I bought this game yesterday and I think I already have more hours in it than any other game I've ever had. Amazing. Edit: the only thing that annoys me a little bit is the fact that gems have the same color as your enemies. As a new player it made me really confused in areas with a lot of enemies grouped together. I already started to get used to it though so it's not a major problem.
I honestly bought and played hundreds of games this year across probably a dozen platforms, and Downwell is by far the most fun I had with a game in 2015, by a mile. Didn't even have to think about it.
Thanks again for those tips. Out of curiosity, what device do you play this on and/or do you use a controller? This is probably my GOTY with just a slight reservation about the controls on an iPhone. Even on a 6+ they can feel a little cramped, for me at least.
Anytime, I hope they've been helpful. I use an iPhone 6+ most of the time. I tried using my Steelseries Stratus XL recently and it felt OK to play with a controller, but I still prefer the touch controls. If I can offer any tips about making the best of the touch controls, I'd say turn the buttons off in the options menu for starters, as the "hit boxes" of the buttons are actually just divided into 3 equally-sized sections at the bottom of the screen. Touch anywhere at all on the bottom left and you'll go left, touch the centre and you'll go right, and touch anywhere on the bottom right and you'll jump/shoot. The hit boxes of the buttons are not defined by the arrow icons at all, so I just mentally split the bottom of the screen into 1/3's and it feels much more natural to me. Hope this helps.
Thanks man, flattered that my recommendation is worth something to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have, report back after sinking your teeth into it and let us all know what you think of it.
First game play: I bought this why? Second play through [lost count]: yessity yessir! I've only made it through 1-3 thus far but am fully in love. I read some of your excellent tips (&#*!@ birds!) and am working my way through reading this entire thread. I'm not big on leaderboards, but it must be safe to assume the ones for this game are polluted, which is a real shame given the combos and general nature of this game. Anyway, yeah, this will probably be on my first game page for quite some time.
I had the same reaction upon first play: "THIS is the game that has so much hype surrounding it?? WHY??" Buuuut then you play it for an hour to see what everyone is raving about and actually make it to 1-2, and by that point the snowball has been rolled down the hill. It's a simple game, but it allows for a great deal of strategy while playing. I guarantee everyone here has experimented with different approaches to the game; do I try to go slowly and kill each enemy as they appear, or do I race to the bottom in such a way that nobody has a chance to catch up with me? The skill-building aspect of this game is what hooked me. The game is very challenging and the feeling of satisfaction is great when you start getting better at it, start recognizing how each enemy behaves, start figuring out which guns you prefer to play with, and making it farther with each run. The thing that keeps me playing it despite that fact that I beat it every time I play it now, is that beating it is still not easy, and still requires just as much concentration as it did the first time I beat it. Is it starting to make sense why someone who is over the moon about Wayward Souls is also over the moon about Downwell?
Absolutely! Along with some of the obvious parallels, these two games seem to share some of that intangible DNA that just keeps you coming back for more abuse.
That's another great tip! I've had the buttons visible for fear of missing them--didn't realize that the screen was just divided into zones. Thanks again.
Yay! I finally beat this game # I've been trying since the game came out, and heard there was a boss in the 5th level... It is super hard to get past the 3rd level (water) on my iPhone 6s for me, but I noticed the game was laggy on my iPad 2. So I was able to get farther and farther on my iPad (running the game slower) until I finally beat the boss # The game also became much easier once I figured out how awesome the "eat the dead" power-up is. There was also a nice epilogue sceen that explains why the hero goes down the well! Well done devs ##
I beat the game on my iPad 3 that way too, but that's not beating the game undoubtedly, this slo-mo method gives the chance of learning how to play, so that when you play as the game was meant to be done, you know how to react. Now I still have to beat the game on my iPad 3 and 4S in true speed
I still have the unresponsive button issue time to time and in this game (fastpaced roguelike) it's crucial. I don't understand why didn't developers fix this yet? I wish I had waited for sale because it's not worth it (bought in November). Using iPad Air 2 and issue exist with all iOS 9.x that I use.
