The parkour scene was huge 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 concerning 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 effectively 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 thought about how the apocalypse happened, however you end up enjoying as one of many final survivors of humankind. What lies round you’re buildings and civilisations in ruins, all so that you can discover and navigate round. A voiceover instructions you to move on out, looking down the relics that maintain the secrets and techniques to the previous. And hopefully the solutions…
The narrative and story of Downward are fascinating, however it’s fairly naked bones whereas the gameplay makes up the primary focus of the particular sport. Seeing the world in disarray permits for some environmental storytelling and the mysterious voice delivers fine details of narrative context as effectively.
Gameplay-wise, Downward: Enhanced Version has you working the primary individual, operating alongside the world, leaping and hanging onto ledges as you go. You may cowl lengthy distances and wall run, in addition to slide below issues in type.
And as you progress you collect new abilities, like double leaping, grappling, and utilising glyphs to entry new areas you couldn’t get to earlier than. There’s an important 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 in case you are attempting to navigate a very tough a part of parkour, and don’t need to begin from the start once more, you’ll be able to place this halfway and make life a bit simpler.
There are some unusual fight sections included too, through which you aren’t combating however leaping round some clockwork enemies, ready for some extent the place the machine reveals its weak spots, as you go in to seize, ending the struggle. These weren’t my specific favorite factors of Downward, and in reality I’d have tried to keep away from them if I had the selection. There are additionally some areas the place you will have challenges, left to try to beat instances. And additional to that’s the inclusion of service provider retailers, as you improve your abilities and look to get some well being again.
Visually, Downward does a very good 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 elegance of the sport and it feels very quick and fluid. There are some fascinating areas to soak up too, with difficult verticality to beat. When it comes to audio, the soundtrack is sweet, accompanied by well-judged voice work.
For the value, Downward: Enhanced Version is a little bit of a cut price. The parkour components are enjoyable, because it permits the participant to zip and leap 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 essentially the most half it’s good to be parkouring round as soon as extra.
