Downwell is a vertically scrolling platform game where you frantically shoot snail-like enemies to gain points and upgrades. You will die frequently, but that's part of the fun. Each go, you have a chance to learn from what went wrong last time as you hone not only you reactions but your knowledge of how the game works.

You play Welltaro who decides to explore the depths of the well in a local park. He finds monsters lurking and straps on his gun-boots to start his trip downwards. You kill enemies with three basic controls: left and right movement, jump, fire down while jumping. These unusually simple control scheme matches the stripped back visuals that are made of just three colours. The art style draws on the games Spelunky, Cave Story and Rick Dangerous before them.

The well is different each time you play but you always find an increasingly difficult set of enemies, most of which can either be shot with or stomped on. Later on you meet foes who are resistant to being stomped and can only be killed with bullets. During the descent, you can find time pausing "timevoids", which often lead to caves that provide a large amount of gems, or alternate weapons. After each set of three levels you get a choice of three upgrades for the next challenge. You can also buy ammo upgrades or shop purchases.

On the Switch and PlayStation Vita version of the game you can play in portrait mode which enables the screen to match the orientation of the deep well and enhances the experience considerably.