When your marriage is in trouble, what do you do? A romantic getaway, of course! Although unfortunately for Joe, things don’t go as planned. At all, what with fate pretty much messing up his chance at fixing whatever triggered the troublesome times between him and Ivy. How? Well, his wife suddenly disappears, something about axe-wielding psychopaths and a mysterious outsider. A rocky road to redemption for sure, in Downfall, and one definitely not for the squeamish sort.
Now, unlike most genre entries, Downfall (or Downfall: Redux, I suppose, since this is, for all intents and purposes, the remastered version) is a 2D experience – one controlled entirely with a keyboard. No fancy mouse activity across a wealth of on-screen verbs or pixel hunting. None of that nonsense. Instead, the player moves Joe across the screen, left or right, interacting with any nearby objects. Kinda like in Harvester Games’ other horror tale The Cat Lady, which not only shares gameplay functionality but also art style, with Downfall: Redux. Well, with this newly released revision does, anyway.
As depicted by the trailer below, everything that can go wrong for Joe, who just wanted to fix his marriage, does. Everything. On top of that, figuring out exactly who can be trusted and who’d be better off with an axe in the back can be tricky – at the best of times. Even so, armed with naught but his wits, it’s time for our gritty protagonist to (hopefully) get some answers, and maybe rid the world of an evil being or two along the way.
There is nothing Joe wouldn’t do for his wife. But as they try to save their marriage with a romantic getaway, things go from bad to worse, and from worse… to insanity.
Whatever happens, remember that you, as Joe, are in control (for the most part). You (more or less) call the shots in Downfall, so make the most of it, or, well, die trying. Horror games do have a tendency to be more relaxed regarding who lives and dies after all, and I very much doubt this one is any different. Also, again, not for the squeamish sort.
Downfall: Redux is available from Steam and GOG.com, carrying a $13.99 price tag. Demo? Right here.