Downbreak Reviews

It looks like it might be simple like minesweeper, but it gets a whole lot more complicated -- and interesting -- very quickly. Some of the intermediate campaign puzzles are ridiculously hard to succeed at, which is really annoying, but they don't prevent you from proceeding, so not a huge deal.

A great variation of minesweeper, with a wide variety of modes including classic.

Video Review: https://youtu.be/iCUbQo02WHQ Minesweeper is back! If you like minesweeper at all you NEED to play this game. It is so much fun. All the new mechanics added really make this game special. The gravity adds much more than you expect and gives you another way to figure out where the bombs are. There are other new mechanics that make it very difficult like an ice wall or a volcano. Also there are mini-games, shops, and power ups. It's crazy how well all of these things work to enhance minesweeper. Anyway, I really enjoyed this game and I think you should pick it up.

A fun enough game, with some interesting twists to it, but I don't feel it hits the mark perfectly. The core mechanic is that when you break a crate, the crates above it fall. This also means the numbers can change, so it throws me a bit. but nothing serious. Once you reach any bottom square you can move on, however getting more of the crates either removed or flagged will increase your score. Obviously getting them all correct give you the best bonuses. In addition, you have a certain number of mistakes you can make per tower, which is explained as damage to the tower. Do too much damage, you fail, obviously. The total resets when you start a new tower, and each tower has a different number of levels. I have seen a range of from five to ten. The game has upgrades you can buy, including repairing some of the tower, when needed, as well as others that might reveal information, add time to the timer, or others. So far that's all pretty fun, though it lacks the ability to really examine mistakes you have made. I think a simple ability to go back in time one step (but the same move has to be made to move forward) would be a nice addition to help understand what the mistake was, but that is a minor point. In addition there are bonus games. Luckily you can skip these, as the one I have played was a poorly explained rhythm game, something I am not good at, and given that the game targets people who like mine-sweeper, I question the choice. At the best, I think you win bonus upgrades, like the ones you can buy at the stores. But as I said, you can skip these, so it isn't a big deal. For me, the weakest part of the game is the graphics, which simply do not need to be so rough around the edges. I have never tried a mine-sweep based game with such hard-to-grasp visuals. There is simply no need for this style of game to look so poor. ADDENDUM: There is a setting called Basic Tileset, which gives you a cleaner image. That said, I am going to keep at it, at the base it is fun. You can unload additional game types, and themes, which seem to do something, but I'm not sure what yet. I may come back and explain if I figure them out. As is though, and easy thumbs up. Nothing great, but a fun little time waster. ADDENDUM: Another hour and some minutes in to this, and I do have to say, still having fun, but it is far from perfect. In fact fans of minesweeper might find how often you end up having to guess frustrating, but it is a part of how this game works. Also the mini-games, in general, are no fun. You can shut them off, or skip them though, so that is good. ADDENDUM: Four more hours in, and it has become all guessing halfway thru every level. Drains the fun out of it. It isn't like there is a learning curve, it becomes just flat guessing, and at this level, the third set of towers, the number of bombs is so high it is almost impossible to progress.

This is basically minesweeper, but with new mechanics, and it also has a very very cool campaign. love this game, definitely worth the price!!

At first I thought this was minesweeper with an extra mechanic, which it technically is, but it's something also entirely different. Each level, called a "Tower" (I think) is a series of rooms where you try to get expose the bottom of the room. But, after you reach the bottom, you can keep playing the room to get extra points. You can risk your lives by continuing, all for those points. During the game you also learn some tricks, so to me at least, it's an excellent balance between risk and skill. There's also just a lot of content in the game in general. Aside from the campaign, there are classic levels, challenge levels, and an infinite mode. For 2 dollars (On sale), this is an excellent pick up for anyone good at minesweeper.

Overall not too bad, but FAR too much reliance on pure chance rather than deduction. Not the Minesweeper clone I was hoping for.

Great minesweeper game with gravity. I had a lot of fun playing through the campaign. There is some guessing needed. Especially in challenge mode you need to guess a lot in some levels - which can be quite frustrating... But overall for me it was absolutely worth the price!

I want to like Downbreak; I love Minesweeper variations. But the irregular layouts, combined with gravity, make Minesweeper's biggest limitation - guessing - significantly worse without providing any appreciable counter. And there are a few minor bugs that will never be fixed as the developer (per their blog) dispises the game and has abandoned it in favor of new projects. Just avoid this one. If you want a fresh take on Minesweeper, look into DemonCrawl (available on Steam) instead.

Too much RNG luck involved. Time limits on levels means you have to hurry and click without thinking. Abstract walls make multiple instances where there is no numeric solution and you just have to guess, and it happens so often there isn't much point in TRYING to win on purpose, you have better luck just RNG clicking until you hit a massive lucky break and can solve the remainder easily. Then, add the "special" levels, where minigames reward no prizes and failure is instant with your first mistake. There are also special items to use in campaign, to cheat the impossible blocks, meaning that players are intended to rely on gimicks rather than their brain to solve the maps. Overall, this game is frustrating, and unrewarding. Can't say I enjoyed it.