Freefall ’95 always looked like chaos from the outside. The trailers, the screenshots, the whole pitch of turning a mid-air disaster into a score-chasing arcade game all suggested something loud, silly, and more than a little unhinged. And after actually playing it ahead of release, I can confirm that yes, it is absolutely chaos.
But it is very good chaos.
S-Bend Games’ debut throws you out of a doomed flight in 1995 and asks you to do something productive with the experience, namely, pull off tricks, dodge debris, grab items, and somehow turn your terrifying plummet towards earth into a decent score. The game is due to launch on 1 June 2026, with S-Bend Games handling both development and publishing. The official pitch on Steam also makes it clear this is not just a one-level gag, promising coins, upgrades, quests, traits, leaderboards, challenge levels, and a time-bending story aboard the same doomed flight.
That all sounds ridiculous, and thankfully, the game understands that ridiculousness is its greatest strength.
Freefall ’95 – Release date trailer
The main loop is pure panic, but the fun kind
You do not really appreciate how much is going on in Freefall ’95 until you are actually in the middle of it.
You are free-falling from ridiculous heights, trying to chain tricks together, collect whatever you can on the way down, and keep your score building without smacking into something stupid and wiping your combo. That happens very easily, by the way. A badly timed hit, a bit of poison from snakes, or one too many glasses of airborne champagne can quickly take your nice growing score and tell it to piss off.
Thankfully, there is a health bar keeping track of how much punishment you can still take, so one mistake does not immediately end the run. That makes a huge difference, because this is the kind of game where half the fun comes from pushing your luck and trying to squeeze a few more points out of a situation that already feels like it is about to go completely wrong.
And when it clicks, it really clicks.
Pulling off tricks while weaving around debris and grabbing bits mid-fall feels great. It has that lovely arcade thing where you are only ever a second away from either looking like a genius or flying face-first into some wreckage like an absolute clown.
Freefall ’95 is not just tricks and splats
What I liked most is that Freefall ’95 is not content with being a one-joke score attack game.
Between runs, you head back to the plane, which appears to be caught in some sort of time loop. From there, you can travel to different destinations, pick up objectives, earn money, chat with passengers, unlock new traits and abilities, and find extra little goals that make the whole thing feel a lot broader than just “fall, die, repeat”. The Steam page leans into that too, mentioning a time-bending narrative, ability items, traits, and several different modes beyond the basic run structure.
That extra layer does a lot for Freefall ’95.
It gives the game some shape. Some purpose. It means you are not just chasing your own tail for the sake of a number going up, even if the number going up is still a big part of the appeal. It also helps the replayability, because there is always some other objective nudging you back in, whether that is unlocking something new, improving a score, or trying to tick off another challenge.
The debris is your playground as much as your enemy
One of the smartest things in Freefall ’95 is how interactive the wreckage feels.
Yes, all this broken plane nonsense is trying to kill you, but it is also full of opportunities if you know what you are doing. You can grab onto debris, durf on doors, fly through jet engines, and pull off parkour-style moves that fling you in useful directions and keep you in the air longer. When you get the timing right, it feels brilliant. When you get it wrong, it usually ends with you slamming into another bit of debris and losing your combo like a prat.
That balance works really well.
The game constantly dangles risk and reward in front of you. Play it safe, and you will survive longer, but probably put up a dull score. Start getting brave with movement, stunts, and debris interaction, and suddenly things get much more exciting. Also much more dangerous, which is exactly how it should be. But you can get a little help, with one of the passengers on the plane having a special formula that allows you to slow down time briefly, as well as boost your score. A massive life-saving tool if used and timed to perfection.
There is plenty here to keep dragging you back in
Freefall ’95 also does a good job of making sure you are not just replaying the same exact drop over and over without much reason.
There are challenge modes, score-chasing setups, and other objective-based runs that give you different targets to work towards. The Steam page lists five levels spread over three difficulty tiers, separate arcade-style challenge levels, plus roguelike gauntlets that chain stages together on a single health bar with reward choices between goals. It also confirms Steam leaderboards, which feels like a perfect fit for a game built around massive scores and showing off.
That all fits what I played. It feels like the kind of game that will keep pulling people back in because one run is never enough. You always want one more go. One more attempt. One more slightly better score. I even managed to sneak into the top five on level one during testing, which I fully expect to get absolutely obliterated the second everyone else gets their hands on it.
Still. Nice while it lasted.
The look and sound absolutely suit the nonsense
Visually, Freefall ’95 has a strong retro feel without looking cheap for the sake of it. It knows the sort of game it wants to be and commits to that style properly. The official description points to influences like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and SSX Tricky, and you can absolutely feel that 90s extreme-sports energy running through the whole thing.
The soundtrack deserves a lot of credit, too.
It is fantastic. Properly catchy, properly 90s, and exactly the sort of thing that sticks in your head long after you have stopped playing. That matters in a game like this. The music is a huge part of the mood, and Freefall ’95 gets that. It does not just look like a weird lost arcade relic from another era. It sounds like one, too.
Final thoughts on Freefall ’95
Freefall ’95 is the sort of game that could have very easily been a funny idea and not much more.
Instead, it feels like a game with real legs. Or at least real falling power.
The basic act of hurling yourself through the sky while chaining tricks and avoiding disaster is already good fun, but the upgrade systems, passengers, objectives, challenge modes, and leaderboard chasing all help turn it into something with much more staying power. It is silly, stylish, frantic, and surprisingly layered beneath the chaos.
It is also just very easy to like.
This was still a beta build, so there is every chance things get even sharper by launch, but even in this state, it already feels like something worth paying attention to. It knows exactly what kind of nonsense it wants to be, and more importantly, it knows how to make that nonsense entertaining.
Freefall ’95 is worth exposing yourself to. Grab it on Steam now!
Freefall ’95 is developed and published by S-Bend Games, and it launches on Steam on June 1st, 2026. For more game reviews from us, click right here.
