Right and Down

I played this game and its semi-sequel, Right and Down and Dice in the opposite order of their release. Even though I left a negative review on the latter and was generally dissatisfied with my experiences in it, I still wanted to check out the first game, and it ended up being quite worthwhile that I did. Where Right and Down and Dice gets bogged down in forcing the player to repeatedly solve the same menial puzzles once they have an artifact combination, the decision-making in Right and Down is constantly meaningful and intense. The faster pace of play and the lack of repetitive sets of decisions mean that the randomness the player is dealing with on a moment-to-moment basis is far more impactful. It's less about each individual decision of "right" or "down" and more about balancing pathing and the set of consequences tied to each that gradually increases throughout the dungeon (as you gain new abilities tied to different combinations of sequenced directions, and artifacts that can mitigate negative effects or even turn them into pure benefit). This game manages to trigger that satisfying feeling of achieving victory through a blend of strategy and luck quite effectively, where Right and Down and Dice fails for me. It's still a very simple game, but I think it hits its design intent very well.

Great game. They hit on that magic formula that has you wanting "just one more go". My game time here to complete all 9 dungeons was a bit inflated as I had to leave it on for a while at times as the game doesn't let you quit out mid run but that's just a minor grievance. There's good variety in the classes and how you can setup your class before you do a dungeon run, and there was enough complexity that it probably took me half my gametime before I realised what the strongest class was . Spoiler: [spoiler] it's the mechanoid [/spoiler] With good art and unobtrusive soundtrack, it's the perfect way to spend a few chilled afternoons/evenings.

At time of writing It's a three year old game. It plays plays like it is incomplete. It's not minimalist, its more like its not fully featured. It absolutely NOT a deck builder. you can upgrade some cards,that isn't deck building. also it's not a card game. You don't have a hand you play cards from. You just move. Calling it a deck builder is false advertising. The game play is SLOW. The animation in the game play videos is speed up 2-3x. No mod support. Sad because it's fixable with minimal modding. Bugs like: even with all volumes at zero and you still get sounds for some things. It's presented as a quick and casual game, but the reality is that it is a slow, difficult game where you have to think nine moves ahead or you will just hit a wall at level ~35 in the first dungeon. locking you out of 90% of the game. No amount of luck will help. You MUST play slow from the very first move. And honestly, my biggest gripe is that it is absolutely, objectively, not a rogue-like. It is a puzzle game with procedure generated puzzles and incremental failure modes. Make too many sub optimal moves, and you have to start at zero. Google the Berlin Interpretation if you don't believe me. This is coming from someone with multiple Amulets of Yendor, not the cheap plastic imitations. You only have one type of character to play at the start. The others are all locked behind RNG. Read the discussion threads. People with dozens of hours in this game still haven't unlocked them. So if the warrior doesn't suit your style, too bad. Unlocks like this should be incremental instead of PURE RNG. It doesn't have enough complexity to make cerebral play fun, and it's too slow and difficult to make it a casual game. The simplicity makes just a repetitive game. It's not a feature, its what holding this game back.

Right and Down is a compact roguelike strategy game that turns an extremely restrictive movement system into the centerpiece of an unexpectedly deep tactical experience. Developed and published by mc2games, the game gives players only two fundamental directions of travel: right and down. That sounds almost too basic to sustain an entire adventure, yet the limitation forces every movement to matter. Instead of relying on fast reflexes or complicated controls, success comes from examining the dungeon, anticipating consequences, managing health and resources, and choosing a route that provides the best chance of surviving increasingly dangerous encounters. Each run takes place across procedurally generated dungeons filled with enemies, rewards, artifacts, and competing routes. Since movement is restricted, positioning becomes especially important. Choosing to travel toward one tile can permanently sacrifice access to something located along another path. A useful artifact might be tempting, but reaching it could require fighting an enemy capable of taking away a significant amount of health. A safer route may preserve resources but leave the character poorly equipped for tougher encounters later. This constant tradeoff gives the game its identity. Even apparently obvious decisions deserve consideration because their consequences can continue several turns into the future. One of the strongest elements is how much useful information is presented before a choice is made. The experience feels closer to solving a constantly changing strategic puzzle than blindly gambling against random events. Procedural generation ensures that players cannot simply memorize one perfect route, but visible threats and rewards allow them to calculate risks. Poor runs can therefore become learning experiences. Recognizing why a route failed and discovering a better way to evaluate similar situations is an important part of progression. The character system provides additional variety through six unlockable heroes. Their different abilities and starting artifacts encourage players to reconsider how they approach the board instead of applying exactly the same strategy every time. A movement pattern or route that works efficiently for one character may be less effective with another. Experimenting with these differences keeps the simple directional concept from becoming completely predictable and gives players several strategic styles to master. Artifacts contribute even more strongly to replayability. There are more than 100 to unlock, creating numerous possibilities for developing a build during a run. Some provide straightforward advantages, while others become considerably more useful when paired with compatible abilities or specific movement patterns. Discovering combinations that complement a chosen hero is satisfying, especially when an initially modest setup gradually develops into something capable of handling difficult encounters. Because obtaining an artifact can require taking a dangerous route, character building and navigation remain closely connected rather than functioning as separate systems. Progression through nine dungeons steadily expands the challenge. Additional rules and increasing difficulty force players to adapt rather than relying indefinitely on strategies learned during the opening stages. The ultimate objective of reaching level 50 gives repeated runs a clear destination while unlockable characters and artifacts provide smaller goals along the way. This structure suits shorter play sessions particularly well because an individual decision can be made quickly, yet completing a successful run requires sustained concentration and careful resource management. The presentation favors clarity instead of visual extravagance. Its board-like layout makes enemies, statistics, routes, and rewards easy to assess, which is essential for a game built around calculated decisions. The turn-based structure also means there is no need to rush. Players can inspect their options for as long as necessary before committing to a direction. The minimalist approach may not impress anyone seeking elaborate environments or cinematic combat, but it supports the mechanics effectively and keeps attention focused on strategy. The biggest potential weakness comes directly from the concept that makes the game distinctive. Having only two movement choices can eventually feel repetitive for players who prefer traditional dungeon exploration or more mechanically active combat. Battles are primarily components of route calculation rather than action sequences, and the procedural structure naturally involves replaying similar situations. Players interested mainly in narrative development, extensive exploration, or reflex-based combat are unlikely to find those priorities here. The experience is much better suited to fans of puzzle-like roguelikes, optimization, card-based strategy, and games where understanding systems is more important than mechanical execution. Steam Deck compatibility is a particularly natural fit from a gameplay perspective. The lightweight presentation, turn-based pacing, simple inputs, and short-run structure are all well suited to handheld play. Right and Down carry an official Steam Deck Playable compatibility rating, so it should be regarded as partially working with caveats rather than guaranteed fully compatible. Nevertheless, its straightforward controls and modest interface make it the type of game that can potentially work comfortably on the device, although individual users may encounter configuration or readability considerations depending on the current SteamOS and compatibility-layer environment. Overall, Right and Down takes a tiny collection of rules and extracts considerably more strategy from them than its appearance initially suggests. The procedural dungeons, six heroes, extensive artifact collection, changing dungeon conditions, and demanding route decisions create a strong foundation for repeated play. Its restrictive movement system will not appeal to everyone, but players who appreciate deliberate optimization and roguelike experimentation can find an engaging challenge hidden behind those two simple directional choices. It is easy to understand within minutes but takes substantially longer to master, making its simplicity a deliberate strength rather than an absence of depth. Rating: 7/10

bien entrete, para jugar un par de partidas al día

its a great casual and easy to understand game. I love how there are only 2 choices but a lot of strategy for just those choices.

Great dungeon crawler, just hard enough to keep you interested, but casual enough to not be too frustrating.

A pure rogue-like with heavy (unfair) RNG and zero sense of progression. Gameplay is basic but could works well if it wasn't for the incredibly unbalanced difficulty. Maybe 1 out of 10 runs is okish, but the huge majority is only a waste of time.