Bleak Sword vs Downwell+
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bleak Sword
Embark on a dark fantasy adventure across cursed diorama battlefields. Battle creatures through nine chapters, lifting a legendary curse by upgrading your hero with magic and items. Challenge yourself further in Arena Mode with unlockable achievements.
- Diorama battlefields
- Nine tense chapters
- Powerful magic invocation
- Item discovery
- Character leveling and stat upgrades
- Arena Mode
- Unlockable achievements
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Developed by more8bit Bleak Sword is a dark fantasy action game tasking players to struggle across compact, cursed diorama battlefields. Through nine tense chapters, heroes must lift the curse of the legendary Bleak Sword by striking down all manner of creatures in every forest, swamp, castle, and dungeon on their journey. Invoke powerful magic, uncover helpful items, and level up your character to upgrade your stats before facing down menacing guardians. Once the curse has been lifted the challenging Arena Mode and thirty unlockable achievements await even the most accomplished warrior. Bleak Sword is designed to be able to play it easily with elegant controls allowing heroes to roll, parry, attack and counter-attack using basic movements on gamepads and touch controls. Scored by award-winning composer Jim Guthrie with sound by famed designer Joonas Turner.
Downwell+
Venture into a procedurally generated well, battling creatures with special gun boots. Collect gems, purchase upgrades, and discover hidden treasures. Each descent offers a unique and challenging adventure.
- Gun boots for combat and descent control
- Procedurally generated levels
- Collect gems and buy items
- Level up and obtain upgrades
- Discover hidden caves and relics
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Downwell is a curious game about a young person venturing down a well in search of untold treasures with only his Gunboots for protection. Make your way further and further down into the darkness filled with nasty creatures and mysterious secrets to collect the spectacular red gems scattered about the rocks. Step into precariously placed shops and buy some helpful items or level up between levels to battle well-dwelling monsters and uncover hidden caves filled with riches and relics. No two trips down the well are ever the same! The Amazing Gunboots - The fashionable and lethal Gunboots allow players to unleash a torrent of firepower on the nasty creatures dwelling in the well and slow your decent with each shot. Unique Weapons & Items - Get different weapons, shop for peculiar items and obtain powerful upgrades that all stack and affect the way you play! A New Adventure Every Time - Each level in Downwell is procedurally generated, so no two trips down the well are ever the same providing a fresh new adventure each time! Music by Eirik Suhrke. Sound Design by Joonas Turner.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Downwell+ at every 3 weeks against Bleak Sword's every 8 months. Bleak Sword's advantage is ratings volume (899 vs 293). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Bleak Sword against 4.5 for Downwell+. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 899 and 293 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 80% of Bleak Sword's written reviews are positive against 75% of Downwell+'s.
Bleak Sword ships an update every 8 months, Downwell+ every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bleak Sword | Downwell+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (899 ratings) | 4.5 (293 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 79.9% of reviews — better | 75.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 899 — better | 293 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 467 MB | 55 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Devolver Digital, Inc. | Devolver |
Customer experience
Bleak Sword
Downwell+
User reviews
Bleak Sword
From 899 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth and responsive controls
- 👍 Satisfying combat mechanics
- 🎨 Unique and atmospheric pixel art style
- 🕹️ Challenging but fair gameplay
- 🕰️ Suitable for short play sessions
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional save data loss issues
- 🔍 Difficulty in tracking character on screen
- 🤕 Overly punishing difficulty curve
- 🧠 Lack of progression and upgrade systems
- 🔍 Blurry visuals on some devices
Downwell+
From 293 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Surprisingly good game
- 👍 Fun and addictive gameplay
- 💎 Satisfying audio design
- 🎨 Customizable palettes
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and performance issues
- 🎮 Suboptimal controls and button layout
- 🔇 Lack of sound/volume control
- 💢 Overly difficult and punishing
Bugs and requests
Bleak Sword
Reported bugs
2 issues- Controls becoming unresponsive after app switch
- Inconsistent blocking mechanics
Requested features
5 requests- Landscape mode support for tablets
- Ability to skip credits after first completion
- More enemy and boss variety
- Customizable controls
- Expanded story and lore
Downwell+
Reported bugs
3 issues- Buttons not working on launch
- Game freezing at the end of levels
- Abilities not functioning as expected
Requested features
4 requests- Controller support
- Landscape mode
- More upgrades and progression
- Gradual difficulty increase
In-app purchases
Bleak Sword
No in-app purchases
Downwell+
No in-app purchases







