Fall of Porcupine is a charming game that mixes a cutesy, anthropomorphic art style with sensitive topics like illness, work stress, and patient death.

You play as Finley, a fledgling pigeon doctor (as in, a doctor who is a pigeon), as he starts his residency at St. Ursula’s Hospital in the small, picturesque town of Porcupine. Much of the game revolves around his work/life balance as a junior doctor with the demands of his job beginning to take their toll. For example, there’s an abandoned gaming console in his apartment that he hasn’t touched in some time, and later on the player will find piles of laundry around that can be picked up and put away.

The game starts out with a blank screen and the sound of something crashing to the ground before throwing you into one of Finley’s dreams. You meet a talking flower and remark about how you’re supposed to be looking for someone. As you traverse various dream landscapes, you realize you’re looking for a Mr. Arndes (later revealed to be a patient under Finley’s care) and that you’re home recovering from an injury.

The game's charming character interactions begin to show when you arrive late for your shift at the ward and are chastised by your boss, Dr. Krokowski—a stoic and no-nonsense white cheetah.

In terms of gameplay, Fall of Porcupine doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel. Your time will be spent moving about its 2D side-scrolling world doing light platforming, exploring, talking to the town’s residents, and playing mini-games. 



These mini-games are Fall of Porcupine’s most interesting aspect as they gamify working in healthcare. Tasks like dressing wounds, prescribing medicine, and sorting out blood samples each feature their own mini-game. Each day, you are given a task list and then sent off to treat a variety of patients in your ward. This monotonous routine is sometimes interrupted by Finley’s inner monologue on mundane things or friends wanting to hang out around town. 

If you’ve played Night in the Woods and A Short Hike, then the pretty and colorful art style, presented with indie folk music, will feel right at home. In my opinion, this is where Fall of Porcupine shines. It’s clear the developers put in a tremendous amount of effort making each and every visual in the game screenshot worthy. I found myself pausing while walking about the town just to look at its breathtaking visuals. 

Even though the story isn’t quite as narratively driven as other cozy games in the genre, Fall of Porcupine does a great job of putting the spotlight on sensitive topics in an approachable way that makes them less scary to talk about. Like when your doctor used to give you lollipops as a kid. 

I think Fall of Porcupine is worth a visit if you’re looking for a soft, thought-provoking game that’s atmospheric and melodic in its delivery. Its nearly eight hours of runtime makes it the perfect companion to these upcoming blustery October days. Just be sure to eat an apple while you play—it’ll keep the real doctors away. Fall of Porcupine is available now on the Epic Games Store.