BELOW

69%
Game Brain Score Based on 798 reviews
  • gameplay
  • atmosphere
  • music
BELOW Game Cover
Below is a punishing dungeon crawler, mixing elements from roguelikes, Dark Souls and survival games to create an often painful, yet oddly enticing action-adventure game.
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Test your adventurer mettle against The Isle’s procedural subterranean labyrinths. Explore a large, interconnected underworld crawling with cunning wildlife, deadly traps and stalked by a shadowy presence. Survive the perils of The Depths and unearth what lies below... or die trying..

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Reviews

69%
Audience ScoreBased on 798 reviews
gameplay72 positive mentions
grinding77 negative mentions
  • The game features stunning visuals and a haunting soundtrack that create an immersive atmosphere.
  • The exploration and discovery elements are rewarding, encouraging players to learn through trial and error.
  • The game offers a unique experience with its minimalist design and lack of hand-holding, appealing to players who enjoy challenging gameplay.
  • The permadeath mechanic can be frustrating, as players must retrieve their items from their corpse after dying, leading to tedious backtracking.
  • The game lacks clear instructions or tutorials, making it difficult for players to understand mechanics and objectives.
  • The pacing can feel slow and repetitive, especially during the early stages and when backtracking to recover lost items.
  • gameplay364 mentions

    The gameplay of "Below" is a mixed bag, with many players praising its atmospheric design and engaging combat mechanics, while others criticize its lack of clear guidance and overly punishing survival elements. The game features a steep learning curve, requiring players to discover mechanics through trial and error, which can lead to frustration, especially with its permadeath system. Overall, while the core mechanics are seen as solid, the execution often detracts from the experience, making it feel tedious and repetitive for some players.

    • “The gameplay is pretty fun; once you master the combat, you know just what to do or how to dodge or parry an enemy. For instance, you end up finding a spear where you can not only attack your enemies but also catch some fish for cooking.”
    • “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. The amount of different ambient sounds, all the little details in the ground, the shadow work, surprising events, and mechanics you've never seen before... there's a lot of love and time behind this game.”
    • “The gameplay is challenging, the soundtrack is fantastic, and the atmosphere is haunting, desolate, and beautiful.”
    • “It looks great, but the gameplay is straight up boring.”
    • “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.”
  • atmosphere303 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and haunting qualities, with many players highlighting the stunning visuals, captivating sound design, and a sense of dread that enhances exploration. Reviewers appreciate the game's ability to evoke feelings of mystery and tension, making it a compelling experience for those who enjoy atmospheric storytelling. However, some players note that the focus on atmosphere can lead to pacing issues and gameplay frustrations, particularly in later stages.

    • “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 whole atmosphere, created thanks to an amazing, stunning, and impactful isometric visual style, artful soundtrack, and spot-on graphics and sound effects, conveys a sense of dread and impending doom the more you delve into the depths.”
    • “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.”
    • “You can give so much for the sake of atmosphere that you end up sacrificing everything else to attain it.”
  • music209 mentions

    The music in the game has received widespread acclaim for its haunting and atmospheric qualities, primarily composed by Jim Guthrie, which enhances the overall immersive experience. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack's ability to evoke feelings of mystery and dread, with many noting its minimalistic yet impactful use throughout the game. While some players appreciate the unique themes for different areas, others express a desire for more variety and frequency in the music to better complement the gameplay.

    • “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.”
  • graphics194 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning aesthetics, unique art style, and atmospheric visuals that create an immersive experience. Many reviewers highlight the beautiful sound design and music, which complement the visuals, although some note that the simplicity of the graphics can lead to a lack of detail in gameplay. Overall, while the visuals are considered a strong point, they are often seen as overshadowed by gameplay issues and design flaws.

    • “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.”
    • “The graphics and everything are probably just too powerful for my machine and it makes, some not all or even a lot, of the lighting generated look like a purple blur.”
    • “The art style and sound design is also amazing.”
    • “The visuals, while atmospheric, are too bare-bones to be charming.”
    • “So to recap: feels more like an interactable presentation from a graphical designer's sketchbook than an actual game.”
    • “It feels sluggish, void of drive and will only attempt to lure you with murky visuals and spheric sounds.”
  • story125 mentions

    The game's story is largely minimalistic and abstract, relying heavily on environmental storytelling and player interpretation rather than direct narrative or dialogue. While some players appreciate the atmospheric and cryptic nature of the story, others find it frustratingly vague and lacking in context, leading to a sense of aimlessness. Overall, the experience is described as one that rewards exploration and patience, with a focus on mood and atmosphere over a traditional plot.

    • “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.”
    • “There isn't any story.”
    • “The story is minimalistic in the most simplistic way; I don't think it can get any lower than that. You barely get anything to work with, you don't know the motivation of your character, nor the origins of the island where everything takes place, or anything in general at all.”
  • grinding78 mentions

    The reviews highlight a pervasive sense of tedium associated with grinding in the game, with many players expressing frustration over the repetitive resource gathering and crafting mechanics. While some appreciate the atmospheric elements and potential for exploration, the overwhelming sentiment is that the gameplay loop becomes a tedious chore, particularly in the later stages where permadeath and resource management exacerbate the grind. Overall, the game is seen as having great potential, but its execution often leads to a frustrating and slow experience that detracts from enjoyment.

    • “There is no farming, just perfect content.”
    • “Tedious, shallow, and wasteful, even on explore mode.”
    • “The gameplay is not hard by itself, however, there are some things that are really tedious: you have a survival system and have to eat and craft potions/food.”
    • “The game is gorgeous, mysterious, and definitely not bad, but it's really grindy and slow; it's the only thing that's not fun. You will have to collect consumables to survive, and if you die, you lose it all and have to redo everything.”
  • emotional9 mentions

    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 evoke a sense of anxiety and attachment, as players feel a poignant connection to their fallen characters, enhancing the overall experience. The game's atmosphere, combined with its challenging gameplay, creates a unique emotional journey that leaves players feeling both invested and introspective.

    • “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 had played before, especially when I discovered my previous character just lying 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.”
  • stability9 mentions

    Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while some players report it running smoothly with no bugs, others experience significant issues such as terrain glitches, unresponsive attacks, and freezing on startup. Despite these problems, many users find the game playable on older hardware, indicating that performance may vary depending on individual setups. Developers appear to be aware of certain issues and are working on fixes.

    • “The game is bug-free.”
    • “It even runs great on my 6-year-old laptop!”
    • “Sometimes games can't decide if they want to use 5.1 surround when I play via my Steambox, but that appeared to work perfectly with no troubleshooting.”
    • “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.”
  • replayability7 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the high survival challenge and emergent gameplay that encourages multiple runs, others find the lack of depth in loot systems and repetitive content limits its long-term appeal. The permadeath mechanic can be frustrating, and while the unique atmosphere draws some players back, many agree that the game ultimately offers little in terms of varied replay value.

    • “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.”
  • humor5 mentions

    The humor in the game is described as a blend of frustrating yet amusing lessons reminiscent of parental guidance, with a community that shares a strong sense of humor and appreciation for the game. Players find the visuals and overall presentation to be hilariously appealing, contributing to the game's charm despite mixed reviews.

    • “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.”
  • optimization4 mentions

    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.”
  • monetization3 mentions

    Reviewers express frustration with the game's monetization strategy, criticizing it for promoting a grind-heavy experience instead of offering fair microtransactions. They believe that the developers missed an opportunity to enhance player experience by not incorporating more balanced monetization options.

    • “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 development2 mentions

    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 game's design elements are praised for their uniqueness, the overall experience feels repetitive and uninspired, leading to a diminished enthusiasm for continued play.

    • “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, leaving me disconnected from the story and the characters themselves.”
    • “I was expecting a rich narrative and character growth, but instead, I found a lack of depth that made it hard to care about anyone in the game.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

71% average critic score

Buy BELOW

Play time

8hMedian play time
10hAverage play time
5-16hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 13 analyzed playthroughs

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