Downwell Review (Bulk Bogan)
One of the peculiarities of the Japanese indie-scene is that it's nothing like the west's. In fact, most of the time they don't even like to be called "indie devs" -- in Japan, "doujin software" is king, and while our indie scene is infatuated with innovation and snappy, game-jam pitch success stories, you may notice that theirs is the exact opposite. Almost comically regressive, the doujin soft industry seems to be obsessed with beating dead horses to death again, caplitalizing on genres such as JRPGs, shmups, and VNs and often being anime-inspired or straight up fan works.
What makes Downwell notable is that it isn't any of these things. In fact, it's the exact kind of game-jam adjacent game that you'd think would be cooked up during a Ludum Dare or something: exactly why oddball publisher Devolver Digital picked it up for publication.
You play as the adorable Welltaro, a guy who fell down a well, and you gotta get down to the bottom. Obvious influences like Spelunky shine through, especially considering the form factor of four distinct worlds and permadeath with platforming elements. However, Downwell is also adjacent to the shmup genre, and the game not only has you stomp on, but also shoot at enemies down a well.
The game is designed to keep you on your feet, and incentivizes speedy play with a combo system. You get to pick a randomized item from a pool at the end of each world to give you a new ability (I blame this game for making this element so damn popular -- nearly every PICO-8 cart or game jam game seems to have this mechanic. Make no mistake, it works well here, though) Each world poses a unique challenge, from varying types of traps, to terrain submerged with water, to no terrain at all, only being punctuated by floating debris you must bounce on. It's really clever stuff! Most clever of all is the brilliant final boss, combining all four world terrains and enemies into a single boss fight, one which keeps you at the edge of your seat in no small part due to the intense music.
Speaking of, the music of Downwell is really good. You've got the off-kilter, strange 8-bit infused Uroboros sharing space with the beautiful, atmospheric Razer Girl (maybe my favorite water level track ever), along with the alluded-to and ironically named Slumber Party. While the art is restricted by a 3-color palette of white, red, and black, it sure is clean and effective. Notably, through gameplay sessions, you unlock the ability to change the palette to your liking. It's a neat reward that turns Downwell's arguable weakest area into a selling point for the game, and I commend Moppin's out-of-the-box thinking here.
Overall, while Downwell seems at home more on a phone than on the Steam store, you get the advantage of controlling an amazingly solid roguelite with something other than tilt controls here. Even if you have the app, I'd argue for the small price of $3, Downwell is a must-have game, and it deserves its status in the beloved Indie hit pantheon.