![]() Some enemies are small and hard to hop on, while others are 100% dangerous and untouchable, creating an interesting cost-benefit analysis that goes on within the head of the player at all times. Interactions with enemies are pared down as well they can either be stomped on or shot to death, and that’s about it.Īnd that’s where this game gets interesting. For example, the action for jumping and firing your gunboots are mapped to the same button, meaning that Downwell only requires three buttons to play it proper. ![]() Designer Ojiro Fumoto has famously said that he wanted to craft a game that was as simple as possible, with no wasted parts. These controls lead into quite a bit of complexity, as the gunboots can be used to levitate the player in the air, as well as to eradicate enemies. There are only a small handful of actions that the player can do: jump, move left to right, and fire their gunboots. The gameplay in Downwell is nothing short of captivating and challenging. A rootsy arcade title that avoids slavishly imitating its predecessors, Downwell is a fun game that offers many interesting ideas for how the arcade genre can survive onward into this decade. So I picked it up for the PC, and have been having fun with it ever since. The brainchild of Ojiro Fumoto, Downwell has flown under the radar for quite a while, but more people have been talking about it recently, as it has received acclaim from many different reviewers. Downwell is, simply put, an addicting game that is both immediately accessible and punishing in its ramping difficulty, requiring equal amounts of skill and practice from the player in order to master it. Wedged between these titles, in the corners of my own imagination, rests Downwell. A fast-paced, unforgiving arcade-style action game where you fall down a well, shooting enemies with your gunboots and collecting gems and pickups along the way. These games don’t steal the player’s money with cheap tricks instead they offer the player a challenge to rise above the circumstances, offering their rewards only once their secrets have been laid bare. These are the games that require true grit, rewarding the well-practiced player while enticing the newbie with the exciting prospect of a game that’s hard but can be mastered. ![]() In a small corner of this arcade bar are a handful of less flashy games older, more seasoned games games like Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Asteroids, and 1942 games that don’t attract the casual player these days due to their relative lack of pomp and glitter. The main floor covered by coin-guzzling titles such as House of the Dead, Gauntlet III or whatever, and licensed titles such as Jurassic Park and Star Wars arcades, it seems to me as an outsider that these places serve as grim mausoleums, telling the story of how the arcade genre slowly lost its way over the years, relying more and more heavily on cheap thrills with the sole intention of robbing the player of as many coins in as little time possible. Hanging out at my local arcade bar on a Saturday night, I find myself increasingly frustrated by the quality of the majority of the games. ![]()
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