10mg: Always Down Reviews

It took me exactly ten minutes to play through, so that was very accurate! I really liked it, especially how the controlls changed when you got further down :)

It lives up to the promise of a ten minute game. The controls are neat and you can work them out on your own. The challenges are easy to spot after the first one and the respawn mechanics are relatively forgiving. Worth playing.

I feel the game is about going away and descending deep into transformative thought until reaching a reasonable solution to the darkness [spoiler]by turning into a frog[/spoiler]. The ending is thought-provoking.

Another masterpiece by the greatest game designer known to earth, Stuffed Wombat. Thanks for the bit of fun, I enjoyed those 10 minutes. :)

This is worth your dollar. There's clear attention to detail here, a nice little story, good polish, and some interesting experimentation with mechanics you'll notice towards the end [spoiler] ground movement friction slowly builds as you go lower, I found myself subconsciously jumping more as a result [spoiler].

Maybe it's just the head space I currently find myself in, but this very simple experience really resonated with me. Something about leaving your old life behind, [spoiler]feeling like choices are irreversible, moving forward getting harder and scarier, but ultimately having your choices lead to defining you as a new person, who has arguably grown stronger for them.[/spoiler] The very end can probably be interpreted in a few ways, but I've decided to leave this game [spoiler]with a positive attitude![/spoiler]

Super enjoyable! The game feels good to move around and its weirdly cute for the amount of minimalism. Its short, finish it in one quick sitting on a break at work. Recommend it!

I bought the 10mg collection, which is a pack of 10 games that aim to last ten minutes. I've liked the others I've played but wasn't a big fan of this one, although I get what it was trying to do. Basically, this is a platformer where as you descend, your movement gets slower and you have to rely more on jumps. I had two main issues with this - controls are arrow keys only, no wasd to move and space to jump, which I found really clunky since I don't normally play platformers. Secondly, there's a sorta tilt/warp shader effect on the world, [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/826910487022272612/992902058745274469/Desktop_2022.07.02_-_22.08.52.18.mp4]so the screen tilts a little bit as you move[/url]. I'm extremely prone to motion sickness and even though this was really short, I've ended up with a headache I was also hoping the pay off for reaching the bottom would be a bit better

Had a blast playing Always Down. A charming game with a classic narrative - a hero's journey! Super easy to grasp and enjoyable to play! The music for this is perfect and fits brilliantly with the theme.

I purchased the full 10 Minute Game Collection and am going to play them in the order they appear in my library. That means this is #2 of 10. Know in advance what you are getting. As the collection title suggests, a ten minute game is not a triple A title. It is a short game-jam-esque proof of concept / working prototype / execution of an idea. At least that's what I'm going to infer from first impressions. Always Down is a short game in the classic action adventure genre. We are an unnamed hero in an unnamed land on an unknown quest. All we know is that we are leaving our home village in search of... something. It is a premise as old as time; a hero's journey of discovery in which he faces his own fears and limitations, overcomes adversity and becomes greater for the experience. Controls are easy to grasp with only the left, right and up cursor keys used to move the main character. It soon becomes clear that the game title is actually a playing instruction, and we must guide our little hero ever down, deeper into the subterranean world. Graphics are as simple as can be. Player character is a little block much like in Thomas Was Alone. In fact, the visuals are quite similar to that title, with a large cavernous play area and nice use of 2d light and shadow effects. There is also a nice little jumping deformation on the player sprite which imbues the little geometric shape with much more character. Audio is great. There are some fun sound effects and some dialogue, but it is the inclusion of some Beethoven as the background music that really injects personality into the game. It harkens back to old Looney Tunes cartoons, while also providing a rather amusingly epic score for proceedings. Playtime is short, but I will have another quick game to see if there are any alternative routes or little details I missed. Two games down in the collection now, and so far both have been very enjoyable. Always Down for a good time.