A Long Way Down Switch Review: A Solid Deckbuilding Roguelite
Our review of the card-based roguelite A Long Way Down on the Nintendo Switch. A deck-building dungeon crawl that falls short on anything new.
With a mix of deckbuilding and roguelite play, developer Seenapsis Studio's A Long Way Down is releasing onto Nintendo Switch. Players take on the role of Sam, someone who has died and fallen into limbo. Combining a dungeon-crawling overworld and card-based battling system, Sam must continue down into the depths to find his escape.
The overworld gameplay in A Long Way Down puts the player into a large empty space dotted with small floating islands and enemies. Using terrain cards and turn-based movement, Sam can navigate the level however he sees fit. Occasional specialty cards will be thrown into the mix allowing the player to rotate tiles, make traps, and even create treasure chests to upgrade their overworld or battle decks. Card management is important in the dungeons due to the limited deck of tiles; if the player ever runs out of tile cards, they will be stuck and need to restart the level from scratch.
Players will be given quests to complete in the A Long Way Down overworld and once the mandatory main quest is completed, they may move on to the next level or stay to collect anything they may have missed. Most quests have players taking down a boss creature and never seem to stray too far from the standard kill X amount of enemies formula that tends to work for these sorts of games.
The card-based combat in A Long Way Down doesn't really bring anything new to the table. There are attack, defense, and spell cards that all fluctuate power based on character level. Players will have a certain number of points per turn to play varying cost cards, followed by the enemy's attack. The battle system itself is fine and definitely scratches the card battle itch but nothing ever feels innovative or exciting in it. Once a player finds the strategy that works for them, they'll be hard-pressed to change it as the new cards that unlock won't offer much more than what the player already has.
Throughout A Long Way Down players can find companions that will aid Sam in his quest, which does work to diversify gameplay somewhat. Companions work in an interesting way in this game: every character shares the same basic deck with only one or two unique cards for each one. Each companion does have its own unique feel with different stats that change the power level of the cards chosen, but end up acting more like meatshields to protect Sam than an actual extra character to play with.
There are many other little things added into A Long Way Down that does help it feel like a much larger game than it actually is. Players can change and level up equipment, craft cards using powder found throughout the world, and some of the overworld levels have very smart puzzles that can be challenging with the limited amount of tile cards. Overall though, A Long Way Down falls short in bringing anything exciting to a genre that is already filled with excellent titles like Slay The Spire or Loop Hero, instead offering a solid back-up experience that supplements those games rather than demands someone's primary attention on its own.
A Long Way Down is available now on PC and on the Nintendo Switch starting April 1st. Screen Rant was provided with a Nintendo Switch code for the purpose of this review.