Life Below

This was such a surprise game for me, best cozy citybuilder I've found in ages. And the theme is a very cute twist on the genre. I absolutely love it.

Joli, plus complexe qu'il n'y parait, reposant (ou presque)

I found this game to be an excellent addition to the city builder genre. After beating the main campaign, I can say that the actual city building is fairly intriguing. You have to balance out several resources in a very limited space. Knowing how to optimize the little space you have to start with is challenging and fun. Knowing where to spend the few tech points (biodiversity) you start with requires you actually think about what you're doing and why. Its very easy to essentially softlock yourself if you don't plan out what you're doing. To me, this was engaging, but I know some people that would hate that such a thing is even possible. Then come the hazards. I found the hazards to be great in concept but lacking in depth (odd, for a game about the ocean?). Conceptually, they're a very good addition. They keep the game engaging by forcing you to consider what could go wrong, and planning ahead to prevent them from doing too much damage. But they are also too simple. Most of them are binary "do you have the building/lure that prevents this particular hazard? Yes: Everything is fine; No: You lose the entire zone it happened in." Biodiversity as a mechanic is an excellent way to do progression. To unlock new techs, you spend biodiversity (permanently), and you gain biodiversity by having different species live in your reef. But if your species die due to hazards, then you lose the biodiversity you gained from hosting them. So, if your biodiversity is 0 because you spent it all in tech, fish dying will put you in biodiversity "debt", which if you spend too much time in, will kill you. This forces you to consider "do I really need that tech right now, or would I rather have more biodiversity to spare in case something goes wrong?" every time you want to progress. Overall, solid 8/10. Did not find the game too difficult, and fairly short. But every moment I spent with the game was lovely, so I'd say it was worth the price. Not the most complex city builder/automation game out there, but that actually made it quite cozy.

Overall a fun take on an underwater city builder. It's a good looking game, I like the narrative, graphics, and the idea of restoration is fun. The gameplay itself is fairly standard and moderately fun. It's certainly not the most complex, but it's still a pretty good time and you should get some hours out of it. There are some large annoyances for me - primarily that they so strongly lock the research tree for what should be basic options, such as being able to even just move something. I ended up with a random event that spawned trash and I couldn't move it after 4 hours of playing and did not even see the option to research it yet either. It ends up being quite a railroady game in that regard, you're pretty forced in your choices. Maybe I did not make it far enough, but I would have preferred to see more use other than just a generic point value for getting fish into the areas. They made it feel alive, but it basically served as a drain on resources unless you needed the points at the time. I would still recommend it for a casual fun time, but I do hope it gets some quality of life upgrades as well - like letting me click on the notifications to take me to where a building is losing health!

Perfect depth and submersive sound design! The power fantasy of healing the ocean is a welcome one.

Kellemes kis városépítős stratégia lett, le a kalappal, csak ajánlani tudom :) Köszönöm a játék kulcsot a kiadótól :)

A slow but satisfying builder. Really love that the animals and corals are real and the little factoids about them. Some swimming animations are a little janky now and then, but nothing that detracts from the charm. I'm enjoying playing hide-and-seek with flounders and delighted when visitors show up at my growing reef.

Beautiful Game, I really had a lot of fun playin!