Information:
Game: Going Under
Platforms: PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch
Genre: Roguelike
Developer: Aggro Crab
Publisher: Team 17
Going Under is Roguelike beat em about an unpaid intern beating the cursed ruins of failed tech startups on her way to success, a setting that’s as goofy as it sounds that will remain consistent throughout the entire game but is this new proposal by developer Aggro Crab worth it?
Story
As a good parody, it addresses actual issues in a funny way, you start as an unpaid intern and immediately get entrusted with the responsibility of cleaning tech startups from the surrounding areas of your workplace, and all you get paid with is experience. As you progress, you’ll find all sorts of different characters and twists that, if already sound like your thing, will keep you wholly engaged for nearly 10 hours (totally based on skill)
Visual presentation
Since the very beginning, you are put in front of a very charming, colorful, and cartoony designed game that contributes to the aesthetic as a whole but also to build the perfect atmosphere for a game that parodies an actually severe issue about this industry. It doesn’t count with much variety, as the charm of this genre is to generate the same room with different enemies and objects randomly, but each new dungeon has well-defined differences from the colors, to the ost, enemy designs and making most objects on-screen usable in your favor.
Gameplay
In this apartment, saying that it’s a roguelike beat em up gives a good idea, for starters, this means a lot of enemies simultaneously, and your best shot is to spam attacks and dodge as much and as fast as you can with a well-placed camera position that gives you a proper angle of the entire room. You start with three slots for different weapons, pretty much anything on the screen that looks like a weapon can be used as one, with some being completely useless and others making everything more accessible, a relatively great balanced structure that will make each run feel unique.
Difficulty
This game can be pretty hard, especially at first, but even at its most challenging, it leaves you with a sense of improvement and lets you get bonuses for your next run that encourages to continue; its randomly generated dungeons make this a lot about luck but also about skill and using a new strategy each time, while you also got to consider that a final boss will be waiting for you at the bottom. It also counts with some accessibility options for players who may not be comfortable with standard configurations.
Verdict
To conclude, Going Under is a pretty good game that manages to find its spot as a charming, parody yet critical, roguelike indie game that doesn’t innovate in the genre but has a unique charm that can resonate with many millennials and, in the end, become a joyful experience.
