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A Long Way Down

A Long Way Down Game Cover
59%Game Brain Score
gameplay, story
graphics, grinding
57% User Score Based on 82 reviews
Critic Score 70%Based on 1 reviews

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A Long Way Down Game Cover

About

A Long Way Down is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Seenapsis Studio and was released on August 27, 2020. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and neutral reviews from players.

Find us: Steam | Twitter | Newsletter | Discord | Facebook [Media 2248737] The game draws inspiration from hits like Darkest Dungeon, Slay the Spire and Hand of Fate. A Long way down is a...

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A Long Way Down screenshot
A Long Way Down screenshot
A Long Way Down screenshot
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A Long Way Down screenshot
A Long Way Down screenshot
A Long Way Down screenshot
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A Long Way Down screenshot
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57%
Audience ScoreBased on 82 reviews
gameplay10 positive mentions
grinding8 negative mentions
  • Unique path-building mechanic in the campaign map adds a fresh layer to the deck-building genre.
  • Art style and graphics are attractive and consistent, with decent sound design.
  • Deck-building and upgrade systems provide meaningful progression and optimization opportunities.
  • Combat is simplistic and repetitive with limited card variety, lacking meaningful synergies or tactical depth.
  • Tile placement and dungeon master interference often feel random and frustrating, sometimes breaking pacing and progression.
  • Numerous bugs, technical issues, and occasional crashes significantly detract from the gameplay experience.
  • gameplay
    53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gameplay in this title offers a unique blend of deck-building and path-building mechanics, mixing dungeon crawling with roguelite elements, which some players find fresh and engaging. However, many reviews criticize the game for its limited card variety, simplistic and repetitive combat, clunky party management, and lack of deep strategy, leading to a somewhat shallow and occasionally frustrating experience. While the innovative mechanics show promise, the core gameplay currently feels underdeveloped and in need of refinement to fully realize its potential.

    • “One of the main gameplay elements of A Long Way Down is its deck-building component, in which you must choose from a selection of cards you obtain to build your perfect hand.”
    • “The other main gameplay element that I found particularly unique is its path-building elements, where you must plan a path to attack your enemies first—whoever gets to the other first gets the first strike.”
    • “While I can assume a lot of content has yet to be added, I'm enjoying how it shares unique mechanics from other great deck builders (Slay the Spire, Deck of Ashes, and Deep Space Derelicts) mixed in with the clever concept of allowing the player to modify the labyrinthine strategic map as the evil AI works to thwart your building of pathways to the map's objectives.”
    • “What makes this even worse is a hard limit of a 24 (or maybe it was 20) card limit and no reshuffle mechanic (without taking major damage anyway).”
    • “Gameplay is incredibly boring and repetitive, and it's a shame too as the concept seemed like it would work on paper.”
    • “Unfortunately, while 'A Long Way Down' is a game with complex mechanics where the main gameplay loop sees you trying to match powerful synergies with the cards, generally fights in the early access version are largely devoid of tactics and most of the cards are fairly simplistic in their nature, causing either an attack, a gain, or drop in percentage of attack or defense or a mixture of the two.”
  • story
    26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story centers on Sam, a time-traveling slave navigating through a limbo-like afterlife with interwoven historical figures, blending humor with mission-based objectives. While some find it intriguing and well-integrated with gameplay, others criticize it as short, arbitrary, and hampered by repetitive missions and pacing issues that undermine narrative momentum. Overall, opinions on the story range from engaging to disappointing, with technical bugs further affecting progression.

    • “The story is quite interesting, with you taking the role of Sam, a recently dead American waking in the dungeons of Limbo.”
    • “The story of A Long Way Down follows Sam, a slave during the American colonial era.”
    • “This is a very well made card game, from the graphics and the story, to the equipment and the combat, it all has the feel of a high quality title.”
    • “The missions often seem arbitrary (something you would do anyways) and the whole system is an ill fit for this kind of game.”
    • “The game starts really well but turns into a slog that forces you to replay previous missions over and over again for upgrade currency, random equipment and consumables while constantly screwing you by random tile placements from dungeon master and incredible power level spike in the last chapter.”
    • “The story is trash, the gameplay is meh.”
  • graphics
    17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics are generally described as cute, cartoonish, and stylistically appealing, contributing positively to the game's charm and atmosphere. While some users note minor inconsistencies between art styles in different game areas and find certain card designs uninspired, overall the visuals are seen as well-made and complement the gameplay effectively.

    • “The graphics were cute and the upgrade mechanics were interesting enough to make me want to farm and upgrade my characters to make beating the final boss easy.”
    • “The art style is cool and the UI is great.”
    • “This is a very well made card game, from the graphics and the story to the equipment and the combat, it all has the feel of a high quality title.”
    • “There is not much for me to say about the art as it's a preference, but to me I think some of the art styles clash between the combat and overworld.”
    • “The art style is pretty reasonable with some decent sound design, but the cards are a little uninspired and definitely could do with a little more personality.”
    • “Cartoonish graphics and bland dialogues.”
  • grinding
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is broadly viewed as tedious, repetitive, and poorly balanced, with farming mechanics feeling shallow and reminiscent of free-to-play mobile games. While some find value in the concept of upgrading through farming, overall it detracts from engagement and enjoyment.

    • “I wanted to like this game, but it is very lackluster, grindy, and repetitive.”
    • “If a game that costs 15 bucks gives you 'this looks like f2p mobile game farming' feeling, it is not worth your time.”
    • “And then there is a problem with farming in this game... that's probably its biggest sin and main reason for the not recommend here.”
  • music
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music receives mixed feedback, with some praising its quality and art direction, while others find it repetitive, short, and annoying enough to turn off. Overall, it is appreciated but can become monotonous over time.

    • “The music is great, though there aren't many soundtracks, so it can quickly get repetitive.”
    • “Great little game with an even better soundtrack.”
    • “Great art direction and soundtrack.”
    • “Music, on the other hand, was horrendous as I turned it off after 20 minutes of playing.”
    • “Boring, mobile feeling roguelite with very little to offer, slam the audio down to 0 as the battle sequence music is horrible.”
    • “The music is rather repetitive with short tracks, thus looping back too quickly.”
  • stability
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is widely reported to have significant stability issues, with frequent bugs and glitches disrupting the experience. While some glitches are minor, the overall consensus highlights persistent and problematic instability.

    • “Extremely buggy.”
    • “It's still a buggy mess.”
    • “Really buggy.”
  • optimization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's optimization primarily centers on build customization rather than in-combat decisions, which are generally straightforward. Performance-wise, the focus is more on strategic build planning than dynamic gameplay adjustments.

    • “The focus in this game seems to be on the build optimization as in-combat choices seem rather obvious most of the time.”
    • “The focus in this game seems to be on build optimization, as in-combat choices seem rather obvious most of the time.”
    • “Performance?”
    • “Performance”
  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users find the game's atmosphere unique and engaging, appreciating the well-designed background elements that enhance the overall experience.

    • “The atmosphere of this game is unique.”
    • “The atmosphere is pretty neat, and background elements for the character are cool.”
  • humor
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features humor through funny dialogues and witty lines that are well integrated with the game's world, making it enjoyable and entertaining.

    • “Funny game!”
    • “Funny dialogues related to the world and interesting lines.”
  • replayability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability is moderate due to the limited pool of 40 unique cards and 15-slot decks, allowing some variation between playthroughs. However, the game lacks a longer campaign and depth expected for sustained replay, making it feel more like a character grind than a true roguelike experience.

    • “There are currently only 40 unique cards to choose from, and you only have 15 card slots in your deck, so there is a decent amount of replayability available if you want to switch up your deck each playthrough, although your success rate may vary.”
    • “There are currently only 40 unique cards to choose from, and you only have 15 card slots in your deck, so there is limited replayability as you may end up repeating similar strategies each playthrough.”
    • “A game like this should have a much longer campaign, even in early access, especially since it is designed for character grinding rather than being a replayable roguelike game.”
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70%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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7h Median play time
8h Average play time
2-14h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

A Long Way Down is a role playing game.

A Long Way Down is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS, Windows and others.

On average players spend around 8 hours playing A Long Way Down.

A Long Way Down was released on August 27, 2020.

A Long Way Down was developed by Seenapsis Studio.

A Long Way Down has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its graphics.

A Long Way Down is a single player game.

Similar games include Gordian Quest, Deep Sky Derelicts, Cardaclysm, Legend of Keepers, Mahokenshi and others.