Downward: Enhanced Edition [Review]
Downward is a parkour collectathon. Developed by Caracal Studios and published by Plug In Digital. In this game, you explore and parkour over ancient ruins while dodging mythical golems powered by bismuth.
The game runs smoothly and it’s easy to lose time just running around and exploring everything. I call this game a collectathon because of the items to find. There are blue orbs to collect in every location. These orbs can be used to upgrade your stats. So, they make your life easier though you don’t have to. Frankly, it’s an excellent way to figure out where to go so you’ll most likely be getting them regardless. You can even find artifacts throughout the map that can be sold for more orbs. While the blue orbs aren’t required, the bismuth that you find from defeating golems is. As these unlock areas you previously couldn’t go to.
Playing this game on the Playstation added to my experience because this version of the game utilizes haptic feedback. It added to the parkour and made it more fun to play. It’s easy to find something to do in this game, there are plenty of paths to jump up. If you would like more challenges, you can also do time trials. There are plenty of courses that you can complete that will give you orbs if you beat it fast enough. Not only does this help with upgrades but it also helps you get better at the game. I played the wall running challenge until I was able to consistently wall run properly since I had trouble with it in the actual game. As someone who doesn’t often play games like this, I appreciated the opportunity to force myself to get better at the game.
Downward is an entertaining parkour game that makes it easy to find something to do at every turn. But that is still all the game is, it's simple and repetitive. I don’t think the game needs to be anything more, as it being simple helps it be easy to play and stop whenever you want. This game can easily occupy you for hours, just running around is entertaining enough. However, I don’t see myself wanting to pick the game back up again. I think if you enjoy this genre you will be wanting to come back for me. As for myself, I’ll be giving the game a 6/10. Downward is available on PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series, and PC.