Downward: Enhanced Edition: Available NOW

▶ Watch on YouTube

Message from the devs:

Even if we are super excited about this new, better version of Downward, and despite the significant improvements in every aspect of the new version of the game, we still believe that the old version has a unique charm. There are some scenes, like the very first one, that, despite being extremely demanding in terms of performance and technically imperfect, maintain an exceptional look and feel to which we are very attached. For this reason, we have decided to allow players to play the old version through a specific branch.

Story

• Redundancies have been cut, and the order of several lines of text has been reorganized to make the story more understandable and enjoyable.
  
• Introduction lore text has been added to introduce the story at the very beginning of the game.
  
• Additional content at the end of the story ('epilogue' DLC) enriches the ending and provides a new perspective on the story. You can still make different choices at the end of the story based on the completion of the Skull quest, activation of all the gears, and collection of the Dry Artifacts.
  
• New tutorial levels have been added to the main story for every unlocked power.
  

Gameplay

• Platforming is slightly more forgiving.
  
• The skill tree has been restructured and redundancies have been cut.
  
• New bosses have been added to fight during the story to obtain relics and artifacts.
  
• The savegames of the new version won't work with the old one.
  
• You will be able to play the old version in the beta.
  

Aesthetic

• Every key asset of the game has been re-imagined from scratch to give a coherent look to the game's technology, in particular:
  
  
  
  1. Save Bells
     
  2. Fast Travel Portals
     
  3. Level Entrances
     
  4. Planet Activators
     
  5. Challenge Activators
     
  6. Level-Up Statues
     
  7. Relics Altar
     
  8. Environmental Gears
     
  9. Turrets
     
• 99.9% of the 3D models have been redone by hand, and every texture has been updated.
  
• Some areas have been aesthetically re-imagined, drastically in some cases.
  
• All enemies have an updated look.
  

Fixes

• Given that the code has been fundamentally restructured and this version is the result of a process that has taken place intermittently over the last six years, it is difficult to provide a precise list of fixed bugs. All the bugs that have been reported and that we were able to reproduce have been resolved.
  

Legibility

• Level design has been massively updated to be more intuitive at first glance.
  
• Anomalies have an updated look and are now easier to spot.
  
• Due to the vertical nature of the game, we replaced the old "Skyrim-like" compass with a system of screen icons, making every objective and point of interest easier to spot.
  

Performance

• Massive optimizations have been made (the game now runs at 60 FPS on the Steam Deck at full resolution without upscaling, whereas before it struggled to maintain 20 FPS).
  
• FSR and RSR have been added, but we are confident that they will not be needed for the vast majority of players.