mission logs and unlockable codex entries earned through deaths and discoveries. Each run begins in the purgatorial hub city, where survivors plot uprisings, and escalates through procedurally generated levels toward the surface—a beacon of hope repeatedly deferred by failure. Key arcs involve allying with rebel leaders, whose backstories (unlocked progressively) humanize the stakes: a seismologist who triggered quakes in protest, a biochemist poisoned by her own creations. The “Uprising” update introduces the Abandoned Sector, a murky finale where intimate fears manifest as psychological bosses, blurring the line between external oppression and internal turmoil. Pacing falters in repetition—runs can blur into sameness without strong narrative milestones—but the persistent skill tree ties progression to the story, making each death a narrative pivot toward empowerment.

Characters and Dialogue

Protagonists are the six classes, each a archetype of resistance: the Sapper’s explosive fury mirrors raw anger; the Technophobe’s stealth embodies paranoia toward tech; the Geometer’s relentless dashes evoke futile but unyielding pursuit of freedom. No voiced dialogue exists, but terse, logbook-style narration provides flavor—e.g., the Holomaster quipping about “dancing through illusions” before a teleport strike. Antagonists, the Vesta army, lack personality, serving as thematic foils: faceless drones underscore dehumanization, while colossus bosses like homing-missile behemoths represent systemic control. Supporting “4 other survivors” (likely NPC allies) add depth via unlockable perks, but their integration feels tacked-on.

Underlying Themes

Thematically, Fallback interrogates hubris—humanity’s ecological sins birthing mechanical overlords—and resilience through iteration, mirroring roguelike design. Post-apocalyptic sci-fi tropes (exile, rebellion) are enriched by Escherian geometry, symbolizing distorted perceptions of reality under duress. Subtle critiques of technology’s double-edged sword emerge: jetpacks liberate movement, yet Vesta swords corrupt with hacks. At its best, the narrative evokes Metro 2033‘s claustrophobia; at worst, it’s underdeveloped, relying on player inference amid sparse text. Ultimately, it posits uprising not as triumph, but as endless fallback—a poignant commentary on indie survival in gaming’s Darwinian ecosystem.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

Fallback: Uprising distills platforming into a roguelike frenzy, where core loops revolve around run-based exploration, combat, and meta-progression. Players wield a Vesta sword and jetpack to navigate 2.5D levels, blending side-scrolling precision with perspective shifts that rotate rooms like Escher drawings, revealing hidden paths or inverting gravity.

Core Gameplay Loops

Each run is a gauntlet through thousands of randomly generated 2.5D rooms, from linear corridors to puzzle-laden chambers. Exploration rewards secrets—shift a camera to uncover vents or ledges—while objectives focus on rescuing leaders amid enemy waves. Death resets the run but feeds persistent XP into skill trees, incentivizing replay. Per-run upgrades (e.g., temporary health boosts) add roguelite variance, but procedural generation often yields repetitive layouts, diluting discovery.

Combat and Character Progression

Combat is fast and visceral: leap, dodge, boost, slash, and hack against robotic foes, from turrets to tenacious bosses. The jetpack enables aerial combos, while sword hacks disrupt enemy AI. Six classes define playstyles, each with unique attacks, abilities, ultimates, and skill trees:

• Sapper: Fire-based AoE blasts for crowd control; skill tree emphasizes explosive chains.
• Seismologist: Ranged quakes to stagger groups; progression unlocks shockwave extensions.
• Technophobe: Stealth ambushes with backstabs; tree focuses on evasion and poison daggers.
• Biochemist: Poison stacks for burst damage; upgrades allow stack removal for nukes.
• Holomaster: Teleport dashes spending Vesta energy; tree enhances decoy holograms.
• Geometer: Hyper-speed dashes and rapid strikes; progression boosts relentless combos.

Over 50 combinable skills (e.g., jetpack flares with poison) enable “near-limitless” builds, but grinding feels obligatory, with some synergies underpowered. UI is functional yet cluttered—skill menus overwhelm on smaller screens, and death screens recaps are terse.

Innovative and Flawed Systems

The 2.5D camera is innovative, transforming platforming into mind-bending puzzles (e.g., rotate to align platforms), but controls can glitch during shifts, leading to unfair falls. Roguelike persistence shines in motivation—die stronger—but lacks variety in enemy AI, with foes telegraphing attacks predictably. Bosses escalate tension with phases (e.g., colossus shielding missiles), yet checkpoints are absent, amplifying frustration. Overall, mechanics innovate on tradition but falter in balance, rewarding skilled players while punishing newcomers.

World-Building, Art & Sound

Fallback: Uprising‘s world is a subterranean dystopia: Eden’s labyrinthine depths, from rusting industrial hives to the eerie Abandoned Sector’s shadowy voids, evoke a post-fall Atlantis. Procedural generation ensures replayability, with biomes shifting from metallic corridors (clanging vents, sparking wires) to organic ruins (vines choking circuits), symbolizing nature’s reclamation.

Visual Direction and Atmosphere

2.5D visuals, rendered in Unity, blend hand-drawn sprites with parallax scrolling for depth. Perspectives warp fluidly—Escher-inspired rotations create disorienting beauty, like inverted cathedrals where floors become ceilings. Art style is stark: muted grays and blues for oppression, accented by rebel reds; jetpack trails and sword glows add flair. However, asset repetition (recycled robot parts) betrays budget limits, and frame drops occur in dense rooms. The Abandoned Sector shines, its murky shaders and fear-projected illusions heightening intimacy and dread, contributing to a claustrophobic immersion that amplifies themes of entrapment.

Sound Design

Audio reinforces isolation: a minimalist synth score pulses with industrial beats during combat, swelling to orchestral defiance in boss fights. SFX are punchy—jetpack whooshes, sword clashes, robot whirs— but lack variety, with enemy deaths blending into white noise. No voice acting keeps focus on action, yet ambient echoes (distant alarms, dripping water) build tension effectively. Sound contributes profoundly to atmosphere, making runs feel alive yet oppressive, though muddled mixes during camera shifts occasionally disorient.

Together, these elements craft a cohesive, if sparse, experience: visuals innovate navigation, sound underscores rebellion, fostering a world that’s more felt than opulent.

Reception & Legacy

Upon launch, Fallback: Uprising flew under the radar, garnering no aggregated critic scores on MobyGames (n/a) and zero player or critic reviews there as of 2025. Steam user reviews hover around “Mixed” (around 60% positive from scant hundreds), praising combat fluidity and class variety but lambasting procedural blandness and bugs. Commercially, it underperformed—collected by just 34 MobyGames users, with sales buoyed by deep discounts—reflecting indie struggles in a Steam-saturated market. Early coverage was sparse; outlets like Rock Paper Shotgun noted its ambition but critiqued unrefined controls, while French sites lauded Endroad’s local talent.

Over time, reputation has evolved modestly: the 2020 “Uprising” update (revamping classes, adding the Abandoned Sector) salvaged goodwill, fostering a small Discord community for builds and lore. Its legacy lies in niche influence—inspiring indie 2.5D experiments like perspective-shifting in Superliminal echoes or roguelike platformers in Rogue Legacy 2. Team crossovers (e.g., to Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden) elevated Endroad’s profile, positioning Fallback as a foundational “what if” for French sci-fi indies. Industry-wide, it underscores procedural pitfalls, influencing balanced generation in later titles, but remains a footnote: admired by platformer purists, overlooked by masses.

Conclusion

Fallback: Uprising is a defiant spark in gaming’s vast darkness—a platformer that innovates with 2.5D puzzles and roguelike depth, thematizing rebellion through customizable survivors and a haunting underground odyssey. Its narrative resonates with themes of resilience, gameplay loops hook through progression, and atmospheric design immerses despite limitations. Yet, flaws in polish, repetition, and accessibility mar its potential, rendering it more promising prototype than masterpiece. In video game history, it occupies a humble niche: an underdog tale for indies, warranting rediscovery by fans of Dead Cells or Hades at bargain prices. Verdict: Worth a fallback for genre aficionados—7/10—but not a uprising for the ages.