Below (2018)

1. Panoramixomix

   Dec 29, 2018

   10

   *DISCLAIMER FOR ANYONE NON-SURE IF WANNA BUY* Yes, game is hard and can be frustrating. But it is precisely designed part of its experience.*DISCLAIMER FOR ANYONE NON-SURE IF WANNA BUY* Yes, game is hard and can be frustrating. But it is precisely designed part of its experience. Yes, there is permadeath. But the game does have many kinds of game saving mechanics. Firstly: after every second or third level (or sth like that) you get acces to a shortcut: from Island to a certain floor. There are many of such shortcuts, they are regular. Secondly: on one of first floors you can find an oniric equipment storage mechanism, which allows you to hoard items and food. Thirdly: on the Island, and from shortcuts there are certain areas filled up with a certain items. For example: floor 3 is the best for gaining crystals, if You know how to survive there. That allows you to make preparations for next stepping into the depth. And, of course, you can find your last dead character and take its items - it is easy, because the map shows you exacly where it is. What is more, the map is very easy to follow, and always shows you: if the room is safe or not, what are directions to walk from this room, and if there is a secret in this room. So no frustrating exploration - your task is to find the way, enlight hidden things and investige them, in interactive way. Yes, there are one-kill traps. But they are visible and easy to disarm, they are to force you to be careful and understand importance of light in this game. Game have no tutorials and dialogs. It is atmospheric rougelike, much more interactive than you think. It is hardcore gaming, but very fluent and immersive. *END OF THE DISCLAIMER*
   
   Was waiting for such a game for so long! Seems normal artistic-indie atmospheric fight exploration game, but the trailers and ,,first 15 minutes" do not show much, so you are not sure what to expect. You run the game. No start screen, no tutorial, even no menu. Lonely boat on an ocean. Lonely island. You step into the cave, and then...
   
   To the last moment you have no idea what you can find in the depths. What you will have to do, to survive. Hunting for mices to not starve? Eating raw meat, and then vomiting, placing yourself in danger if attacked? Will you see the traps? Will you figure out, how to disarm or protect from them? You know, half wounds you will get, will be bleeding. How many bandages you made before? One? Great, this time you are not dead. That monster wasn't worth risk, you know, you wouldn't be able even to get meat from it. You want to explore that corner? Do you have enough lantern crystals or torches to get there, go back to the next camp and don't get killed in between? Well, if so, you're welcome... Did you wonder about that strange sounds around?
   
   On the surface - simple crafting based on four/three slots to combine, simple combat without stamina, not many weapons or items to colletc, nice looking locations with no hidden rooms.
   
   If you look correctly - perfectly working deep mechanics connected to the narrative and gameworld logic. Suprisingly many resources to get from environment, and even more items to create with them. Dynamic, movement-based combat with emphasis on timing and aiming, where every weapon has its application, and any wound is a big step to fall, or victory. Beautiful, spacious locations, filled up with different resources and dangers, every single level with its own specific atmosphere and desing construction. Discreet, easy to understand HUD, an affordance to explore with no pointless tries to find the hidden door, but some shortcuts and keys to special places.
   
   And, of course, great soundtrack by Jim Guthrie, which do not need to be praise :)
   
   For me - magnificent game. Hope people will find out what precious thing they got to their hands :3… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
2. foxonarock

   Oct 3, 2020

   10

   I got the game after the explore mode was available, and I feel like my review would have been very different if I had to go trough theI got the game after the explore mode was available, and I feel like my review would have been very different if I had to go trough the original difficulty. This game is an absolute gem. It has a sound design on the level of hyper light drifter(!), with an ambiance so thick it seeps out of the screen and into your room. You can smell the humid air of the cave, the smoke of the campfire. I am very glad the devs allowed us less hardcore gamer to enjoy this piece of art with an explore mode. The difficulty is still there, at least for me, and dying is still devastating, but i joyfully jump back into the darkness every time.… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
4. MysticalNinja

   Dec 15, 2018

   10

   Beautiful, haunting, deep, atmospheric, intelligent are just some of the ways I can describe my first 30 minutes with this gem. I never playedBeautiful, haunting, deep, atmospheric, intelligent are just some of the ways I can describe my first 30 minutes with this gem. I never played anything quite like this before and I look forward to many more sessions with this mysterious game.
   
   Thank you Capy for making something this great! You guys are an inspiration! … Expand

   • 2 of 6 users found this helpful
5. thebestguy

   Dec 18, 2018

   9

   At least I played 6 hours, and the game did not disappoint me. As I've been waiting for, the main theme of the game is to explore the pathAt least I played 6 hours, and the game did not disappoint me. As I've been waiting for, the main theme of the game is to explore the path through the cave, discover the history behind and survive. The most important thing is to survive.
   It's a difficult game, but bad, not at all.
   Excellent music, atmospheric and exciting.
   The wait was worth it.… Expand

   • 1 of 4 users found this helpful
6. iseeall

   Dec 29, 2021

   7

   7/10
   An atmospheric roguelike, with an isometric view, real-time melee combat, some crafting and a semi-permadeath mechanic.
   Good: -7/10
   An atmospheric roguelike, with an isometric view, real-time melee combat, some crafting and a semi-permadeath mechanic.
   
   Good:
   - excellent audio which gives at all a great, atmospheric "experience" feel
   - excellent graphics - though they are mostly just low-poly models, without even any textures. Still, the game has great looks due to real-time shadows, lighting, fog and the haunting darkness
   - it's kinda permadeath but not really permadeath. There are no saves, but as you reach a cooking fire somewhere, you can make it a checkpoint by spending 25 gems (which you loot from killed mobs), and then, after you die, you can teleport to that cooking fire instantly. Then you need to reach your dead body and loot your stuff from it
   
   So-so:
   - inventory is small, but you don't know any recipes in advance, meaning that you generally have to hoard items and find out on your way what 3 items can be crafted into what. Quite early in the game you will find yourself dropping items to free up space, only to later return to the rooms you've been to already and loot the dropped items again etc. Although limited inventory could have been thought of as a mechanic to make the game harder, I think it just introduces hassle and isn't fun. Instead, they should have allowed all items to stack to any amount (also arrows! Currently fire arrows stack 8 max, and bomb arrows 4 max which is way too low) and make inventory scrollable, with no limit on space.
   - on a related note, most stuff you craft is useless. E.g. boiled soup, stew and broth aren't that much more efficient than raw food. And arrows are downright useless, especially those hardest to craft. A fire arrow flies in an arc and will land either too far or too close, miss the enemy you clicked and just burn out after a while. Caltrops will catch 1 enemy - that's not worth crating it from 4 shards and a few more items.
   - I kinda expected a tutorial but instead the game chooses to just let you find out its rules through exploration or randomly. For example, I wouldn't have learnt about the whole crating mechanic or the existence of the inventory, had I not checked "Controls" page in the game's Settings screen. But well, I'm a super-hardcore gamer so I always check game settings before I even start playing the game for the first time. It's probably not what most players would do. Some instructions at start would definitely make this game friendlier to starters
   - fog looks nice but gets dissolved too slowly, and you kinda have to stop at times to just let it dissolve - it annoys a bit
   
   Bad:
   - WASD movement feels clunky at times, especially with the winding paths and corridors the rooms typically are. Often the character will just get stuck if the direction in which you want it to move doesn't fully correspond to the wall's or edge's rotation. E.g. if there is an edge that's going from SE to NW and you hold the A key to move left, the character will be stuck in place. I'd expect it to just slide NW.
   - due to clumsy movement, most of my deaths were in spear traps - although I saw these traps! I'm not sure but maybe just the good old Diablo 1's control system with "click-to-move" and "click to attack" would be friendlier, and click-to-move means walking around traps(?)
   
   As with most art-centric games, Below excels in its aesthetics but isn't great in its mechanics. Also, there is zero narrative: you don't know why you're venturing into these depths, the game kinda sets up the "story" with a long atmospheric cutscene at start and that's it. I'd still recommend this game just for its sheer aesthetics, especially if you get it at a discount. Just don't expect it to hold your attention for too long after you've understood its mechanics and found out that there isn't actually much meat in it. The semi-permadeath thing will pad your playtime maybe 2x or 3x but there is a limit to how many similar winding rooms you'll be willing to clear.… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
7. LesPaul

   Dec 27, 2019

   6

   I thought that this game would fill the niche for a light, easily-accessible time-filler. The graphics looked simple but appealing, butI thought that this game would fill the niche for a light, easily-accessible time-filler. The graphics looked simple but appealing, but discovered thru gameplay that objects are a bit too small to enjoy: the great majority of my screen was often black. The game mechanics and sound were as I had hoped, but I eventually lost interest nonetheless.… Expand

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful
8. Dedlet

   Dec 23, 2018

   0

   This game is **** I had to drop it down to 720p just to be able to read the font. The game inflates the difficulty by locking you into aThis game is **** I had to drop it down to 720p just to be able to read the font. The game inflates the difficulty by locking you into a view that makes it hard to pick out details. A zoom feature would be **** nice so I don't have to sit 3 feet from my TV. The death mechanic is basically "let's make a dark souls game without being sued or mocked for making a dark souls game." Garbage. On my xbox I realized I could restart the game offline to start over rather than having to go through the frustration of having to retrieve corpses. That's how invested the developer is to their hardcore mechanic, you can't delete your profile from the Xbox cloud! And the game is so hard without the lantern it's easier to start over than to attempt to retrieve your body without a dependable light source. The limited use campfire transportation system also adds to the frustration. The music and soundtrack is great but that's the only compliment I can pay this game.
   If you play games to relax then get Dark Souls or even give The Surge a try. If your only sense of achievement in life is completing hard games then this is your game.… Expand

   • 0 of 3 users found this helpful

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