First, a word from the developer: “Going Under is a satirical dungeon crawler about exploring the cursed ruins of failed startups. As an unpaid intern in the dystopian city of Neo-Cascadia, you’ll wield office junk as weaponry as you make your way though the offbeat procedural dungeons beneath your company campus.“
What’s Working For Me:
- The aesthetic is perfectly evocative of the “corporate art” so often associated with start-ups. The fact that it makes the game easier to run on lower-end hardware is just a bonus. (With that being said, I occasionally found the difference between the 2D art used in cutscenes and the 3D renders of the moment-to-moment gameplay a bit jarring.)
- The writing is great, regularly lampooning corporate culture (and especially start-up culture) during character interactions, missions, and item names. Even game mechanics are filtered through this lens: permanent stat buffs are unlocked via “mentorship,” by the secondary cast, for example. In my mind, the characters are one of the main attractions to keep playing; I regularly enjoyed both their dialogue and seeing what kind of whacky missions a “mentor” would request next
- There’s something viscerally satisfying about using office supplies to beat up your enemies. Also, I appreciate how a weapon’s use and mechanics logically flow from their real world equivalents (e.g. a laptop that electrocutes / stuns enemies when it breaks over their head, a stapler that launches staples, etc).
- The temporary skills available to the player mix and match in interesting ways. These interactions are critical to add interest and replay value to a rogue-like, since they add an extra layer of strategy (even if there is luck involved regarding which skills a player receives).
- The game offers a suite of accessibility options from its main menu. This includes extra hearts during runs and reducing weapon degradation.
- Speaking of accessibility options, I appreciate that the game wasn’t condescending about offering these options. Though developers make it clear the game was “designed to be difficult,” and they have “intended settings,” the language that use makes it clear that they are more interested in people playing and enjoying their game than they are in having players approach the game in a certain way (ie prostrating themselves at the altar of difficulty).
- The “Work From Home” update doesn’t add much to the experience (new outfits, a jukebox of game tunes), but it was free so I can’t complain.
- The game includes LGBTQ representation in the supporting cast. I especially appreciate that these characters are just allowed to be LGBTQ without their arc centering around it.
- It’s a small win, but there’s a dog in the game. You can’t pet her, but you can have conversations about her, so that’s something!
What’s Not:
- Even though I’m over 5 hours into the game, there are still power-ups I don’t quite understand. This is doubly true for the apps. I don’t expect the game to hold my hand, but if I can’t figure out a mechanic’s purpose even after repeated use and observation, something isn’t quite right.
- It’s annoying that you can’t skip the boss intro animations, especially while revisiting a boss. I get it the first time; the boss needs to be characterized in context. The tenth time, though? Just let me get to the smack-down!
- I could absolutely see some players being annoyed by weapons breaking. I understand why games do this (to encourage players to experience a variety of play-styles and to keep the gameplay fresh), but it also sucks to have no weapons during a boss fight or difficult encounter. Happily, the game includes accessibility options to address this (including the ability to turn off weapon degradation – see: pros).
- The game still has a few minor graphical glitches (e.g. a plant that won’t stop “shaking” when the player enters a room). They were never game breaking, but I did notice.
- Though this is true of virtually all rogue-likes, some runs feel overpowered while others feel extra punishing because the skills made available to the player are randomized. The game combats this a bit by (generally) offering two skills to pick from in the dungeons when they appear, and by allowing the player to pick a skill to always start a run with (assuming they’ve selected it enough times in the dungeon). Ultimately, though I think this gameplay loop will not surprise any fans of the genre, those expecting a more linear progression path may be left a bit frustrated.
Conclusion / Will I Keep Playing?
As of the time of this writing, I’ve beaten two of the three “obvious” bosses (“Joblin” and “Winkydink”). I’m sure with a good run or two I could also wrap up the third boss (“Styxcoin”). I’m not sure how much content is left after that, but I’m definitely willing to find out. I’m assuming there’s at least another boss or two, but I won’t know until I put more time into the game. So, in short, yes, I plan to keep playing. Ultimately, if you like rogue-likes but want one with a more modern, satirical edge and a focus on the game’s characters, Going Under is definitely worth a look.
