Fallen Aces was a game squarely in my periphery. I knew it existed and was another in the style of old school FPS games, but with a focus more on melee combat. What really drove me to purchase it at release was it’s setting of 1930s pulp crime, and it’s $10 price tag. I may be reviewing this game a bit pre-maturely as this is technically only episode 1 that was released, but I also know these one (or two) man developed games can go years between episode releases.

The first thing you’ll be hit with by this game is the art style and world design. It emulates the style of an old, Ben Day colorized, pulp comic. The characters look like they were pulled straight from an issue of Dick Tracy. Many items in the world are 2D sprites in that comic book style. The 2D, Doom sprite nature of objects did create this weird disconnect in my brain when it came to trying to jump on a 2D image of a barrel to climb over a fence. The 3D models are usually much more basic and blocky. While those aren’t usually an issue, some of the cars have some goofy looking tires. Still, the levels are dripping in that Art Deco design and I often stopped to admire them. The music is good too. It’s mostly subtle ambient tracks that flare up during combat with horns or string instruments. There’s classic songs of the era that play during loading screens, on the pause menu, and on the occasional radio you’ll pass by.

Trailers for this game made it clear that fisticuffs would be just as relevant as firefights. Fallen Aces isn’t going for the retro FPS gameplay style of blasting through baddies with 6 different weapons & boxes of ammo. The gameplay is more often compared to the Thief games. I’ve heard the term “immersive sim” applied to these type of games, and I don’t know if I understand that term. I would consider an immersive sim something like Red Dead Redemption 2, where you have to make sure you’re eating regularly, shave your beard, and care for your horse. You’re immersively simulating the life of a cowboy. Thief I would consider a stealth game. Though, it is fair to say Fallen Aces simulates the life of a gumshoe detective. Regardless of the terminology, Fallen Aces is a game that goes for more realism vs power fantasy. Fist fights are more common than shootouts. You can only carry three items on you at any one time, including ammo. So you’ve got to make judgement calls, “Do I want to haul around an extra mag for my pistol or grab this medkit instead?” “Do I need a melee weapon in one of the slots, or can I just rely on my fists?”. I found my reliance on guns depended on the level. If I was given access to a sniper rifle or tommy gun, I usually took it. Otherwise, I might carry one pistol with me and use my other two spots for melee weapons. You also collect money, which I expected to be spent at in-between level shops, but it’s just for a scoring system and the occasional soda machine you come across.

With a focus on realism, guns are usually an “I win” button for fights, for both you and your enemies. Most thugs go down in one or two shots. But since guns aren’t always falling in your lap, it pays to be sneaky. The stealth system is fairly rudimentary. You can hide in shadows and enemies have a detection meter. There is a conflict between the art design and gameplay mechanic here as lots of areas are visibly bathed in shadows, but the game still considers you fully illuminated. Or in one level, I threw a lamp out a window, but the light it put off was still there. It’s a bit annoying, but I hate to complain too much when it was apparently a two-man team that designed this game. Luckily this game is balanced enough that if you do get discovered it’s not a reload save moment. Your character, Detective Michael Thane, can handle himself in a fight. You have to keep moving to not get overwhelmed, but as long as there aren’t too many gun toting thugs, you can usually win. Along with your fists and melee weapons, you can throw items from the environment at baddies. These range from bottles to chairs to explosive propane tanks. It adds a nice layer to the frantic, improvised fights private eyes often find themselves in.

There are five levels in this first episode and each one is fun to explore. They offer very typical locations for a pulp crime game; city block, dockyard, night club, etc. The maps are a decent size, striking that balance of big enough to feel vast and explorable, but not so big that trekking across them is tedious. They are densely packed maps too. On your way to an apartment building you’ll pass by a diner, hardware store, and garage that you are free to explore, even though they aren’t plot relevant. These extra areas often serve as places to pick up secret gear or find alternative ways into your objective, something that is very Thief like. Levels aren’t linear, but instead little playgrounds, meaning there is always more than one way to finish a mission. You could bust through the front door with your fists, or sneak up onto the rooftops to grab a sniper rifle, or climb in through a second story window to bypass all the fights. The level I disliked the most was the 2nd level at the dockyard. This is one of the bigger levels, and I had this annoying bug where if I died and reloaded, the map would glitch out of existence. But more annoyingly, the dockyard had a lot of snipers posted on dock cranes that would pop me if I was out in the open. Compared to the other levels, the stealth approach felt required. The final level where you assault a nightclub was tough, but in a way you’d expect for a final level. I tried to be sneaky only to turn a corner into a roomful of goons. One level that is heavy on the Thief inspiration has you breaking into a mansion to investigate a crime scene. You start out with a blackjack and the objective to not kill anyone. Thane even drops a Garrett quote at one point.

We get to play as Michael Thane, a former boxer turned private dick. He’s hired by a politician who recently survived an assassination attempt to find a missing woman. After receiving a mysterious call warning him about mobsters coming to kill him, Thane heads to his partner’s apartment only to find they’ve already got him. He gets knocked out and wakes up in the docks where we meet two characters who will be big players throughout the rest of this story. First is Glassjaw Thomas, a gang leader who used to be a friend of Thane’s, but that backstory is left vague for now. He’s got a Bond henchman vibe because his jaw is a steel contraption & he’s the villain on the radio for the rest of the episode. Before he can send Thane to the bottom of the ocean, a mysterious figure frees us. This turns out to be Nightwave, a pulp hero very much in the vein of the Shadow. This game is a mashup of the pulp crime novels of the 30s and the pulp heroes. Nightwave is a member of a retired team of superheroes, the ACEs. I only have a vague knowledge of the Watchmen, but the ACEs do feel a bit Watchmen-y. Most of the ACEs have retired and moved onto civilian pursuits with Nightwave being the only one still doing the vigilante thing. Though it is hinted that perhaps Nightwave is a bit unhinged and not to be trusted, because he eats dog food as a snack and seems a bit out of touch.

Story spoilers ahead, skip to “With a game” to miss them. It turns out someone is killing the old ACE members. Nightwave, with Thane’s help, is trying to solve the mystery of “who?”. Turns out the politician from the beginning, Waltz, was the ACEs’ leader, Captain Spade. In a bit of annoying storytelling, between the assassination attempt and the level at his mansion, he gets killed with little fanfare. It felt very much “because the plot demands it”. Turns out he was staked up in his mansion bedroom by a “strong, short, man”. His mansion is swarming with goons looking for something. Thane finds Waltz’ secret lair which contains a dossier full of blackmail on all the other ACE members. He realizes that’s what the thugs want and Waltz’s death probably wasn’t a mafia hit. Before we can read it, Glassjaw calls us and demands the file in exchange for a girl he kidnapped at his club, Delia Price. She was an informant working for Nightwave and the daughter of missing woman Thane’s looking for, who turns out to be another ACE member.

The final mission is rescuing Delia from that nightclub. This episode starts a lot of loose story threads, the ACE blackmail, the missing ACE member, Glassjaw and Thane’s history, Waltz’s murder, and I’m interested to see how they tie them all off. I do think I smell one potential twist. If I may theorize for a moment. Waltz was killed by a “strong, but small man”. Now, Delia is a short, but visibly muscular lady. The timing may not work out right, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she committed the murder and has been bopping off ACE members as revenge for something they did to her mother. It would bring into question why she’s working with Nightwave, but it’s my working theory.

With a game about pulpy heroes, this game could’ve easily been a satirical game that didn’t take its material seriously. Luckily though, it’s pretty obvious the two creators are huge fans of pulp and this game feels like a love letter to era, not a finger waggle. There’s still a good dose of humor, but it fits the world. Thane is your archetypical cynical, wise-cracking PI whose VA sounds like who you get when you can't afford Doug Cockle. There are some gaming in-jokes: like killer soap bars, code 451, the Thief reference, and Big John toys. And of course, Gianni Matragrano, the Nolan North of indie games shows up. I chuckled at the “Grabbing Gianni” loading message. The story is the right amount of fantastical and mature. I really loved that characters used a lot of 30s slang in dialogue in a way that doesn’t feel clunky.

All in all, Fallen Aces has started off strong in my book. As a lover of pulp fiction and private detective stories, it would be hard for me to not like this game. There are some gameplay quirks that can get annoying, but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. If you are someone who likes pulp crime stories or “immersive sims”/punch’em ups, I highly, highly recommend this game. For its low price you get a decent amount of content out of it, but it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. I could see me replaying levels to find the secrets & I’m excited to see the continuing adventures of Michael Thane.