Productive And Destructive
Dungeon Crawlers are fun. From Classics such as the Diablo and Torchlight franchise adorn the halls of the Action-RPG genre while dark dungeons never cease to house hordes of enemies. Going Under by developer Aggro Crab takes this classic genre back to its roots with a simple combat system that houses many layers to make each room a battle worth preparing for. Combining this with a whimsical aesthetic and a different take on dark storytelling makes a compelling title that will catch many gamers delightfully off-guard.
A Real Go-Getter
You’re Jackie, a marketing intern. While unpaid, your job is key to the success of the company. That job is to go into the dungeons underneath the office and take out the monsters there, stealing the treasures they hold to keep the company afloat. It sounds tough, and is, but you have everything it takes to come out on top. Monsters hit hard, are numerous and sport different attack patterns and behaviors. Thankfully everything is a useful asset to the rigorous employee, so grab whatever you can and swing away! Don’t worry about breaking stuff either, it deals more damage when you do!
Going Under’s simple controls of movement, dodging, attacking and throwing are deepend by the environment and the effects your various weapons have on it. Knocking enemies into explosives, each other, or other hazards is frantic and carries an old-school beat 3D Beat-’Em-Up attitude akin to Die Hard Arcade. It hones this by creating environments full of destructible doodads and littering them with weapons that interact in dynamic ways with everything else in the room. With tons of different weapons sporting a huge range of effects, it pays off to experiment with them all in the roguelike dungeon environments. The feeling is immensely satisfying to see in-action, as you bat enemies into fire traps or turn an enemy’s explosives against them. This is all tied together by finding unlockable skills and mentorship quests and keeping them in the dungeons as bonuses, allowing you to create a foundation for your approaches.
An On-The-Job Experience
Getting to the top is never easy and Going Under offers no exception outside of an in-depth ‘Assist’ option. This is a great tool to alter the experience of the game without losing too much of its difficulty, which is only frustrating on the surface. It is certainly tough to hit the ground running in this title but the combination of the fun and vibrant visuals with the fast and frantic gameplay makes it easy to own your victories. Excellent uses of dramatic slowdown and various skills and power-ups to control the pace of the game aid in this experience. This makes the difficulty curve round out smoothly and solidifies a feeling of satisfying progression. This all fits in neatly with the fantastic storytelling and aesthetic of the title as well.
Going Under has a vibrant visual presentation that bounces with life. Each of your coworkers has a fun personality that makes them feel alive. This is especially evident when undertaking missions for them, as the objectives and rewards serve to not only benefit gameplay but flesh them out as well. Where the Chief Flavor Officer Fern will pack you a replenishing and dangerous Bento Box for the start of your journeys, the Cafe Kid Swomp can help by hanging out at the various Dungeon shops and scoring you a five-finger discount. This small touch is immersive as these relationships are key to building gameplay foundations, making the world of Going Under feel personal and worth paying attention to. With a few good storyline twists and turns combined with a killer soundtrack and some fun physics, you’ll find Going Under a hard title to put down.
Employee Of The Month
There aren’t many games out there like Going Under. It gives a great twist on the Dungeon Crawler genre, offering a dynamic environmental based action combat experience that feels chaotic until you learn to control it. The characters are quirky and fun, propped up by a delightfully colorful aesthetic and soundtrack you can’t help but groove to. There are tons of weapons, skills, and enemies that you will find yourself saying “one more time” far more than you had planned as each run can be wildly different from the last. With a simple control scheme and the ability to tweak your experience if you’re finding a certain aspect of the game a little too tough to handle, Going Under is a must-play for anyone looking to crush monsters and have a great time.
