UnderMine

this game scratches an itch while giving a very unique new and welcome twist. 10/10 I got it for very little since the sequel in getting hype. I may check out the sequel one day but for now I had a great experience.

Undermine is a quick but solid roguelike that tries to stand apart from other games in this genre through some gorgeous pixel graphics and smooth combat. And the combat really stands out the most in this game, its simplistic with only jump, melee, and ranged pickaxe throw, but those 3 abilities flow great together no matter if you're fighting the first boss or the last. It plays something like Binding of Isaac mixed with Mario, but with way less enemy variety. The characters/monsters are incredibly detailed too and look fantastic, and the background although not as detailed does have its own theme and design for each level. Some of the sound effects and the attention to detail really stands out the further the game progresses. The characters in this game have a bit of personality too, there isn't much dialogue, but the little that there is works well and creates a few memorable characters. Where Undermine shines with fluid combat, attention to detail, and some great character art, it then falters with variety, progression, and level design. The progression of this game is absymal. The early game feels extremely grindy with bosses locked behind stat upgrades, and the lategame feels almost non-existent, just there to zip you to the end of the game. You will fight for every small bit of gold, every little ounce of treasure the game rewards you with all through the levels, you can never lose concentration for a moment or a pilfer might take your ♥♥♥♥. There are 5 levels of 4 floors each, with 10-15 rooms per floor, but only a boss at the end of the level, not each floor. So just to fight Boss #1, you are clearing 40-50 rooms containing the same 8 enemies over and over. Thats a lot of rooms to clear with very little enemy variety, and these aren't small rooms, there are traps, secret doors, hidden treasures, gold to mine on walls or inside statues, destructibles like plants or pots which could drop goodies, or gobs of enemies spawning-in. Running through rooms is not a thing in this game, you have to look around, pay attention. Not to mention backtracking is constant in this game too, dead ends or locked doors which force you to move backwards are on every floor, often the floors make a huge U or S shape. A single run will take over 90 minutes and requires constant attentiveness throughout because small mess-ups can lead to huge negative bonuses from tiny lapses in concentration, like falling down a pit or catching fire, which both respectively deal 40 damage when you only start with only 150 max health, also a good example of how early bosses feel locked behind upgrades when a fully loaded miner has 300+ health from the start. The environment should not be a bigger threat then the enemies, its as simple as that, no reason falling down a hole should deal nearly 30% of a players health. Most of these complaints with progression and level design would not be issues if there was more variation in the game, it quickly becomes repetitive because the relics (the in-game upgrades) do not significantly impact gameplay and the best upgrades you can get in the game are flat stat upgrades, which are not provided by treasure rooms lol. I had a lot of fun playing Undermine, but making it through all those rooms was a total grind. The game shines most in the boss battles, but they all become skippable after 1 completion, so the lategame is clearing around 250 rooms for 1 boss, big yikes. Although every boss was unique with a slough of different abilities, and I personally loved the final boss- reminiscent of SSBM, overall the bosses were a bit too easy and only took me 2 tries a pop to beat. They were all still a lot of fun, but Undermine was really missing a few more bosses, a few more enemies, or a few more relics. I won't spoil the endgame either, but there isn't anything extra in terms of bosses, so for me the replayability is low, although there are extra missions and what not at the end that I don't want to take away from. 3/5