For a brief moment it seemed like a fair number of developers had really jumped into the concept of games featuring the flow and excitement of parkour, allowing players to quickly and nimbly work their way through city streets and other locales. While some elements have survived and are utilized in first-person action games in a variety of ways, it feels like only some of its essence has remained, and perhaps that’s just fine. Moving in its own direction, Downward absolutely embraces it and attempts to use it to drive a 3D platformer that simply has a feel of its own.

To help paint a picture, it feels like an old-school collect-a-thon like perhaps Banjo-Kazooie meets parkour, with you getting accustomed to your core controls and then working to grab a variety of different things as you move through some exotic and even otherworldly locales. There will be jumps to make, ledges to grab, and walls to run along, with the controls thankfully feeling nimble helping out for the most part. In order to throw in a little spice, you will have to periodically deal with some hostility in the form of some imposing ancient guardians that you’ll need to carefully avoid and take down without the benefit of weaponry.

What I do appreciate about the game is that it generally feels fresh, as there simply aren’t too many games on the Switch that have this sort of feel. That said, there are a few that come to mind, and at the top of the pack is the very impressive and responsive Neon White, which absolutely leaves Downward in the dust. Even some of its less refined competition like GhostRunner at least feel a little more varied and complete, though its technical problems absolutely held it back. While not quite as severe, Downward also struggles a bit with performance, not always feeling as responsive as it should and certainly a far cry from the buttery smoothness of Neon White.

What leaves me feeling the most torn on the game is a pretty nasty bug I ran into about 30 minutes in, which derailed my progress. I’d like to give the game the benefit of the doubt, that the problem I had wouldn’t necessarily be a common one, but it is worth being mindful of. Given its budget-friendly price it does feel like the overall quality of play is at least not being oversold, which I have to at least give it credit for as it has many peers that have issues but still have a high asking price. There can be some good times here, just understand that it may not be as polished as you’d prefer.