Human Fall Flat is a physics-based game about dreams, mysteries, and breaking stuff

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Human Fall Flat is a physics-based puzzler with a goofy name and a simple premise: Guide Bob, a normal (if somewhat dexterously-challenged) human, on a quest to open a mysterious door that haunts his dreams. Or, conversely, you could opt to just knock crap around and break stuff. Whatever turns your crank.

Human Fall Flat is actually an open-ended game that leaves you free to bang around however, and wherever, you like. There are puzzles to solve and obstacles to overcome, with multiple solutions to just about everything. The tricky bit is that you're not controlling Bob in the usual videogame sense—you're controlling each of his limbs individually.

“Experimenting with the way Bob interacts with various objects and environments can lead to some genuinely inventive moments,” developer No Brakes Games said. “Players should never wonder if they can make a solution work, but instead how they will.”

The game offers eight different “dreamscapes” to dig through, a customizable Bob—you can even import your face onto his, although I still think that's kind of creepy—and “fully interactive environments.” There's also a newly-revealed two-player mode, although it's unfortunately limited to local co-op play.

All in all, it looks like a lot of fun, and the Steam reviews, while few in number, and very positive too. But I do wonder how it will hold up over the long run. I like breaking things and throwing helpless, flailing people off of cliffs as much as the next guy, but unless Human Fall Flat has more than that going on, I worry that it might wear thin pretty quickly. On the other hand, I am awfully curious about what's behind that door.

Human Fall Flat is available now on Steam. Here's a slightly better look at what it's all about, courtesy of this gameplay trailer from January.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.