The parkour scene was large within the early 2000s. You couldn’t flip a nook in London at the moment with out somebody leaping over a wall and somersaulting over a bin. It additionally had its hooks in movies with James Bond flying in regards to the rooftops in On line casino Royale and in video games, we had the extremely entertaining Mirror’s Edge. It has nonetheless misplaced a few of its development in the previous couple of years which is a little bit of a disgrace as a result of it really works very nicely in video games.
It’s thrilling then to welcome Downward: Enhanced Version, leaping onto console as a remake of the 2017 PC sport. Let’s prepare for parkour as soon as extra.
On this first-person action-adventure sport, the world as we all know it has led to catastrophe. Little is understood about how the apocalypse happened, however you end up enjoying as one of many final survivors of humankind. What lies round you might be buildings and civilisations in ruins, all so that you can discover and navigate round. A voiceover instructions you to move on out, searching down the relics that maintain the secrets and techniques to the previous. And hopefully the solutions…
The narrative and story of Downward are attention-grabbing, but it surely’s fairly naked bones whereas the gameplay makes up the principle focus of the particular sport. Seeing the world in disarray permits for some environmental storytelling and the mysterious voice delivers ins and outs of narrative context as nicely.
Gameplay-wise, Downward: Enhanced Version has you working the primary particular person, operating alongside the world, leaping and hanging onto ledges as you go. You may cowl lengthy distances and wall run, in addition to slide beneath issues in fashion.
And as you progress you collect new expertise, like double leaping, grappling, and utilising glyphs to entry new areas you couldn’t get to earlier than. There’s an awesome ability you be taught that I’ve by no means seen earlier than in a sport referred to as a warp level; putting this lets you warp again to it. Because of this if you’re making an attempt to navigate a very difficult a part of parkour, and don’t wish to begin from the start once more, you may place this halfway and make life a bit simpler.
There are some unusual fight sections included too, wherein you aren’t preventing however leaping round some clockwork enemies, ready for a degree the place the machine exhibits its weak spots, as you go in to seize, ending the combat. These weren’t my specific favorite factors of Downward, and actually I’d have tried to keep away from them if I had the selection. There are additionally some areas the place you could have challenges, left to try to beat instances. And additional to that’s the inclusion of service provider outlets, as you improve your expertise and look to get some well being again.
Visually, Downward does a superb job of making this world. It reminds of the Prince of Persia video games with all its sand and historic ruins. I like the entire tone and magnificence of the sport and it feels very quick and fluid. There are some attention-grabbing areas to soak up too, with difficult verticality to beat. By way of audio, the soundtrack is sweet, accompanied by well-judged voice work.
For the value, Downward: Enhanced Version is a little bit of a discount. The parkour parts are enjoyable, because it permits the participant to zip and bounce round, while the exploration of a ruined world brings secrets and techniques to the fore. The unusual combat-y sections might do with a miss, however for probably the most half it’s good to be parkouring round as soon as extra.
