Games I Beat: Downwell

Downwell
Reverse Vertical Scrolling Platformer
1 Player
System: Android
Developer: Moppin
Year of Release: 2016
Beaten: April 3rd, 2017

So many times on this blog I'll mention that as soon as I caught wind of a game I knew I needed to pick it up. Lo and behold Downwell is one of those games. Look, fuck the typical intro, just look at this:

Ugh, I've got chills all over again. I'm honestly ashamed of how long it took me to finally finish this game. We can't dwell on the past though. If you didn't get it from the gif above, Downwell is a game wherein you are falling down a well, your shoes have guns in them (or are just guns) and you need to kill enemies to build up a combo to get big points (gems) to buy health, or ammo upgrades. It consists of four levels, broken up into three segments each, and they more hectic the deeper you go. You only have so much ammo, and while touching the ground reloads your feet it also breaks your combo. Luckily some enemies are white instead of red, which means you can jump on them, building your combo and also reloading as well. Every so often you'll find a bubble in the wall which will freeze time and lead to either gems, a shop or a different gun to equip. That's it, that's Downwell.

I could spend a few paragraphs ranting about how exhilarating Downwell gets. When you finally manage to get to a new depth and you're trying to balance keeping your combo up, while learning about these new enemies and the new environmental hazards and oh fuck where did he come from? Now I've just got one health left and where the fuck is that shop at? Shit I've run out of bullets and that ghost made me blow up! Another run!

Downwell is a small but excellent bit of gaming, so there isn't too much to say. Aside from what you get at the start there are a few other "styles" of play you unlock which slightly alter the experience, but beyond that you just unlock new palette's that, in my experience, make the game look much worse. The sleek black, red and white aesthetic it has by default is so pleasing to the eye and conveys all the information you need in an easy to digest manner. Although you'll still manage to fuck it all up from time to time, I promise. Shockingly, Downwell controls perfectly even with touch controls which I've almost never been a fan of. If you can't get over the fact that it's a touch controlled action heavy game, it's even on PC.

This is one of the few "real" games I have paid money for to play on my phone, and it was worth all three of my dollars. Three dollars. Really. That's it. Do you love fast paced arcade style action games? Pick this up! I've been posting gifs throughout this entry, and if it looks as amazing as it should to you, give this a fair shake! We need to give Moppin more money to convince them to bring more unique and entertaining as hell ideas to life for us! Go try it!