Ancient deities and creatures from beyond reason reign supreme but humanity has it’s own monsters to bear. The player can even be one of them.

Survival in The Fallen World’s stark city streets requires scavenging. The core gameplay loop revolves around the player “acquiring” enough food and water to survive and barter for a safe place to sleep (the only way to save the game). As in game tensions mount this prospect grows in difficulty, or disappears entirely dependent on player choice.

From the start the player is presented with a small piece of a much larger and more intricate puzzle of goals and allegiances than they have information to solve. Piecing together these motivations and actions is how the player survives. Figuring out a way orchestrate them to the player's benefit is how the game is won. As in life, direct physical confrontation of all opposition is somewhere between Sisyphean and suicidal. Successfully navigating The Fallen World requires careful observation as well as quick reflexes.

Player led narrative is at the heart of the game’s design. To that end the UI and mechanics are tailored to match the player character. PCs unskilled in armed combat don’t receive aim assist, targeting reticles, or on screen ammo counts. Most of the inhabitants of the game’s world are not soldiers or even gun enthusiasts. They’re just people whose reality has come undone and as such are not trained in counting shells and controlled bursts.