The Upside Down

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How to Play

Game Overview

So I picked up The Upside Down last weekend, and it''s this tactical RPG with an 80s horror vibe that''s way more tense than I expected. You play as Eddie Sinclair, this kid who stays behind in a snowy ghost town called Black Hollow to find his dog Buddy after a weird winter solstice event tears open a portal to a shadow dimension. The visual style is all dark, pixel-art streets and flickering streetlights, with a sort of grainy filter that makes it feel like a VHS tape from the decade. The Gloom-Walkers are these smudgy, humanoid shadows that skulk around alleys and buildings, and the game''s main mechanic -- the Gloometer -- keeps rising the farther you get from your home base in the top-left corner. That meter stresses you out because when it maxes out, things get nasty fast. Combat is turn-based but with a twist: every action takes a set amount of time, and you can''t cancel it once you start, so you really have to think ahead. You''ve got a boombox to distract them, a camera flash to blind them, and fireworks to blast them, which sounds goofy but works great. The map is a grid of city blocks, and you scavenge buildings for upgrades like slingshots and potions. Who''d love this? Anyone who digs old-school strategy games like XCOM but wants a tighter, more atmospheric experience without the endless menus. It''s challenging -- those outskirts are brutal early on -- but the loop of exploring, retreating home to save and level up, then pushing further feels really satisfying.

About The Upside Down

So, The Upside Down is this tactical RPG that''s basically a really tense mix of turn-based strategy and survival horror set in a snowy 1984 town. You play as Eddie, a kid who refuses to leave his dog Buddy behind when shadow monsters called Gloom-Walkers show up. The main loop is simple: you start in your home at the top-left corner of the map, and your objective is to fight your way to the bottom-right for the final showdown. But getting there is a nightmare of planning and resource management. Each time you move on the grid, your Gloometer ticks up--it''s this meter that shows how much danger you''re in. The farther you get from home, the faster it fills, and when it maxes out, you get ambushed by tougher enemies. So you''re constantly weighing risk: do you push forward to find better gear in buildings, or do you backtrack to heal and upgrade? Returning home is how you save progress, use potions to heal, and spend XP on stat boosts like speed or health. The combat is where your brain really works. Every action--moving, attacking, using an item--has a time cost that plays out in a sort of action queue. Once you commit to something, you can''t cancel it, which means you have to predict what enemies will do. Early on, you''ve got a boombox that you can deploy to distract Gloom-Walkers, freezing them in place for a few turns while you slip past. Later, you find a camera with a flash that blinds them, and eventually fireworks that just blow them up. The satisfying moment is when you chain these abilities: drop a boombox to group enemies, then blind them, then launch a firework to clear a path. There''s a level called the Frosted Overpass where the snow hides traps, and enemies called Shriekers that alert others if they see you. The difficulty spikes around mid-game when you hit the Suburbs--streets are full of patrols, and a new enemy type, the Wraith, can teleport if you make noise. Upgrades come from scavenging buildings: you find better slingshots that deal more damage, or spells like "Sticky Goo" that slow enemies. The game never holds your hand, so losing progress stings--but that makes finally reaching the final area feel earned. It''s messy, tense, and every step forces a hard choice.

Tips & Tricks

The first few runs, I kept dying because I ignored the Gloometer. It fills up faster than you think, especially when you're near the edges of the map. If it hits max, you're basically a sitting duck for the Gloom-Walkers. So watch it like a hawk and head home when it's half full--don't push it.

Your boombox is more useful than you'd expect. I used to save it for emergencies, but you can actually use it to distract multiple enemies at once if you place it in a choke point. The flash on the camera is great, but it has a cooldown that feels way too long early on. So don't rely on it for every fight.

Fireworks are loud and fun, but they also attract more Gloom-Walkers from nearby buildings. I learned that the hard way when I blasted one and suddenly had three shadows on me. Use them only when you've cleared the immediate area or you're okay with a fight.

Scavenging buildings is worth the risk, but not all of them are equal. Check the hardware store early--there's a slingshot upgrade hidden behind a counter that makes early combat way less painful. I missed it for three runs and regretted every one 🔍.

Healing potions are rare, so don't chug them the second you take damage. Save them for when your health is actually low or you're far from home. The home base heals you for free, so potions are better for deep runs.

Plan your exit before you start a fight. Since actions can't be canceled, I got stuck in animations while a Gloom-Walker closed in. Picking a direction to retreat to before you commit can save your run.