UnderMine
Released: August 6, 2020
Game Length: 18 Hours
Grade: A
Expectations: This isn't the first time I picked up an interesting-looking rogue-like game. The question is what kind of game is it? Would it be adventurous like Steamworld Dig, resourceful like Stardew Valley, repetitive like Rogue Legacy, or straight-forward like Moonlighter. Not much is shown from the screenshots. At least the trailer makes it look cool. I don't expect to play more than 12 hours.
Reality: So the game ended up being a mixture of all of the above and it was very addicting. You venture into 5 areas with 4 levels each. There are 5 bosses and a final 6th boss you must defeat. I spent about 20 hours exploring everything the game had to offer. It took me a total of 15 runs, mostly because I would die learning the boss mechanics the first time around. There is no way to "return" to the surface other than by death. You slowly upgrade your overall stats, gain recipes, and craft new items until you can make it to the end. My guys were so under-geared that there wasn't a boss fight I won with more than 10% maximum morale remaining. My final guy managed to succeed by doubling his health and using the weirdest weapon - Chakram. I wasn't even planning for that fellow to go all the way!
Attention to Detail: Although it didn't look much on the surface (pun intended), the developers did an awesome job adding way more to the game than what was needed. There is a small story with a lot of the folk hanging around the place. You can see reflections in the water and crystals. Destroying the torches will dim the light. There are 60 curses, 64 potions, 154 relics, and 20 blessings. Unlike in Zelda, you are able to jump. Tossing your pick-axe through an open flame will ignite it. You can cook your food to restore more health. Amusingly, cooking the shopkeeper's food will make him instantly raise the price. You can leave items behind and grab them later on the same floor. Your map will update with the dropped items and any changes you made - using an altar will blow out the candle or grabbing a relic will remove the blue gemstone. $20 is pretty good for a couple of guys making a video game. I was still learning new stuff even on my final run.
Confusing Rules: There are quite a few things that made me question the developers' thinking process for the game. You pick up a recipe, but you have to craft it using Thorium (a semi-premium item that rarely drops). The item will not appear in the mine until you craft it before your run, but you can only do 1 for each type of item. Craft a second one by accident and a little guy will steal it, thereby "installing" it into the floors. You can obtain armor but it only absorbs one "hit" before you have to obtain an armor drop. For an altar, your only options is to receive a blessing and a curse or pay by blood to remove a curse. Contrary to what I thought initially, the curse does not always counter-weight the blessing. A Float Potion doesn't work on spikes and Popcorn Kernels does not duplicate food. A lunchbox will only store food if you are at maximum health and will drop it the moment you receive damage. Some items like the Kurtz Stache simply remains a mystery until you look it up.
Fun in Curses: From an observing eye, a relic is something positive while a curse is something negative. But it doesn't always have to be like that. Waking Light has torches shoot fireballs towards you that could easily hurt enemies or light up puzzle chests. Bloodied Locks is pretty good when you can't find any lockpicks and Blood Offering will give you more health than it costs you to buy discounted food. Then there is a whole list of fun stuff that happens when you visit Sho'guul's Lair. You should have seen my face when my base health dropped by 80% (giving me a maximum of 150) when I picked up Glass Cannon, but my critical strikes were doing around 500 damage each.
OtherMine: This feature was added in an update after the initial release date. After you complete the mine and pick up the "Summoning Stone" that raises the difficulty a hair, you begin picking up Nether every time you craft an item. Use one of these at the gate and you enter a sort-of challenge mode. You get a chest with a random number of upgrades and a choice between two randomized items from each status modifier - pet, relic, blessing, and curse. Your resources are limited and there is nothing brought over from your main camp. Stores do offer upgrades for a price and you continue with your character modifications after every boss fight. It ended up being too hard for me. I would manage to get one boss down and die before reaching the second one. You can use the Relic Altar to sneak something in from the main campaign, but I rage quit before I got to that point. My advice? Stick with the main campaign until you are able to defeat The Old King and call it a done deal after that.
11-10-2020