This blog is a personal journal of all the movies, Tv-Shows, & Games I consume during a year which enhances my overall experience. The ratings that I give are fully based on my personal preference and enjoyment at the time of watching and I'm writing spoiler-free reviews. (All liquid earnings are used to get extra Hive Power Delegations!)
Devolver Digital
Downwell is a game from 2015 created by single indie developer Ojiro "Moppin" Fumoto and published by Devolver Digital. I kind of see an analogy between the Film Publisher A24 in the movie industry and Devolver Digital in the games industry as they both tend to publish less mainstream movies/games that often invovate and become a success. There are many other games from them that I played and liked like Thalos Principle, Hotline Miami, Broforce, BallxPitt... or are on my backlog playlist like Carrion, Katana Zero, Gris, My Friend Pedro,...
Seeing their logo is kind of a quality label and this surely was the case for Downwell as I absolutely love every part of it!
Downwell (9.0/10)
The concept of downwell, which I picked up on Steam during a sale for just 0.74€ is quite simple. You are a guy who jumps down a well where there are all kinds of enemies and you have gun boots which both slow you down and kill enemies. The basics are super simple and there are only 3 control buttons.
Left - Right - X
There are (from what I read) 12 levels and at the end a boss devided in 4 areas which each do things a bit different. The levels are procedually generated so each run is different and you don't take anything with you from the previous run. There is permadeath and no way to save so to finish the game you need to complete a full run which I read takes about 20 minutes depending on your playstyle.
The visuals are made up of pixel art with 3 main colors which are black, white, & Red. Everything is quite simple but there at the same time is so much to say about this game and I see it as a masterpiece in gaming.
Controls
The game controls are just perfect and super satisfying in every way. It kind of feels like Super Meat Boy in that every life you lose or jump you miss is your own fault where you feel that next time you do better. To shoe gunst also feel really fun and the combo system allows you to play this game in different ways.
Gameplay
Each level is a certain lenght and has differnt kind of enemies, the normal ones which you can jump on to kill and the red ones who will cost you a life if you jump of them so you are forced to shoot them. Each enemy that you kill spawns some red gems which you can use to buy either extra life or extra ammo in case you come across a shop. Your ammo reloads each time to touch the ground or stomp an enemy. If you stomp more enemies in a combo without touching the ground you will get rewarded for it either with the Gemhigh status (which makes you output more damage) , extra Gems or an extra life.
You start the game with 4 lives which can be replenished if you pick up a heart or increased each time you picked up 4 extra whilt health bars which you do when you are at max healt and pick up a hearth. There are time-locked caves where you either find extra gems, Extra Hearths, and/or different weapons. Each of the weapons also demands a differnent playstyle. There are 7 different weapons in the game.
At the end of each level, you get to pick 1 or 3 permanent upgrades and there are 20 different ones. They range from getting +4 health either restoring or giving you a full extra hearth if your health bar is full. Othes increase your Gemhigh time, add a drone above you who also shoots bullets, A magnet which pulls in Gems from further away,...
Playstyles
I would say there are a couple different playstyles.
- You can play very cautious and try to kill every enemy without getting hit
- You can play more agressive trying to hit a high combo which gives extra coins stuff to use for more life and ammo
- You can play rushed trying to get down the well as quickly as possible neglecting the opponents and not try to get hurt
- You can play a combination.
My Progress
So by now, I have played this game for 19.3 hours it shows on my steamdeck and I'm loving every moment of it even though I kind of fail to get good enough to progress past the 3rd world Water Levels. It doesn't feel insanely diffcult, but still somehow in every run I fail to have the focus or accuracy to prevent avoidable mistakes. It's also tricky because it gets harder as you go and the later parts of the game in order to practice them you have to complete the early parts first.
What Makes Downwell Great!
In a world where most games have some kind of progression system where eventually you get higher stats or more abilities to more easily beat a level. Or even worse have pay2win microtransactions, Downwell is a breath of fresh air as it has a fixed difficulty level with a spark of luck based on the upgrades you are getting and the random levels that are generated. I very much remember the first Kingdom Rush and Plants vs Zombies which were both great, their sequals introduced some kind of pay2win model and no longer fixed difficulty levels which sucks. Downwell is oldschool like retro games with modern controls and a brutal permadeath system which makes a relatively small game have a really long gameplay time and I love that.
Conclusion !!
I continue to have a super fun time with this game with short 10-20 minute sessions. The controls are super responsive and the gameplay is super satisfying in every way and addictive. The visuals and music are also great while I love the fixed difficulty. If you want to beat it, you will actually have to become good at it which right now I'm not quite yet. I have not searched any guide or played any different character (who all have different base abilities) since the default setup is so much fun. At the same time after nearly 20 hours having played this game and only reaching the 3rd world at bets (out of 4), it feels like it's time to temporarity put it aside and move onto something else. For me, easily a classic masterpiece in gaming even though this might be a bit exagerrated. 9.0/10 well deserved for a game with excellent game design!
Downwell Trailer
I actually can't believe this game is 10+ years old already and I never came across it. It's only because I follow some YouTube Channels who list steam games that are on discount to give me some inspiration and this was one of the ones I picked up for no money.
| # | 2026 Played Games | Platform | Price | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #01 | Steamworld Dig 2 | Steam Deck | 1.19€ | 6.5/10 |
| #02 | Slay The Spire | Steam Deck | 2.29€ | 8.6/10 |
| #03 | Ball x Pitt | Steam Deck | 11.99€ | 7.9/10 |
| #04 | A Short Hike | Steam Deck (Emulation) | 0.00€ | 8.5/10 |
| #05 | Super Mario Galaxy | Steam Deck (Emulation) | 0.00€ | 7.8/10 |
| #06 | Metro 2033 Redux | Steam Deck | 0.99€ | 7.0/10 |
| #07 | Downwell | Steam Deck | 0.74€ | 9.0/10 |