BELOW

About

"BELOW is a single-player, fantasy open world game with stunning game mechanics, amazing graphics, and fabulous music. Explore the treacherous, procedurally generated depths of The Isle, survive its dangerous wildlife and traps, and discover the secrets that lie below, or die trying. The world is alive with flora, fauna, and the chance to scavenge materials, creating life-saving remedies and survival tools."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

69%

Audience ScoreBased on 846 reviews

gameplay77 positive mentions

grinding79 negative mentions

Incredible atmosphere and sound design that immerses players in a haunting world.
Challenging gameplay that rewards careful exploration and strategic planning.
Beautiful art style and visuals that enhance the overall experience.

Punishing permadeath mechanics that can lead to frustrating backtracking and loss of progress.
Lack of tutorials or guidance, making it difficult for players to understand mechanics and objectives.
Repetitive gameplay due to procedural generation and limited enemy variety, leading to potential boredom.

gameplay
383 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
74%
6%
The gameplay of "Below" is characterized by a blend of survival mechanics, exploration, and roguelike elements, creating a challenging yet often frustrating experience. While the atmospheric design and sound are praised, many players find the mechanics overly punishing, particularly the permadeath system and lack of guidance, which can lead to tedious gameplay loops and a steep learning curve. Overall, the game offers a unique experience that rewards patience and exploration, but its execution leaves some players feeling overwhelmed and disengaged.
- “The gameplay is very captivating.”
- “The world and gameplay fit together so nicely and really make exploring the world fun and captivating.”
- “It's a very smart top-down souls-like/action/exploration/crafting game with a very good and satisfying combat system and a ridiculously high attention to detail.”
- “Below's atmospheric audio-visual world, which asks for slow and methodical gameplay, simply does not pair well with the repetition required by its roguelike half.”
- “The gameplay loop feels too similar from run to run to really get me to keep going.”
- “The game is painstakingly slow to get started and, even when it does get rolling, it fails to deliver meaningful gameplay.”
atmosphere
321 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
27%
2%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and haunting qualities, with many reviewers highlighting the stunning visuals, captivating sound design, and a sense of dread that permeates the experience. While the game excels in creating a rich, atmospheric world that encourages exploration and discovery, some players feel that the slow pacing and repetitive gameplay detract from the overall enjoyment. Overall, the game's atmosphere is considered its strongest feature, drawing players into a beautifully crafted yet foreboding environment.
- “The atmosphere is spot on, the exploration is superb, the feeling of danger and dread when going below is astoundingly good.”
- “The ambience is atmospheric, captivating, and frightening; it makes you fear for what lurks in the darkness.”
- “The atmosphere in this game is unlike any I've experienced before, and it is executed flawlessly.”
- “The dark, wet, miserable atmosphere permeates throughout the experience.”
- “Once the atmosphere gets repetitive, old, and disappears (in about 2 hours or so), you will truly feel what it is like to be inside a dark cave for a very long period of time.”
- “The 'atmosphere' is just dark, misty and gloomy, nothing stands out at all.”
music
219 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
39%
1%
The music in the game is widely praised for its haunting and atmospheric qualities, with many reviewers highlighting the exceptional work of composer Jim Guthrie. The soundtrack effectively enhances the game's immersive experience, contributing to a sense of loneliness and foreboding, although some players noted a desire for more variety and frequency in the music. Overall, the combination of stunning visuals and a captivating soundtrack creates a deeply engaging atmosphere that resonates with players.
- “The soundtrack and audio cues are perfectly used, taking into account the mystery and fear of the unknown that we end up facing in these dark caves.”
- “The music is amazing, eerie, and adds so much to the experience.”
- “Jim Guthrie has provided a soundtrack that is not only beautiful and haunting, but simply put, the best soundtrack I have heard in a game in a very long time, if not ever.”
- “If there was more variety in the music and if it played more often, trudging through the monotonous caves would be a lot more tolerable.”
- “When it comes to the issues and the bugs this game persists, the music doesn’t play at some floors and sometimes, the sound design blanks out altogether, leaving the game feeling shallow and empty and ruining my immersion with the game at certain points.”
- “There was a surprising lack of music while playing, which lent itself to the overall boring feeling it gave me.”
graphics
202 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
40%
2%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning aesthetic and atmospheric qualities, with many reviewers highlighting the unique art style, effective use of lighting, and immersive sound design. However, some critiques point to the simplicity and minimalism of the visuals, which can lead to a lack of detail and clarity in gameplay. Overall, while the graphics create a captivating and mysterious environment, they may not appeal to everyone, especially those seeking more intricate visual experiences.
- “The sparse geometric aesthetic is absolutely gorgeous, the fluid and gas dynamics are excellent, and a sense of foreboding evil seeps from every shadow.”
- “The graphics aren't anything particularly special technically, but the style is excellent with every area having a coherent theme, stunning vistas, and hidden details.”
- “The visuals are absolutely stunning, with weather effects, fluid animations, and the camera zooming out at times to show just how small you really are.”
- “When you add up the drab graphics, boring gameplay, and it obscuring everything, including what the heck you're supposed to be doing, it didn't take long before I was wondering why it was worth carrying on playing.”
- “The visuals, while atmospheric, are too bare-bones to be charming.”
- “It feels sluggish, void of drive, and will only attempt to lure you with murky visuals and spheric sounds.”
story
131 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
73%
14%
The game's story is largely minimalistic and obscure, relying heavily on environmental storytelling and player interpretation rather than direct narrative. While some players appreciate the atmospheric and cryptic nature of the story, others find it frustrating due to its lack of clarity and direction, leading to feelings of aimlessness. Overall, the experience is described as one that rewards patience and exploration, but may leave those seeking a more traditional narrative feeling unsatisfied.
- “The game is immersive from the get-go, and instantly grabbed my attention with the mysterious atmosphere, the entrancing music, and the story that is drip-fed to you over the course of the game.”
- “The story is very obscure, though by the end of the game you have a solid grasp of what's going on.”
- “You progress the story to play the game, you play the game to progress the story.”
- “There is no specific story.”
- “The story is not told to you in any way.”
- “There isn't any story.”
grinding
80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
99%
The grinding aspect of the game has been widely criticized for being tedious and frustrating, with many players feeling that it detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some appreciate the game's atmosphere and mechanics, they often find the resource gathering and crafting processes to be unnecessarily time-consuming and repetitive, especially in the later stages. Overall, the consensus suggests that the game could benefit from a more streamlined approach to its grinding elements to enhance player experience.
- “There is no farming, just perfect content.”
- “Tedious, shallow and wasteful, even on explore mode.”
- “The game is gorgeous, mysterious and definitely not bad, but it's really grindy and slow. You will have to collect consumables to survive, and if you die, you lose it all and have to redo everything.”
- “The atmosphere of the game is great, but it still won't save you from its tediousness running through the same places the umpteenth time.”
emotional
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional aspect of the game deeply resonant, often reflecting on themes of solitude, loss, and the thrill of discovery. The mechanics of character death and loss evoke a sense of anxiety and investment, with many feeling a poignant connection to their characters and the game's haunting atmosphere. Despite its flaws, the game's ability to evoke strong emotions and create a sense of purpose in the face of adversity is widely appreciated, making it a memorable experience.
- “I found this game very touching because of the current world situation. I find myself alone even when my family lives 5 minutes away; I still don't see them as often as I would want to.”
- “The feeling of the unknown, the constant presence of something menacing at the bottom gave me purpose to continue, but the deeper I went, the more anxious I felt. That moment when I died for the very first time was so different from anything I played before, especially when I discovered my previous character just laying dead... rotten... forgotten. That was somehow strange and disturbing; I really did feel bad and emotional. I believe that developers really put a lot of their soul into this project; there are lots of tiny details that strongly reflect that.”
- “A wondrous spatial and emotional atmosphere - never before has a video game cave felt so forebodingly dark, damp, cavernous, lonely... and full of unknown perils.”
stability
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
56%
Overall, the stability of the game is mixed; while some users report it running smoothly with no bugs, others experience significant issues such as terrain glitches, unresponsive attacks, and freezing on startup. Despite these problems, some players have noted that the game performs well on older hardware. Developers appear to be aware of certain issues and are working on fixes.
- “The game runs great on my 6-year-old laptop!”
- “It runs perfectly with no troubleshooting needed for my 5.1 surround sound setup.”
- “The game is bug-free.”
- “Another issue is when I slash away the rock obstacles to form a passageway, the terrain glitches out and I cannot pass through, so I have to find another way around, which is very annoying.”
- “It's quite interesting and there's a lot to discover, but the pacing is extremely slow and the game is very buggy.”
- “Game freezes on startup, on the studio logo screen; however, it seems the developer has already taken note of this issue. Once it is fixed, I will amend this review.”
replayability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
29%
43%
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the high survival elements and emergent gameplay that encourage multiple playthroughs, others find the lack of a deeper loot system and the necessity to restart after death limits the overall replay value. Despite its polished atmosphere and unique design, many users feel that the game does not offer enough variety or incentives to keep returning after completing it.
- “It serves as a fantastic vessel for replayability, but having to restart your delve with every death means you'll rarely get past floor 4 or 5 if you don't know what you're doing.”
- “It's actually so not random that the general consensus is that it has little replay value, though due to its inherent uniqueness, I beg to differ; I have yet to find another roguelite this polished and focused on atmosphere and art direction, and that alone has made me return to its somber depths for dozens of hours after I had seen its end.”
- “Permadeath doesn't bother me; what does bother me is having to replay through content that doesn't have much replayability.”
- “It would have been great if there was a deeper loot system, NPCs, multiplayer, or some other replayability elements.”
- “But mainly, for this kind of game, there's not much replay value to be had.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by a blend of dark, ironic lessons reminiscent of parental guidance, alongside a community that shares a playful appreciation for the game's quirks. Players find the humor both engaging and relatable, contributing to an overall enjoyable experience despite mixed reviews. The visuals also enhance the comedic elements, making the game appealing and amusing.
- “These first hours of the game consist of what feels like frustrating non-stop lessons, like a parent teaching their child important lessons (don't touch the fire, don't drink stuff from the funny bleach bottle, etc.).”
- “Felt like him and I felt like the online community for this game had a great sense of humor and love of the game.”
- “Hilarious.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players experience acceptable performance on high-spec PCs, others report significant lag and occasional crashes, detracting from the overall experience. Many believe that with further optimization, the game could reach its full potential as a graphical powerhouse.
- “It has the potential to be really good, but at the moment it's lagging like hell, sometimes for no reason, and it's really kicking me out of the mood... once it is fixed and optimized though, it will be perfect, at least for my taste.”
- “Performance was acceptable with occasional crashes.”
- “One final note about performance - this game is a serious graphical powerhouse.”
- “No technical or performance issues for me on a healthy up-to-spec PC.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers express frustration with the game's monetization strategy, criticizing it for promoting a grind-heavy experience instead of offering fair microtransaction options. They believe that the developers missed an opportunity to enhance player satisfaction by not incorporating more balanced monetization practices.
- “In fact, I think the developers did themselves a disservice by advertising it as such.”
- “This is up there with not offering ad sensitivity in FPS games; it shouldn't even be an issue in any modern release.”
- “A grind rooted in pure design, rather than microtransactions.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
Character development in the game is perceived as lacking, with players expressing disappointment over the absence of a compelling narrative or character growth. While the design elements are praised for their uniqueness, the overall experience feels repetitive and uninspired, leading to a lack of engagement with the characters.
- “There's also just the right amount of tension, and lots of wonderful details in the level and character design which all harmonize together in a unique and memorable, 'Hyper Light Drifter' meets 'Kentucky Route Zero' sort of way.”
- “I hope there's more to it, and that I just spent too much time checking every nook and cranny in the starting area and first few levels. But as it stands, an hour in, a death to something cheap, incredibly bland and repetitive combat, and no story or character development... I'm really not excited to boot this game up again.”
- “The character development feels non-existent. I was expecting a rich narrative and growth, but instead, I found myself stuck with one-dimensional characters that lack depth.”
- “I was really looking forward to character progression, but it seems like the developers put little thought into it. The characters are forgettable, and their arcs are predictable and uninspired.”