One of the games I’ve been most anticipating this fall is Downwell by Moppin and Devolver Digital, and it looks like the game is finally making its way out to the world this week on iOS, as confirmed by Devolver Digital on Twitter. The game, primarily developed by Japanese indie developer Ojiro Fumoto, making his first retail release, has been on my radar for some time, along with many other people who have been drawn to its stylish look and brutal-but-fun gameplay, where you try to descend through several levels of caves, using only your wits and your gunboots to navigate and take out enemies along the way.
I’ve gotten to play Downwell on iOS and on PC, and the game should work really well on both platforms. There’s only three buttons, to move left and right and to jump/fire, but you can do so much with them and the abilities you have at your disposal really vary based on your weapons. This game does promise to be really difficult, but perhaps with a smoother learning curve than say, Spelunky has. It’s a little forgiving, but you must be smart about taking damage as you only have limited opportunities to refill your health, and must manage your bullets as well. MFi controller support has been teased by some people who have been testing the game out:
iPad + MFi Downwell at ORD, this game rules so hard (cc @moppin_ ) pic.twitter.com/IRjn4wFNha
— Douglas Wilson (@doougle) September 10, 2015
And while I think the game works pretty well as a touchscreen game, physical controls would be quite welcome. The iPad build I played a while back had rough landscape support implemented, which would be a great way to go with the game if it’s in the final version this week. Seriously, this game is super-slick, the replay value is immense, and this could be the closest thing that iOS gets to Spelunky, and iOS gets it before Steam and even Android do.
