Developer Caracal Games and publisher Plug In Digital bring you Downward: Enhanced Edition. Which is an enhanced edition of Downward… I guess. I’ve never heard of it before and I’ve never played it either. But guest reviewer, Dave Corn has. So, I’ll hand you over to Dave to tell you all about his time playing this parkour-based action title.

“Downward is a first-person open-world parkour based platform adventure set in the medieval ruins of a post-apocalyptic planet Earth. Make your way through breath-taking landscapes, face ancient guardians and unravel the deep mystery that lies behind the disappearance of humanity.”

Are you one of those people who can start a new job and throw yourself in at the deep end with little to no guidance? Or maybe you’re the type that needs supervision, it’s okay, it’s your first day. If this “supervisor” left you now, they’d be at fault when you burned the place down… remember that feeling. This is a review of a game from 2016 called Downward, now it has been re-released as an “enhanced edition” and placed on Xbox/ PlayStation, PC and Switch. It is the Switch version I’ve been playing for this review… that’s kind of important.

Downward is a post-apocalyptic parkour game, now in my head that paints The Terminator meets Dying Light, this is more Mirrors Edge meets (a very long time after) an apocalyptic Super Mario 64. Now, the story here is bare bones and that’s what I was referring to at the beginning, it drops you right in after a couple of lines of text and images (no potty training) and you have no clue where, what or why you are meant to go. After a while, you’ll eventually find a bit of instruction and soon realise that you are trying to find the reason that the apocalypse happened in the first place, and how to reverse it.

So, that’s the aim of the game, you do this by exploring the giant areas, some of these can be quite daunting and the heights can get quite stressful, I have played VR games and it has not irradiated my fear of heights, but bits of this did, at times. It almost feels open world, but you are ushered slightly through the game by blue lights. Ahhh hints you say!!? Well yes, any gamer can follow directions in a game right?? However, have you ever tried to play a parkour-based game with F#@k%n@ Switch joycons before? Ghostrunner on the Switch nearly made me give up gaming and take up sports!!…. SPORTS!! (I hope the thousands of unnecessarily graphic emails I sent to the developer got my point across- I joke-I hope). I had better luck with the game’s parkour mechanics when I docked my Switch and used my pro controller, but for the sake of this review, I wanted to use both – as not everyone has the pro controller.

The highlight and the thing that got me about this game is just how good it looks. I have played A LOT of Switch games and the environments and enemies are some of the best (even against Nintendo’s own first-party games). I have to admit, I didn’t get all the way through this one.  I did put in a good few hate-fuelled (mainly at myself and a little bit at Steve) hours though. The combat is repetitive and limited – you fight golems, they look great but all you do is dodge and strike etc. Parkour games just don’t like the Switch controllers, I am tempted to see how this game runs on PS5. (just not enough to buy it, if it goes into PS Plus then I would try it again). The Switch experience has definitely put me off the title though.

Some of the things that really got to me when playing are, you end up spending hours repeating and just falling from ledges, and then when you pass one that has taken you hours to pass and when you fall later on, you go back to the very start. Abilities and upgrades are available as you progress, but they’re not usable all the time. This is implemented wrong, it feels wrong. For example, with the double jump mechanic that you unlock. Instead of letting you bounce again mid-air like nearly every game ever!! (Like Samuel Jackson is in every movie-its ok!!) This game gives you bouncy, F#C*in@ clouds!!!

With the lack of story in this game, the shallow combat system, and the way it just gives you pretty heights to fall from. I’d stay clear of this title on the Switch, purely due to the limitations of the controllers. If you want a great parkour-action game on the Switch, try Severed Steel it’s fantastic. And definitely get a pro controller too.

DOWNWARD ENHANCED EDITION SCORES (Switch)
STORY: 1/10. It tries to be clever with the point of the game being to find the story, this has been done before but better. It is terribly implemented.
GRAPHICS: 10/10. It looks great.
GAMEPLAY 3/10. The game is too frustrating, repetitive, and boring.
SOUND 5/1O. The music is ok but does cut out at times. The voice acting is ok, but not many NPCs anyway to listen to anyway.