This game made me understand the appeal of Savage raiding and Extreme trials

I did a quick review of Downwell here:

https://youtu.be/VlBkLIDNirw

Transcript:

Hey there everybody, I am Draz, and welcome to my first impressions of a game that just came out today, Downwell. As you may guess by the name, Downwell is a game about... well, falling down a well. What initially intrigued me about downwell is one of the core mechanics of the game, your gunboots. They act exactly as they sound and allow you to fire shots out of your feet, attacking enemies below you. The main focus of the game is trying to make it as far as you can without dying. Downwell has some aspects of a "rogue-lite" type of game, such as randomly generated levels. As you fall, you will also occasionally encounter side areas and shops that might contain upgrades and gems that are used as currency. Some items might simply increase the number of shots you can fire from your gunboots before you need to reload, while others change the way your gunboots work, such as adding rapid fire or causing them to fire in a shotgun-type blast.

Now that we've covered the game mechanics themselves, let's talk about the game's controls. The game feels like a dream, the controls are extremely responsive and I never once felt like I didn't have control of my character. In addition to jumping and moving around, if you are near a wall and jump away from it, you can wall jump for extra height. It all feels extremely natural.

The combat itself boils down to jumping on enemies a la Mario, and shooting them with your gunboots. Some enemies have spiky shells that prevent you from jumping on them, requiring you to use your gunboots on them. You have a certain number of shots that you can fire with your gunboots before you run out, at which point you can reload simply by landing on the ground (or an enemy). Some enemies maneuver their way above you, causing problems that way and forcing you to either get above them to attack, or keep moving downward.

The game's difficulty felt spot on, to me. Between the combat and the controls working extremely well, I never had a death that I felt I didn't deserve.

The game's sound is top-notch. The sound effects of the gunboots feel absolutely perfect, and really added that extra punch to the combat. The music itself felt spot on, too. It really fit the game without feeling distracting or taking me out of it.

Overall, the game is a ton of fun to play, and I would highly recommend it. For only a few bucks, it is an absolute steal, and it's on both PC and iOS, with an Android version in the works. You should definitely check it out. Thank you guys for watching, and I'll catch you next time.

My review of Galacide:

https://youtu.be/CKP2Ur87cUg

Galacide is a sidescrolling shoot-em-up that also adds in puzzle elements from games such as Bejeweled. You fly through each stage from left to right while avoiding enemy spacecraft. In addition to enemy craft and bullets, there are also colored fields that block your path through the stage. Your only way of clearing a path through these fields is by picking up colored scraps and launching them at the fields; upon impact, they turn into another square of whatever color the scrap originally was. When they connect and form a group of 4 or more, the group vanishes, clearing a path further into the stage.

The game is an absolute blast to play! The controls are extremely tight and I never felt like I didn't have solid control of my spacecraft. The puzzle elements, while they may sound odd at first, become second nature after a little bit of play, and add a really satisfying twist to the shoot-em-up formula. Up to three friends can also join you for the stages, leading to all sorts of chaos! Sadly, I haven't gotten to try this myself yet.

I do have a couple of complaints, though. There isn't a whole lot of content at the moment, though that'll likely get better as development proceeds, to that's not really a problem at the moment. My only other complaint is that one of the bosses is extremely difficult to predict. His tell isn't very long, and as far as I could tell he uses the same tell for every attack he does, making it hard to react to his attacks. Also, the only way to damage him is by shooting scrap of the same color into him until he gets damaged, and a brief window of vulnerability thereafter, dragging the fight out and making it last far too long.

In the end, though, those are pretty minor complaints in light of how great the rest of the game is.

VERDICT:

Would I recommend Galacide? Definitely, at least so long as the core gameplay doesn't immediately turn you off. It's a ton of fun to play, and will only continue to improve as development gets further.

CAVEAT: As with all Early Access games, make sure you buy any Early Access game for how it is in its current state, NOT FOR WHAT IT MAY BECOME IN THE FUTURE. Be smart, people.