I've Been Playing Downwell For Five Years, And I Won't Stop
What's black, white, and red all over? Downwell. The 2015 roguelike with the Sin City color palette has been on my phone, on and off, for five years. I doubt it will ever leave for long.
Downwell, developed by Ojiro Fumoto, is a simple game. You are a little dude (who looks like a character from a Haus of Decline comic). You are trying to make it down the titular well. As you progress deeper, you descend through four regions until eventually facing off against a monstrous, well-plugging boss. If you die, it's all over, and you start again at the top of the well. Though you earn points each run which unlock new palettes and play styles, Downwell is a true roguelike. That means you never permanently gain a bigger health bar or more powerful damage output. You can expand your character's abilities during a run, but once you bite the dust, all that progress resets. Cosmetics stick around, utilitarian gains go out the window.
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Downwell's roguelike design means that the well you traverse changes with each run. You can't memorize it, you can only get better. That replayability, and the brevity of individual runs as you start out, make Downwell the ideal phone game. There is significant depth, too, with builds varying greatly depending on which upgrade you pick at the end of each level. Additionally, you can choose between several play styles that change up the way your character feels to control. ‘Boulder’ expands your health bar from four to six, but causes your character's descent to speed up significantly. ’Floaty’ does what it says on the tin; your character jumps higher and moves more slowly. Mastering all of these takes a long time. But, hey, you can always keep the game on
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