Underminer

About

Underminer is a single player simulation game. It was developed by Team GongMyeong and was released on January 10, 2024. It received very positive reviews from players.

Welcome to Underminer, an underground adventure game set in a subterranean world. Mine minerals, earn money, upgrade your drill machine and descend deeper into the earth. The truth about 'legendary minerals' and an exciting underground world are waiting for you!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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92%

Audience ScoreBased on 543 reviews

story27 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

Short and fun gameplay that can be completed in about 2 hours.
Cute graphics and a nostalgic feel reminiscent of classic mining games like Motherload.
Free to play, making it an easy recommendation for casual gamers.

Controls can be clunky and take time to get used to, especially with keyboard input.
The game is very short, leading to a feeling of abruptness in the story and gameplay.
Some bugs and translation issues detract from the overall experience.

story
113 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
68%
8%
The game's story is generally described as short, simplistic, and often underwhelming, with many players noting its rudimentary writing and abrupt ending. While some found the narrative to be a fun addition that complements the gameplay, others criticized it for being generic and poorly executed, with issues like bad dialogue and translation errors. Overall, the story serves as a basic framework to support the mining mechanics, but many players expressed a desire for more depth and content.
- “A fun little drilling adventure game with a cute story and enjoyable gameplay.”
- “The story is very short, but the game is free, so who am I to complain.”
- “Definitely a great game and good story.”
- “The story culminates in a very underwhelming discovery of a 'legendary mineral' which is just uranium and everyone acts like it has never been heard of before, which for some reason also makes toxic gas.”
- “The story is very basic and the game does end suddenly.”
- “The story also starts off promising but the ending feels like it skips over something, as though there was a plan for a story that was just never completed.”
gameplay
59 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
44%
5%
The gameplay is characterized by a straightforward mining and upgrading loop that, while enjoyable and satisfying, tends to be simplistic and repetitive over its short duration of around 1-5 hours. Players appreciate the core mechanics and visuals, but many express a desire for more depth, variety, and challenge, as well as potential expansions to enhance the experience. Overall, the game is seen as a fun, relaxing time-waster with solid mechanics, though it lacks narrative depth and can feel unchallenging at times.
- “The gameplay consists of digging down, mining minerals, upgrading your drill, going deeper, and so on...”
- “Although the gameplay is the same throughout the entire game, it never feels repetitive.”
- “The game has a straightforward mining and upgrading gameplay loop, all taking place in a persistent map that retains all the tunnels you dug through.”
- “This is a rather short game (about 5 hours of gameplay) and it does get repetitive very quickly.”
- “Gameplay: too simplistic, repetitive, and the campaign is just a bunch of fetch quests and delivery quests.”
- “I won't waste more words than I should describing the gameplay - it's pretty basic for the genre and there's nothing groundbreaking (except your drill!) to remark upon.”
grinding
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
Reviews on the grinding aspect of the game are mixed; some players find it mildly grindy, particularly in the later stages, while others feel it is not overly tedious and can even be enjoyable. A few users noted that grinding can extend playtime, but one player humorously mentioned that the game is so easy that they became overleveled without much effort. Overall, the grinding experience varies, with some appreciating the challenge and others wishing for more variety and upgrades.
- “The gameplay is great, and isn't too grindy.”
- “Very fun game, I enjoyed it a lot. It gets a bit grindy; I would love if there were other locations and more upgrades, but overall an awesome game.”
- “Game is incredibly easy; there's no grinding involved whatsoever (I barely tried and ended up comically overleveled).”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “I would say later on, even with the sort of location checkpoint system, it's a bit tedious to go back and forth from the shop, but that's just my impatience probably.”
- “Spent a bit of time grinding early game which extended my playtime, still finished it in 4 hours.”
graphics
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
49%
13%
Overall, the graphics received mixed feedback; while many praised the charming visuals and art style, some noted that the graphics could be considered crude and mentioned minor bugs affecting the experience.
- “The things I liked about the game were definitely the visuals and gameplay.”
- “With the cute plot, aesthetics, and genre, it seems like a spiritual successor to Motherload.”
- “Loved the art style, loved the gameplay loop, loved the price tag.”
- “It has a few bugs like mod slots on your equipment getting greyed out, and graphics-wise it's pretty crude.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it enjoyable while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking variation. Additionally, the absence of separate volume controls for music and sound effects has led to frustration, prompting some users to mute the game entirely. However, the ending song has been positively noted, adding a redeeming quality to the overall sound experience.
- “I love the mining effect (stone/ore slowly breaks apart), the music, and the save system (remembers all of your progress, including where you'd previously mined).”
- “Pretty fun game, Terraria vibes kinda, but one thing is you can't change the music volume and game volume down separately, good job devs. :)”
- “It has great music.”
- “The music is a bit repetitive and gets irritating after a while – it's always the same track with no variation.”
- “There's no option in the menu to separately control music and sound effects; there's only a single master volume slider.”
- “[b] Repetitive sound design[/b] The sound design in Underminer may become repetitive over time, with limited variation in sound effects and music tracks.”
humor
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding the dialogue amusingly bad and the story poorly written, while others appreciate the clever puns related to the title. Overall, the humor is described as awkward yet acceptable, contributing to a light-hearted experience, especially in a quick and polished browser format.
- “Dialogue is funny.”
- “Funny that they ask for GTX 1080 and 4GB VRAM as recommended while any integrated GPU can run this thing nowadays.”
- “As an added bonus, Underminer also has a title that lends well to conversational puns for great humor.”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
The game lacks significant replayability due to its linear structure, offering no alternative pathways or progression beyond the main story. Players express disappointment over the absence of features like a sandbox mode or post-story content that could enhance replay value, especially considering it is a free-to-play title. Overall, the consensus is that the game offers little incentive for repeated playthroughs.
- “It does not possess the charm or intricacy of Motherload, which limits its replayability; however, this is not Motherload.”
- “Replayability: there is no pathway other than the main story, and no progression beyond the main story either.”
- “Final thoughts: I understand this is a free-to-play game, but the least that could have been done was to have a sandbox mode or after-story progression, something to increase the replayability.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express a lack of emotional engagement with the game, feeling that it fails to provide spiritual or intellectual fulfillment. The gameplay mechanics, particularly the movement, are described as frustrating and uninspiring, contributing to an overall sense of dissatisfaction.
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
Overall, the game's stability is mixed; while some players report significant bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, others have experienced minimal issues, with only occasional frame rate drops in late-game. Despite these stability concerns, many find the game enjoyable and fun to play.
- “Great little indie game, a bit short but it was very fun to play. There were no glitches or bugs that affected the gameplay. In the late game, I experienced some big FPS drops, but it was still playable and enjoyable.”
- “The story is meh, and the modules are buggy, but besides that, the gameplay is fun.”
- “While this doesn't have much to do and some glitches that are a bit problematic (for example, upgrade slots locking themselves if you click an upgrade slot after clicking another one), it's still a fun short game to play.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
Players appreciate the depth of character development, highlighting the inclusion of a rich storyline, diverse upgrade paths, and various activities such as unlocking secrets and managing resources, which enhance the overall gameplay experience.
- “The character development is rich and engaging, with a well-crafted storyline that keeps you invested.”
- “I love the upgrade paths available for characters, allowing for personalized growth and unique playstyles.”
- “There are so many secrets to unlock and materials to collect, making the character progression feel rewarding and dynamic.”
- “The game lacks meaningful character development, leaving players feeling disconnected from their avatars.”
- “There is a severe shortage of storyline depth and character progression, making the experience feel flat and unengaging.”
- “I wish there were more opportunities for character upgrades and development; it feels like I'm just grinding without any real growth.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report significant performance issues related to optimization, particularly when upgrading the drill to its maximum level, which causes severe stuttering due to excessive particle effects. This stuttering persists even at lower resolutions, rendering the game unplayable for some users.
- “If you upgrade your drill to the maximum level and start using it, the game starts to stutter, perhaps due to too many particles while drilling. The stuttering is so severe that my game became unplayable, even after lowering the resolution.”
- “Performance issues.”