- [T.J.] I love the feeling I get
when exploring a new level of Below's gloomy,
foreboding dungeon for the first time.
From the enemies to the environmental art
to the sound design, everything falls into place perfectly
to create a spooky atmosphere of unveiling the unknown,
never quite knowing what might lie
down the next flight of stairs.
Then I step on a cheap instakill spike trap,
have to start over without my stuff,
and likely to need to spend the next 30 minutes
farming lantern fuel and bat meat
so I can take another crack at it.
Talk about killing the mood.
Almost all of my biggest frustrations with Below
come back to it not seeming to be able to decide
if it wants to be a moody, deliberate dungeon crawler
with satisfying combat, or a punishing survival action game
that never lets you relax.
It's at its best when it keeps that first goal in mind,
wowing me with cool subterranean vistas
and enticing me with hard-to-find secret rooms
full of useful rewards, but the second goal is often there
to ruin the moment, and there's no stronger example of this
than the freaking hunger meter,
which is one of the most unnecessary ones
I've ever encountered.
Nothing takes me out of discovering a massive,
ruined underground city like the little red icon popping up
to remind me that I can't stop to enjoy
the gorgeous architecture of comb every corner
meticulously for secrets.
Instead, I need to forage some mushrooms quick,
or I risk losing everything.
It's so counterproductive because even though
many of these levels are procedurally generated,
they're just begging to be enjoyed and mapped out
at a methodical tempo.
And with keeping yourself fed
comes dull, repetitive busywork.
Scooping up food off the ground
wherever you may happen to be standing
will only get you so far.
And preparing for expeditions into the deeper levels
of the dungeon requires farming for supplies
close to the surface.
Every death means not only having to repeat
multiple floors of dashing and slashing,
which I didn't mind too much,
but repeating some of the most boring parts
to get munchies.
Even with unlockable shortcuts, that gets repetitive.
If it weren't for all this grinding,
I think I would have been much more engaged
by the relentlessly punishing difficulty
of the lower floors.
Combat is fair, methodical, and exciting
once you learn how the diverse and memorable
collection of enemies behave.
Some grueling gauntlets later on
really got my blood pumping.
But even though I enjoy getting a little better
and a little further each time,
knowing I'd have to do so many chores
just to earn another shot if I failed
diminished that sense of satisfaction
next to other similar games.
There's also the compounding issue of the lantern,
which is needed to open many critical doors,
can spot traps, and is the only defense
against certain enemies.
There's only one in the entire world
and you drop it if you die.
If you happen to die in an area full of shadow monsters,
you face the prospect of a far more difficult trek
to get it back.
It's such a strange reverse rubber-band mechanic.
You weren't good enough to beat this room on your first shot
so now you have to do a version of it that's way harder.
Good luck.
In the background, there's a story that,
on the occasions you can actually take a breath
and absorb it, is really well done.
Without using a word of dialogue,
it slowly and effectively unveils the nature
and secrets of the dungeon.
The animations that take you between floors
are as eye-catching as they are mood-setting.
And entering a new floor that looks nothing
like what came before was always a cool moment.
And the ending is a dramatic, unexpected twist
that almost makes the 30-ish hours
of pain getting there worth it.
I wanted to love Below for its amazing art,
stellar sound design with echoing chambers
and atmospheric music, and clever, inspired,
environmental storytelling.
But their light isn't bright enough
to shine through all the darkness of the hunger,
instant death, and corpse run mechanics,
which actively get in the way of enjoying the world
and the combat.
Below simply leans too hard on rogue-like
and crafting elements, which forces an urgent pace
that conflicts with its more admirable design ideas.
For more on Below, check out 25 Minutes of Gameplay.
And for other rogue-likes,
check out our early-access review of Hades
and our review of We Happy Few.
And for everything else, stick with IGN.