{"id":73868,"date":"2026-10-16T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=73868"},"modified":"2026-10-16T17:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:21:00","slug":"where-the-seeds-fall-demo-hands-on-cygames-new-label-makes-a-game-about-simply-descending-into-an-abyss-far-more-engaging-than-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/reviews\/where-the-seeds-fall-demo-hands-on-cygames-new-label-makes-a-game-about-simply-descending-into-an-abyss-far-more-engaging-than-expected\/","title":{"rendered":"Where The Seeds Fall demo hands-on: Cygames\u2019 new label makes a game about simply descending into an abyss far more engaging than expected"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During OSAKA INDIE GAMES SUMMIT 2026, held in Osaka on October 3, AUTOMATON had the opportunity to try out Where The Seeds Fall<\/strong>, a brand-new action-adventure platformer by Cygames’ new development brand CygamesEdge<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in a crumbling world afflicted with Blight, the game puts players in the shoes of a soldier who has to make his way down unstable terrain to reach the world’s surface, all while escorting a supposedly ominous child who bears close resemblance to his late daughter. The game is scheduled to launch on November 5 for PC (Steam<\/a>), Nintendo Switch 2, and PS5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The demo available at OSAKA INDIE GAMES SUMMIT 2026 offered 10 minutes of play, challenging players to see how far they could get within the time limit. I’d been at the venue since around 10 AM, and the CygamesEdge booth for Where The Seeds Fall was consistently crowded with people lining up to try out the game, so I had to wait a little myself. That seemed like a good indication of how much interest the game had already attracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demo stage was made up of crumbling ruins and broken terrain. You had to descend by jumping between narrow platforms, sheer cliffs, and thin pillars. The challenge was purely in controlling the character and mastering the game’s parkour mechanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first thing I noticed when I started playing was how much weight there was to the character’s movements. In action games, characters are often fairly nimble, making it easy to change direction midair or adjust your trajectory while jumping. In Where The Seeds Fall, however, even a simple change of direction with the stick can cause the character to move considerably, so you need to take extra care when navigating narrow platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trying to change direction carelessly would easily send me tumbling off an edge. It was also difficult to adjust my trajectory in midair, so jumping without thinking things through often ended in a fall. I got the impression that many of the people trying out the game, myself included, struggled with the controls at first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When you put it that way, Where The Seeds Fall might sound like a high-difficulty platformer, but almost as soon as I got into it, I found myself thinking, \u201cMoving around in this game is so much fun.\u201d The controls certainly take some getting used to, but there’s something incredibly satisfying about learning how the character moves and then racing down through the terrain. Precisely because movement is restricted, you have to make quick decisions about how to approach each obstacle, and successfully pulling off a maneuver feels all the more rewarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jumping also comes with a few tricks, thanks to the “Fell Child” riding on the soldier’s back. These include briefly levitating mid-air, or performing a move similar to a double jump. Using these abilities consumes a gauge, so you can’t spam them, but they’re essential for taking shortcuts or reaching places that a normal jump can’t. One section of the demo featured leafy platforms that sprouted from plant vines and disappeared after being stepped on, which made me really appreciate the kid’s abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another fun mechanic is the \u201cFlower Dive.\u201d By throwing a flower bud where you want to land, you can safely fall onto a flower that blooms from it, sparing you from damage. Normally, falling from a sufficient height kills the soldier and sends you back to your last checkpoint, but this technique allows you to safely descend from great heights. In the portion of the game I played, Flower Dive served mainly as a way to introduce the game\u2019s mechanics, but I can easily imagine it being used to pull off major shortcuts in speedruns once the full game is out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Based on my 10 minutes with the game, Where The Seeds Fall looks like a title dedicated to pursuing what makes platformers enjoyable and satisfying. Its central premise of descending toward a goal is also relatively unusual for the genre. Platformers more commonly have players climb toward the top of a structure or reach a mountain summit. This design creates a sense of accomplishment through climbing, contrasted with the fear of falling and losing progress. However, the frustration of a long fall can also put some players off these games altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where The Seeds Fall takes a different approach, building its levels around downward progression. I find this helps soften the feeling of having to start over after a mistake and reduces the frustration of retrying. I fell countless times during the demo session, but never to the point where playing the game stopped feeling enjoyable. Checkpoints are also placed throughout the levels, which makes it easy to retry sections and encourages players to experiment with routes and give tricky sections another shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Shuichiro Hamada, the game’s producer, the level shown at the demo event was an early look at a high-difficulty map that becomes available after completing the game. The full release will introduce its mechanics and level traversal more gradually, allowing players to learn the ropes step by step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this brief hands-on session, I’m looking forward to seeing how the finished game turns out, especially given that relatively little has been revealed about its story so far. For those interested in trying it themselves, a Steam demo launches on October 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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